• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Have you ever been to a rave?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I actually went to a pseudo-rave at a college in my town on Halloween a few years back. Everyone who was in the dance room was on something whether it was booze, weed, e, molly, or all combined. It was sweaty, loud, dark, and just pumping with music. The crazy thing about this was the campus security knew about it as well as the administration and they allowed it to occur because they kept a very tight restriction on who could come. Each student was given two arm bands to give to friends. They had the one vehicular entrance to the school blocked by campus pd who had a master list of students and the friends they designated their armbands to. It is a small liberal arts private college by the name of New College
 
AVclub said:
I think we need to look at the definition of "rave" here. An event with that many people sounds more like a concert. Raves happen in dark places, with little publicity (if any), and involve shady promoters. If you paid to get into the "rave" via Ticketmaster or a similar vendor, you weren't at a rave.

In the past, raves were about hugging strangers, vibing to the beats, and experimenting with drugs. Now, these shows are more about selling an image to kids so that they'll drop as much money as possible.
Click to expand...

I've been to both types of events. And I enjoy them both. But at the larger "pay to rave" events I've had more fun and more quality time with strangers. The back room deserted club that is brought back to life for one big rave out of nowhere has its pleasures, and the thrill of it is awesome, but that slight sketchiness can be a put off to a lot of people.

Where as the larger events such as Electric Zoo that I mentioned before (which is more of a music festival albeit with many enclosed tents that all have their own raves going on at once) seem much more safe and inviting so the crowd is more apt to bond I feel.

Regardless, I'm always down to enjoy either, but just feel neither should really be put down as "not a true rave"
 
Fenderputty said:
I used to when I was in younger. When I started the rave scene was going semi mainstream. I was 19-20 (soon to be 32 now). It went back underground a little and then BAM ... it's back and bigger than ever. I haven't been to one in 6 years or so, but just look at the production value that EDC has.

http://electricdaisycarnival.com/LasVegas/

Check out the trailer.
Click to expand...
This is pretty much my experience. I remember going to EDC a few times back in early 2000. These massives started at night and went on until the next morning. Now it seems more like a music festival. I stopped going when the parties would end by midnight due to city ordinances. I have no idea what the scene is le now.
 
Went trough a rave phase for a year. I hated all the night-club life style so this was right up my alley. It was fun and I had many good "experiences" and overall good times. I remember dancing with some girl and she just guided my hand in her vag while trying to jerk me off to some dark psy-trance, fun times. But then the crowd got too dubsteppy and started to look borderline underage so I just bailed. At least I made myself many good friends and met my current gf there :)
 
EviLore said:
Went to a 50k attendance rave this past Friday. It was a lot more mundane than I was expecting. I saw a few people being entranced by glow stick hand light shows and so forth, but for the most part it was just a big dance party with some people dressed up in colorful costumes and some people tripping on the sidelines. And that's fine, I guess, but I was expecting...more, somehow? I was expecting more of a surreal, hedonistic experience. I wasn't even offered any drugs or randomly hugged by anyone!

I danced in the pit for five hours straight to Sebastian Ingrosso and Tiesto et al DJing, and that was fun, but that was all ;b
Click to expand...

Because you went to a massive, basically a huge club. Raves tend to be much more intimate.
 
joeyjoejoeshabadoo said:
This is pretty much my experience. I remember going to EDC a few times back in early 2000. These massives started at night and went on until the next morning. Now it seems more like a music festival. I stopped going when the parties would end by midnight due to city ordinances. I have no idea what the scene is le now.
Click to expand...

I remember the massives would go to about 4 in the morning when I stopped. I caught the end of the 7AM end time scene with Together as One 99-00. Massives in LA have kinda shifted. The forum doesn't allow them anymore. That's why EDC has shifted into a music fesstival and moved it to Vegas.

Together as One 99-00 was the frist party I went too. This video still gives me chills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_usKmGXJJo
 
I've been to a few but one stands out way above the others.

It was a massive outdoor rave called Green. It was in 1995 at a ski resort near Worcester Mass. I was invited by a friend that was deep into the rave/dance club culture. We drove there with a few of his friends and arrived at about 9-10pm.

