Upcoming: ETA festival - smaller rave, awesome lineup (andy moor, wolfgang gartner, gareth emery, cosmic gate, and more) it's happenin' in march.
I'm semi-new to the rave scene (Been attending since 2007, but I have only attended 3 so far), but I really miss how it was back before things got popular.
I went to TAO this year and it was horrible. Took 3 fucking hours to get in and by the time I got in, all of the DJs I wanted to see had already played. Fucking huge disappointment. Also super-duper crowded and tons of rude, drunk people bumping into me and not even apologizing. Ruined night and wasted $81 for my ticket lol.
Anyway, heard my friend who raves a lot telling me about ETA and I am looking into buying my ticket. It looks like they just went on sale, but I'm not too sure cuz the site seems to be glitchy.
Alternatively, you might want to check out clubs at vegas when they are featuring DJs. Tiesto has a semi-tour in Vegas coming up this summer so you would prob want to look into that since people say Tiesto is an 'old school' and 'out of style' dj so it shouldn't be too crowded. Tbh, I think people that say that are crazy because I've seen Tiesto live and he's fucking AMAZING. People are famous in this industry for a reason is all I have to say.
I have dropped at clubs in vegas on trance nights and it is amazing. A lot of other people are rolling there too and even the drinkers are polite because everyone is at vegas to just have fun really. I have not checked out the LA club scene for dropping, but I've had bad experiences at LA clubs just drinking so I'm hesitant to try, but I probably will eventually.
Downside to vegas is the cost, it will def cost you more to do vegas than to just pay to attend a small event nearby.
The only downside to clubs is that you can't sit or they will kick you out so you've gotta be standing/chilling against a wall or rail the whole time if you don't feel like getting out to dance, but tbh, it's still a great experience either way because I've done it all hahaha.
So I think the suggestion you should try out is just going to small events that nobody has really heard about and avoid popular events/massives such as EDC, TAO, monster, how sweet, etc... IF you haven't heard much of it and the lineup is good, you should try it out. If you aren't liking the smaller events much then try out vegas.
Anyway hope that was helpful to you and if you find anything else do share because I'm always interested in a good time
