Rave Atmosphere versus...?

[irisdescence]

I've been attending raves since New Years 2008 off and on, and my last two experiences (sober) have made me question whether a large rave is really the best place to roll.

For me, like many people, the first rave I went to (also the first time I rolled) was a revelation. I had one of the best nights of my life.

The pluses of the massive environment are obviously the fact that you're surrounded by other people in a similar state that want the same things as you- empathy, pleasure, no judgment etc. You're able to meet new people and socialize in a way that's incredibly open and direct. On top of that, for some people (particularly younger ravers) they might not have somewhere else to roll.

For me, though, I wonder if maybe raves are overhyped because people initially have such drug-induced euphoric experiences at them.

I live in California, so the massives are really massive. Going to a rave sober a few times, as well as having some weak experiences in shitty venues while rolling, I really realized that
a) they're WAY too packed, which makes dancing, conversation, light shows whatever more difficult, as well as making it tougher to get where you'd like to be in the pack of people.
b) too HOT, which for me is a roll killer and increases the danger of the situation
c) too dusty and dirty
d) beyond the bass, it's not that easy to even hear the music with the clarity you would at a smaller venue

I've never rolled somewhere like an apartment with a few close friends, but having my own nice place and access to whatever I need makes me wonder why it's so much better to go to a massive rave rather than a smaller club event or an apartment party.

Maybe I'm just jaded or getting older.

 

[jannerfish]

Squat parties, warehouse events. Not advertised or commercial/for profit. Of course, these run the same risks as you mention but I found them less likely to have downers. Only probs I've encountered were some dodgy people in some locations but this was rare.

My favourite thing really is the dancing. For this I like a dance tent at a non-dance festival event or the rockier tent at folk festivals. In both of these, the chill-out and talk shit to strangers is fab.

 

[fadedconstellation]

ehh, I agree with the minuses. especially the over crowding, the excessive heat, and ESPECIALLY the dirt/dust. every time after I get home from a rave, I blow my nose and the most disturbing collection of dark boogers come out. it's the WORST when you're at a venue with a lot of outside space that has only DIRT, not grassy areas. the dirt/dust kicked up by people is killler..

 

[Xtc <3]

Na man I agree with you, the massives are way too packed and way too hot as you mentioned.

Free parties + small venues are much better imo, room to dance is something I find essential at a rave.

However my favourite environment to roll in would have to be a small house party with a group of close friends and decent sound.

 

[Big)Sky]

One of my favorite experiences rolling was at a private studio in a very lo-key area. The person who owns it spins NASTY dubstep dance remixes. They have a swing in the room, and couches and a sick dance flood. With only about 50 people in the room, it was amazing.

 

[MasterSplinter]

Maybe I'm just jaded or getting older.

aint nuthin that stays fresh and fun forever. The more your exposed to anything the more you get to see of it...both the good and the bad.

its the same thing for me...socal massives were alot of fun for me a couple years ago...but now it just feels like a twisted cluster fuck of madness and drug induced hype


it all looks good from far away...but once you get up close you can really see an ugly side of things and a horrible revalation:

The Love is gone.

People fight through eachother to get up to deadmau5 cube like cattle in a steakhouse...cuddle puddles get stomped on, lightshows are impossible, water is gold, and girls can be bitches.


all in all im done with being in the crowd. Ive had my times...they were great.

The end

 

[Mojo187]

I definitely prefer rolling at a friends apartment with a group of friends compared to a rave. We all just bring over our lasers and spiny lights and make a little rave in the living room and chill out and just have a blast

 

[nanchan]

I personally despise massives. If you go to a small party / rave I think you'll have a lot more fun.

 

[junkie skumbag]

i used to roll at home or at a mate cos when i started i was 15 and i finally turned 18 MDMA dryed up.you can have some real good convos if its just u and a few mate

 

[De3eD]

I agree with this thread.

Before doing any drugs at all I had gone to a few massives disguised as raves while sober apart from a few energy drinks and always had an awesome time.

Then, the first time I ate a pill was at an event in similar to burning man. You pretty much pitch a tent and have a good time until it's time for the music to rock you to sleep. The experience was obviously extremely magical and from then on I have used mdma with compete and utter respect so as to keep the magic for as long as I feel it's needed.

After then I have done mdma (molly) 5 times, 3 times at massive, once at an after hours club (terrible experience), and most recently on nye at an event that was split between two venues (too lazy to explain since I'm on my phone right now) although I won't count that experience since I mixed with lsd.

Anyways, to continue with my point... I find that the three massives, while fun and everything, were hideously worse than my first experience. This isn't because of loss of magic obviously (I find 150mg mdma to be too much), but it's because the atmosphere feels more and more like what I imagine a concert to be like (I have never been to one) and I find this extremely disheartening.

