Is it just me, or does it seem like the rave scene has picked up a -lot- in the past few years?

http://www.electricdaisycarnival.com/

Nice lineup for rolling your ballz off.

Electric Daisy Carnival has been around a few years, along with Monster Massive and of course Nocturnal Wonderland - all Insomniac events which have become what is now known as massives - a bit overground and ticketmasterized over the years... not that it's a completely bad thing as it means larger acts are booked, the music is out there, and people are raving and having a good time.

Nocturnal Wonderland when the Chems were there was a trip. It was so fun to see people all dressed up just like how they used to 'back in the day.' It was sort of like stepping through a time warp. Of course a lot of that is the LA vibe, and there's a sense that no matter where you go in and what you do in LA, everyone that needs an excuse to get dressed up really gets into the part.

I don't follow the rave scene all that much anymore as it's a bit silly at nearly 40 years old with a family to be spending my weekends raving and recovering - but it seemed to take a nose dive sometime around 2001, 2002-ish when the authorities and city councils started cracking down on raves and after hours clubs. At least that's when I noticed a significant downturn. That was also the tail end of my second honeymoon raving days. The last true rave I went to was when I was 28 (maybe I was 29) - an old skool map point rave - we picked up our tickets at some shady little head shop in LA, then went to an old beat up Russian art school where the rave was held. I was sober, and it was actually a blast until some 15 year old kid rolling his ass off asked me how old I was and said "Wow, I hope when I'm you're age, I'm still going to raves!" Haha.

I sound old but stash and I used to go out clubbing to these goth and industrial clubs in the early 90's and these clubs used to play stuff like Messiah, Aeon, Utah Saints... but by 1996 we were done with that mopey scene which at the time started to fade a bit anyway. So we decided to try out something new - raves - and we found the experience so much more enjoyable and at times even quite adventurous. Better people, really good dj'ing with dj's actually getting a kick out of what they were doing, and the general vibe of people out having a good time couldn't be beat... and that vibe was something the stuck up clubs we went to previously seemed to lack. So we were the two only goth/industrial couple at a lot of these places (gravers, is what we were called, hahaha). Anyway, to find out about where to go raving, we'd head up to this little independent clothing shop (that sold raver clothes, of course) about a half hour away and pick up fliers for all sorts of raves. When the weekend came, we had our pick of which ones to go to. Some of these fliers simply had a phone number that you called the day of, and the recording told you where to go. We went to map point raves that sometimes lead out to secluded Indian reservations out in the desert, raves that were in old, sweaty and dilapidated warehouses tucked away in decrepit industrial parts of LA. Or we'd just head over to the Masterdome (yuck!!) and get word of mouth on what was good coming up the following weekend. When we discovered the joys of the internet, we used to go to a site called ravelinks.com (it's still around) to find more options. There were shitloads of raves going on at the time. And some of them we went to ended up getting shut down by the fire department. :lol:

So anyway - sorry for the life story there but if there's an upturn in the rave scene, that kinda makes me happy. Not that I'd start going again, but still. I tend to think things ebb and flow in all scenes and nothing ever really dies. It just goes underground a bit and bubbles back up to the surface given enough time.

Heehee...

I loved reading about your experiences, Whirls. :D

I just love great gatherings. I don't really like the LA scene very much, though...

I have to say,i'm very lucky to be living in Holland right now. We've got the most amazing line-ups at the most amazing festivals. The dance scene is really big in Holland. There is the very mainstream dancescene (tiesto, sensation parties etc) and then there is, also a bit mainstream, amazing parties such as Awakenings, Vollt and Welcome to the Future. I'm going to al of them this summer and i wish you all were with me to parteeeh! (Pooter, remember Awakefest....that was brilliant!)

Holland=Tiestoland!

Good story whirls,

I started raving around high school and college. Friends and I would go to random warehouses in LA(sometimes in Compton).The Moontribe desert out in El Mirage was one of the first raves i've ever been to. Doc Martin also comes to mind as he played an important part of the rave scene in LA and saw him many times. SF though had the best raves such as Toontown and Mr. Floppy's. A lot of books are out about those times.

There is some changes in the rave scene, notably the music and some decline (Thank god!) of those cartoon backpacks, pacifiers, and dust masks, which I never wore, but the E is now stronger and longer lasting.

At least the PLUR is still there!

I never got into the rave scene because of the cartoon-like nature of it. It just wasn't my style.

@Jeans--Of course I remember Awakefest!!! Amaaaaaazing. :D I only wish I were able to hop on a plane and go rage with you at one or more of those awesome festivals over there.

I thought Norman Cook said he would stop playing as FatboySlim from now on ?

yeah but fatboy slim didn't want to go by norman cook.

rotfl

ZING!

