What a rave WAS/IS to me...

[WoodStock]

I actually picked up spinning a short while back to gain a better appreciation for the music and also, because no one spins the kind of progressive trance that forces people who can do liquid to do it and those who don't to simply sit on the sides and stare. The main reason that I still go to parties is to dance, and to try find the people that are the same way I was when I started raving. It's odd, I went from being the guy that would know how many hours are left until the next rave to being the guy in jeans and a T-shirt that everyone watches because of the fact that he can still dance. The generation of ravers about 8 months in and below seem to be the last generation that actually have any people that get obsessed about their dancing. I would love to see liquid blow up huge again. But the simple fact remains that I will enjoy partying for a long time to come, and when I start spinning at them regularily I believe I will get at least a piece of the joy I felt at the mere thought of a rave.

[WoodStock]

I actually picked up spinning a short while back to gain a better appreciation for the music and also, because no one spins the kind of progressive trance that forces people who can do liquid to do it and those who don't to simply sit on the sides and stare. The main reason that I still go to parties is to dance, and to try find the people that are the same way I was when I started raving. It's odd, I went from being the guy that would know how many hours are left until the next rave to being the guy in jeans and a T-shirt that everyone watches because of the fact that he can still dance. The generation of ravers about 8 months in and below seem to be the last generation that actually have any people that get obsessed about their dancing. I would love to see liquid blow up huge again. But the simple fact remains that I will enjoy partying for a long time to come, and when I start spinning at them regularily I believe I will get at least a piece of the joy I felt at the mere thought of a rave.

[Atlantis77]

A lot of you have summed up my feelings towards raves. I know i have changed since my first party . . . but i dont think its just me. Parties have relatively changed and so have my expectations. My music prefrence has changed, dance style has changed and my socializing habbits arent the same. I still get excited for a party, i download tracks, listen to them and hope they ll play a familiar tune etc etc . . . I still go to dance all night, not giving a shit who thinks what or having to worry about if my hair still looks good like at a club.

But for some reason some things appeare different. I dont like meeting RANDOM people like i used to. I dont want to talk to JUST anyone that approaches me and i get annoyed when people force a conversation with me just because im high. I dont see as many kids dressed up, i dont see the effort and the love that was put into the decoration and set ups. And as many of you mentioned earlier i dont feel the love that united everyone in the same building. I dont feel the love for the music, but instead i see many people attending parties focusing on the drugs.

But i still love it . . . the day i dont get excited for a party or dance all night to greate music is the day i would stop attending them. Till the next party . . .

[WoodStock]

I think we're just saying the same point over and over....

[Atlantis77]

yes i agree . . .
i just wanted to put in my toonie LOL :D

[mapleleaf4ever]

Here's my $0.02, I never keep Pennies...

[Akeel]

yawn.

[WoodStock]

I remeber this one party last year, where Waldo went missing in a patch of duct tape that had somehow managed to fall out of someone. Then, out of somewhere, A red goosenecked rat flew across the tunnel to where the dead man now sat up the stairs to the place where he found the original cover of a rolling stones CD that he did when he was 18 going on to his last rave in the barn of my cat's dead dog's house. That night, Me, Chris and some guy ate a forum that had to do with their choice of milk substitute the following evening...

[Sykonee]

Hnn... A rave for me was just a place I could go to escape all the grunge.

[Rhianna]

No matter how hard I try to make raves fun, they just aren't. They haven't been fun for almost 2 years.

For some reason it really doesn't bother me. They were just something to do on a saturday night.

[meth0dical]

the problem is when people change their outlook on raves but still attend the parties they don't have fun at. if it's no fun to you any more, DONT GO.
btw this isnt directed at you rhianna, it's directed at the general "raves suck now!" crowd

[miss.myra]

haha so apparently the drugs have worn off

you've been around what? like a year?

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by WoodStock

What A Rave WAS To Me

A rave was once a place where all kinds of different people gathered, a safe place where the stress and anger you felt outside would just melt away as soon as you walked in the door.

A rave was all about dancing, and being absolutely astonished by the things that the "old schoolers" knew how to do.

Often at a rave, you were content to just sit in a heavily trafficed area and meet all the people that went by, and some of the best conversations at raves would happen in the bathroom.

A rave was a place that you could feel comfortable and dance even when you really sucked bad, because you were having fun and that's all that mattered.

A rave used to be a place where you knew you would never get intentionally hurt by someone. It was a night you would countdown to starting the night after the previous rave.

A rave was the only place that you would see your raver friends, and even if you did happen to bump into them out in public, most times you wouldn't even recognize them.

A rave was where i met the first woman I ever fell in love with. I was sober at the time.