There must have been at least 10k people. There were giant tents set up for different themes, and in the middle of the field at the base of one of the runs, a stage with a laser and fog machine system. IIRC there were about two dozen DJs/acts. Although nobody really famous that I can remember.

It was a crazy crowd. Many were dressed in full boat rave attire, trippy costumes with lights to dazzle. Everyone was on something. I saw a lot of blatant trading of pills and tabs, basically no police/security presence.

I saw a guy playing with an eight ball sized mound of some powder on a table under a black light in one of the tents, just swirling it around with a card, to the beat of the music. Some raver who I think took to much acid, handed me a 1/2 ounce of weed to "watch" for him before wandering off. I saw people having sex in the open without a care in the world.

We stayed until about 6-7AM when the sun started coming up. I was very cold and hungry.
Got back home and slept the rest of the day. Quite an experience. I have never seen so much debauchery.
 
Never been to one but I was curious about it and wanted to go eventually until I saw this thread. Yeah doesn't seem like my kind of thing.
 
raves were my thing growing up. I was big into ecstasy so it followed I would go to raves since that's what my friends were doing

honestly it was cool as a teenager but I doubt I'd like it as an adult. I hear raves have changed now, but when I was young it was all underage girls with candy necklaces sucking on pacifiers propositioning you and some dude who is probably an undercover trying to sell me E. It was cool as a teen but as an adult might be awkward

one thing that would probably remain cool is the energy. whenever a track was building and would explode, the crowd would explode too, some sort of orgy of dancing and touching and sweating and jumping and all sorts of shit. Never quite had a similar experience with anything else, and on E it was like being elevated to a higher plane of existence.
 
EviLore said:
Went to a 50k attendance rave this past Friday. It was a lot more mundane than I was expecting. I saw a few people being entranced by glow stick hand light shows and so forth, but for the most part it was just a big dance party with some people dressed up in colorful costumes and some people tripping on the sidelines. And that's fine, I guess, but I was expecting...more, somehow? I was expecting more of a surreal, hedonistic experience. I wasn't even offered any drugs or randomly hugged by anyone!

I danced in the pit for five hours straight to Sebastian Ingrosso and Tiesto et al DJing, and that was fun, but that was all ;b
Click to expand...

Ah, so you ended up going! :D

You think you would ever go back?
 
SalsaShark said:
Many times. Always had fun.

Going without taking drugs could be potentially boring though i guess.
Click to expand...

I've been to plenty of them without taking drugs, and they're tons of fun, assuming you actually enjoy the music. If you were dragged along without liking the music I could see it being a bummer.

But drugs are fun too
 
Wayyy back in my HS days I'd go to raves or "warehouse parties". Shit was legit. Great music, nice vibes...I didn't do the drugs, I was there for the music and the people. It's a crazy feeling being on "stage" seeing hundreds of kids going nuts when a certain song drops.

That is until the cops come and you're running with your friends equipment over your head HAAH.

I still spin some UK Hardcore once in a while...
 
Used to go regularly when I lived in Argentina, but that was when I was much younger. My old bones can't handle that kind of thing anymore. And I never took drugs while there. Did get shitfaced on speed (an energy drink like redbull) and vodka everytime though.
 
kai3345 said:
Ah, so you ended up going! :D

You think you would ever go back?
Click to expand...

Yeah, changed my mind last minute and took a bunch of ibuprofen to dull the rib dislocation pain so I could dance, somehow didn't end up being much of a problem.

Would I go back? Hrm, with a cool group of people I wouldn't see why not.
 
Been to the Loveparade in 1997. One million attendance. It was hot, smelly, insanely full of people and loud. Always liked small techno parties somewhere in a basement or abandoned warehouse better.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Have you ever been embarrassed by your school's sports team?
9
463
Hookshot replied
Have you been diagnosed with Time Blindness?
2
90
2K
segasonic replied
  • Poll
Have you ever reported a post?
37
1K
Fbh replied
Have you ever written a friend a letter on his birthday?
12
788
Plies replied
Have you ever participated in potholing or cave diving?
2 3
109
3K
Davevil replied
Top Bottom