The first rave I went to was in 1994 (at the late bloomin' age of 22), and it was right in downtown LA near the Bonaventure hotel (sort of near where Nocturnal Wonderland with the Chems was). It was a ticket event and a few blocks of downtown LA were closed off for this rave which is immortalized in the NYE millennium scene for the movie Strange Days. We had to park quite a ways away in a special parking structure and show our tickets before and we were all corralled onto busses which took us downtown to the rave. Once there at the mouth of the madness, we lined up and showed our tickets again before we were let in to the closed off 5 blocks of pure solid rave. It was about 10 o'clock at night or so, and I arrived not really knowing what to expect. There were floodlights and lasers that bounced off the skyscrapers and burst into the sky in a kaleidescope of colors. The place was packed with people of all ages, of all walks of life who were all dressed up and all dressed down mingling and raving to Deee-Lite and Aphex Twin. I didn't meet one person not completely enjoying themselves (except for the tripper that grabbed onto stash, and started babbling incoherently as we led him to the medic tent - haha, maybe he was having too good a time). Also, since there was filming going on, and to 'fit' the scene, there were some tanks lining some parts of the streets with people dressed as soldiers standing alongside. Helicopters circled overhead the entire time. All this noise from all around was dizzying and so exciting. There was a fake New Year's Eve countdown, and these large scale machines blew streamers and confetti all over the place. It was mega and all out - I guess that's what happens when a big movie budget collides with a rave. I'd never experienced anything quite like it before or since. We finally ran out of steam around 4:30 in the morning and the party was still going strong. I so wish I thought to bring a camera, because all the fluffy words I can pull out of my butt really aren't enough to do what I saw with my own eyes justice.

It's too bad the film Strange Days wasn't very good. :P

@ inchemwetrust - GO WASH YOUR MOUTH!!! ;-)

@ Whirls - you always have the most amazing stories!

@ Pooter - You're more than welcome!

I will show you what i mean by 'Awesome Festival'

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=xrYPE4U0vYo this is at 3 am or something

- http://www.youtube.c...rom=PL&index=10 (two of my new fave dj's)

-Some serious lasers and fireworks (gets really cool from 5 mins in)

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=bMGlASoVdhk (Remember pooter ?! We were here!)

Compilation of last year: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=UlKZ2FHrVhk

And another great festival in my backyard almost called Welcome to the Future:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=xptOlJOJ8rQ (cool @ 1.27)

Famous Ibiza Move: http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

ANd also one great festival wich is REALLY in my backyard on an old shipyard:

http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

Yes, this summer is going to be good!

CIao!

@Whirls: Aw, fucking legend, man!!!! I forgot that you attended the Strange Days rave! And yes, too bad the film was less-than-quality.

@Jeans: LAZORS! LAAAAAZORS!

Pooter : been watching " Two and a half man" lately?? ;) that episode was hilarious!!!

Looks like Holland is where the music is this summer!

I wish I could find a picture (like an aerial view) of that Strange Days rave so I can show you all the scale, but I can't find one.

As dodgy and unorganized (and at times agressive) Nocturnal Wonderland was, I was so excited that it was also in downtown Los Angeles because just the very idea of it - location wise - reminded me of my first rave. Just on a smaller scale. And in a converted parking lot. :P Dancing in fields out in nature is nice, but there's something very cool and almost cyberpunk about partying out in the wide open with teh urban cityscape as the backdrop.

Anyway.

It seemed in the 90's, there was a boom economically and socially. We were out of the 12 year trickle down economics of the 80's and rather dismal Bush Sr. administration. People have pretty much always been going to clubs, but there was something about those magical blissful years of the 90's that felt as though here in the States, the masses were breathing a sigh of relief and needed to party.

So I found it little surprising that a couple years into the new millenium, with 2 wars under way and on a local level, stricter laws being put into place that cracked down on social scenes (see NY's cabaret laws), the uncertainty of the future and life in general put a damper on things socially.

But that said, when times are hard, people tend to play hard too in search of some relief or way to escape. I remember reading an interview with the Chems after September 11 2001. I can't remember if it was before or after their post 9/11 gig at Centro Fly in NYC but I remember in the interview they said people came out and were ready for a night out to party. I thought that was interesting - the response to tragedy after the shock of what happened subsided a bit.

To expand on the scene picking up in current times, maybe we are in the beginning of a renaissance of sorts. Plus now with the way the economy is, raves and parties even on a small scale could prove to be a lucrative venture for promoters as well as artists because it's catering to peoples' needs to escape the daily drudgery. Who knows, though. I'm just blabbing at this point.

@kosek: No 2 1/2 men for me. When I went to Amsterdam to a rave with Jeanie and a bunch of other folk, some of those others being from the Board here, there was a running joke about the LAZORS! We kept saying it over and over again. If it was originally from that show, I had no idea.

@Whirls: I was at that Centro Fly gig and I was DEFINITELY out to party. Everyone else there seemed to be really into having a good time, too. :D

And your note on a renaissance, I definitely feel a -great- number of things changing for the better. w000000t

this thread is full of whirlygirl story win!

Nocturnal Wonderland 07 was my first BIG scale rave. While I enjoyed it for the Chems, everthing else was quite overwhelming for me. I didn't hate it, but I certainly felt out of place.

The good ol' Bonaventure hotel. Use to love sneaking in the pool, and you still can.

I was there in 2003 with the Crystal Method, Oakenfold, and Jason Bentley on NYE. Probably one of the best raves I been to. Lush view of the city at night, cool looking gardens, and the oh so lovely rotating lounge. There were a couple of floors in the hotel that had different DJ's but the icing on the cake was that CM were on the roof and the crowd went totally bananas,and then Jason Bentley did the NYE countdown and the entire rooftop just lit up like crazy.

I wasn't there at the 'Stange Days' event, but I do remember it happening Whirly. Doing a movie and partying at the same time is the best of both worlds. I might have to check that movie out to spot you! As for the Nocturnal Event, I remember telling myself these things:

1) 'Damn!..everybody's here'

2) 'This is an amazing moment'(During Chems set)

3) 'I'm too old for this shit' While looking @ the crowd of young people.