Most importantly raves WERE all about the PLUR

Sorry, but Raves never were "all about the PLUR". PLUR was a password, a credo, not much else... a little sign that ravers used to identify each other with. Especially raver-flavoured, what with the philosophy behind it. I prefered Frankie Bones' Peace Love Unity Movement because it better describes raves and raving to me.... this isn't just hippie communist bashes that are all PEACE LOVE etc.... they're what happens when people gather in large groups and want to listen to some trippy music in either the boonies or the urban sprawl. In either case, raves pretty much haven't changed in the last 6 years. They continue to get more mainstream, and the oldschoolers continue to complain about how much better it was 2 years ago.

Most of the people who have been around for longer than 2 years have seen what you've been saying here said over and over again. But you know what? I've still been able to go to killer parties throughout the last 6 years...

- Passion (1998)
- BC Trance-It (2001)
- Duckbot's Revenge (2001)
- Fred Gets Cheeky (2001)
- Lightswitch Rave (2003)
- Gong Show (2004)
- Shambhala (2004)

are all examples of parties that I've been to where the vibe has been what you describe here.

What A Rave IS To Me Now

Note: What you're saying is what it is to you know. How long you been partying? A year? Maybe 2? You're in what we call the "Bitter/jaded" stage... where you think that raves have lost the way, and that there's nothing but 15 year olds kicking around at them. It's too bad if you think that, because it's not true... the same is always true: The harder you have to work to find a party, the more fun it is when everybody gets there.

Raves to me, are not even raves any more. Most of these "raves" are just drug parties that occur in rented buildings playing techno.

That's all they'd been in the beginning. But if you're finding parties where they're playing techno, let me know! Seems all anybody wants to play these days are Tech-house, Nuskool breaks and progressive...

Now, raves are a place and a reason to drugs. And, you run into the saddest personalities on earth. You actually have to feel sorry for some of the people that you meet.

You're just noticing them more, and your drugs have worn off. Trust me. There's inherent bias going on here, and I know it because I've gone through it myself.

The main focus of the party for many has shifted away from the poeple and the dancing to focus squarely on the drugs.

From Ishkur.com:

Dancing has become a sort of joke to a large group of the people that go. Even the greatest dancers are getting ripped on for it. PLUR is simply four letters.

I still dance like nobody's watching.

We are the "Old Schoolers" now, but the change in raves has left us feeling empty and tired. We no longer pass down all the amazing rave shit that we have picked up over the years.

I like how "I'm getting tired of partying" tends to equate "I'm oldschool now".

I've been partying 6 years and I'm nowhere near oldschool.

When I step into a rave sober, I notice a lot of newbies completely mangled from the drugs and completely consumed by the energy of the people and the rave...Then it hits me, raves actually haven't changed all that much, we have.

GO TO LESS RAVES POPULATED WITH NEWBS.

There are other scenes that the Spooky/Doom's Night massives.

We're passing the feeling we used to have to the people that need it the same way we needed it when we started.

It'll never be the same as when you started, simply because that was when YOU were the cracked out newbie that all the oldschoolers looked down upon.

But as I say, parties, for the most part, remain rather unchanged except in your own mind's eye for the past 6 years, so I somehow doubt that what you say is true.

Anyways. It's too bad you're seeing a lot of the more annoying aspects of rave culture, but remember that you too used to be a newbie. And unless you started partying before 95 or so, you were a newbie when the people who had been around for a couple of years were getting pissed off with the newbies.

[QuanNeur]

the problem with raves today really is that the people who attend them are too young. they haven't yet developed any serious addictions or social adjustment problems because of the all-night scene. for the most part they're students, who still have futures and can recover relatively quickly from the fucked nights out. When they do have a bad experience they bounce back quickly and then fuck off out of the scene thinking they'll never do "that" again.

What raves are missing are the extremely hardened "partiers," the kind of people that are so crashed out and past the point of recovery that they've quit their day jobs to promote after-afterhours clubs and have been doing just that for the last 15 years. Strung out DJs that have been playing deep and funky house to 10AM crowds for so long that no sane-minded employer would think of giving them work because they've been out of the conventional job market for so many years. the kind of people that live off the measly incomes that working in the industry provides just so that they have their door charge and drugs covered for free. where "real life" is midnight to noon 4 nights a week. The kind of people who are awake from Thursday to Monday. They're either drug-dealers, prostitutes, DJs or junkies, or perhaps a combination. they have facial ticks and afterhours-battered visages that are weathered well beyond their years, wrinkles you could drive an SUV through.

That's what the scene is missing. It's just not sketchy or evil or dark or scary anymore. It's all so tame and vanilla. Could we have a little mayhem please. i want to be shocked. i want to run out of the venue screaming in tears at 4PM, i what it to be so depraved and disgusting that *I* walk away thinking i'll never do "that" again, but of course i will because there was something naggingly pleasant about the nastiness.

[ppcock]

fred gets cheeky was a fabulos rave

that's where i first met ebbomega.. except he told me he was ishkur.

what a loser.

[WoodStock]

Ebbomega, I find it almost offensive how much of what I said you missed. I said over and over that I am NOT bitter or jaded. Did you not read the last part of that, or did the words just confuse you? I was making almost the same basic statement that you do there, only from a different perspective. The list of what raves have "become" is all that I keep hearing from the people here and the people around me. After thinking about why they could possibly think that, I realized that the rave wasn't what changed, as they said, but that they as people had. I still see people with the same look on there face at the mention of the word rave that I once had. Do you understand what I mean now. I am NOT bitter at raves, ravers, or drugs. What I AM bitter at is people who assume they know what I am trying to say. I almost want to post this AGAIN to make sure you read all of it this time.

[WoodStock]

"GO TO LESS RAVES POPULATED WITH NEWBS.

There are other scenes that the Spooky/Doom's Night massives."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I LOVE NEWBIES. Did you even read the quote that you have directly above it? I say several times that I see myself in them. Do you only read one word in each quote statement?

[miss.myra]

Hey yappy! less typing about shit nobody cares that much about and more liquid dancing!

[miss.myra]

Heeey yappy! Less typing, more liquid dancing!

[WoodStock]

Allright............

*leaps up out of chair, puts on tiesto, turns off the white lights and puts the blacks on and starts to liquid*

[Rhianna]

Originally Posted by meth0dical

the problem is when people change their outlook on raves but still attend the parties they don't have fun at. if it's no fun to you any more, DONT GO.
btw this isnt directed at you rhianna, it's directed at the general "raves suck now!" crowd

Phew.......I'm happy it wasn't for me because I don't rave. Raves don't need me hangin around.

[Newbie4life]

weeeeeeeeeee............ lets all hug and massage each other

[Rytalin]

Good parties still happen. You just gotta find em. Of course mainstreamish parties suck after being in the scene for a few years. Mainstreamish parties are what gets new kids into it. From there they either go deeper and find better parties, or leave.

Maybe you should just stick to Soundproof parties or something :)

[Séguin]

According to the original post, I'm an old schooler. I remember my first party, daincing to Jungle completely kandied out. No one cared. The Junglists didn't, neither did the DJ. Maybe I am an old schooler, it sure dosen't feel liek its been that long.

The city I'm from dosen't have raves anymore. Be lucky that hasn't happened here yet. The scene was only about 400-800 people max to begin with. All the diversity finally pulled everything completely appart. No one could agree on anything anymore.

I find the major issue today not to be the drugs, but the "promoter wars". The minions who will only support certian promoters. These are better known at, the people who advertise they're selling tickets to the next mainstreem rave.

I also call them mainstreem raves because you can buy the headliner's CD @ HMV.

It even seems that being a "jaded raver", "an elitest", or just plain "bitter" is a rave scene fad now. Everyone strides to gain the status of the scene's next buzz word.

I never did believe in PLUR, it was also just a stupid buzz word. But I did believe in going to rave to dance and not be judged. Now I won't even dance anymore unless I'm in a city where I'm not recognised.

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by WoodStock

Ebbomega, I find it almost offensive how much of what I said you missed. I said over and over that I am NOT bitter or jaded. Did you not read the last part of that, or did the words just confuse you?

You're not bitter and jaded, you just think raves suck now?

*sigh*

I was making almost the same basic statement that you do there, only from a different perspective. The list of what raves have "become" is all that I keep hearing from the people here and the people around me.

The people that you're hearing this from are just as naive as you. You're not saying the same thing that I am. What I'm saying is that raves haven't changed, you're saying they have.

Don't worry about it. Some point down the road, after you've given up on raves, someone will invite you to a party, and you know what? You'll probably have a bunch of fun... and realize, wait a minute, this stuff is still going...

Maybe, if you feel this way, you should take a break from partying for a bit. Let the drugs wear off. Recollect yourself. The rave scene will still be here when you get back.

After thinking about why they could possibly think that, I realized that the rave wasn't what changed, as they said, but that they as people had. I still see people with the same look on there face at the mention of the word rave that I once had. Do you understand what I mean now. I am NOT bitter at raves, ravers, or drugs. What I AM bitter at is people who assume they know what I am trying to say. I almost want to post this AGAIN to make sure you read all of it this time.

The reason I assume, and many others, that they know what you're saying, is because oh so long ago, all of us were saying the same thing.

Don't worry, when you've been here for a while, soon you'll see all the n00bs posting about how it was so much better in the SUMMAR OF 2004. Frankly, I think this year has been stellar for partying, at least for me.... I've gone to some really choice shows this summer and I'm planning on going to a couple more before the year is out.

Again, I assume because I know. I've been here longer than you have and have seen your arguments over and over and over and over again.

If one thing's consistent about the Rave scene, it's that people are going to bitch about it nonstop about how much better it was back in the day.