Rarely is there ever a nice little place where I can sit on the floor with a group of new friends like I would have at Motion Notion, there is garbage everywhere and water is gold. I feel like everyone just now goes there as an excuse to get all fucked up and dance and sweat all over each other instead of just dancing, chilling, getting/giving light shows or even massages. This also concerns me greatly because I feel that all these douche bags are going to leak into the actual rave culture and possibly poison it for good by overdoing everything and making the authorities more prudent when it comes to events like raves.

I really just hope that maybe theres somewhere other than once or twice a year where I can experience the true culture of raves and get away from all this mainstream bullshit.

Side Note: Speaking of mainstream bullshit, Shitmau5 played where I lived recently. $120 tickets (starting price) sold out in two weeks. I had my sister and multiple friends who are just average people that listen to hip hop/rock/pop/whatever ask if I was going to see Deadmau5... I find this to be fucking despicable. At the same time though, I hope most people just see those as raves so they leave the true ravers alone.

 

[Sessionz]

Maybe I'm just jaded or getting older.

Everyone hits this viewpoint sooner or later, we can't live in the raves forever.
Big events are great but you can't bring your duvet.

 

[hansimglück]

Never really been to a 'big one', it also seems as where I live isn't really such a 'massive industry' and the descriptions given here sound pretty awkward to me (crowdedness, people). So I'd stick to the smaller (psytrance)partys here at warehouses/clubs with maybe 200 - 800 people.

What I enjoy the most are the festivals here during summer. 2000 - 8000 people, some crazy light stuff and 24/3-5 music, enough space for everyone to laugh/dance/chill and the opportunity to dance right into sunrise. A breath taking moment.

 

[nanchan]

^ 2000-8000 people is a lot to me. The biggest that I've been to and enjoyed was 1700 (according to the promoters) but I would have preferred it to be smaller.

 

[hansimglück]

I don't know what you define as a festival over in the US. Over here the EDM festivals during summer offer large areas, multiple dance floors a large camp site (which is a party space on it's own ). While the music is running non stop, all those people aren't at the floors the whole time. So it actually isn't really crowded.

Of course I don't refer to festivals in a single club or sth else. I mean those where you bring a tent with you and drop out of reality for some days .

 

[peachix]

I feel like a serious minority here, but I don't think I could ever roll at a rave. I love raves and raving when I'm sober, and the first time I rolled, I planned to go to a rave. I'm glad I never bought the tickets, cause all I wanted was to stay home with my boyfriend and cuddle. He wanted the same too. I don't think I would be safe in a rave environment while rolling.

 

[abelink]

For me, though, I wonder if maybe raves are overhyped because people initially have such drug-induced euphoric experiences at them.

I agree completely. the first time I rolled was at a rave, and It was incredible, but no rave since then has been anywhere near as awesome, and Its not just because of 'losing the magic' or anything. As my rave experiences got lamer and lamer I started to realize that it really WASNT the scene i wanted to be in, even though in the beginning i thought it was.
I also live in cali, and i know exactly what you mean, it is just not worth it to spend 60 bucks on a ticket to this ridiculously huge not so fun event. My most recent roll was just with some friends, and while I liked it, I still think I would rather be at some kind of event listening to loud music. So for my next roll I am trying to find a smaller event or maybe just a concert where I can enjoy myself, but not go through all the bullshit that are at these 50,000 person raves.

EDIT: also, I find that for at least 75% of my roll, i want to do nothing but sit and listen to music. I cant dance no matter what. I found that I was sitting on the grass at raves, while my fav band EVER was playing in a tent nearby, but I just was not getting up. This is another reason why I think I need a change of scenery for my next roll.

 

[LockedNLoaded]

Peachix, that unfortunate fact, or at least the perception that rolling chicks will fuck anybody, is what brings about 90% of the shitbags into the scene.

I think that if you want a sustainable raving experience, you should not roll at your first rave. Obviously you'll have an excellent time, but it makes it really difficult to separate the magic of the rave environment (of which I am a true believer) from the magic of MDMA (also a believer, but takes less work). It seems like a great way to get jaded, because you can't roll forever, though lord knows people try, and at the point where you take a look at where you've been all that time, most people get sketched out or disappointed or just plain sick of it.

In my opinion, everybody who can handle it mentally should take acid at at least one rave. It's hard, but it'll tell you if it's really what you want to be doing with yourself. My first rave experience was frying at lovefest (essentially a massive in broad daylight). Anybody from the bay can understand the depth of the never-washing-that-off effect, but if you can see the ugliness underneath the surface with that kind of mental magnifying glass and still want to go, it's definitely in you.

To the OP, I've only one real massive, and it was in norcal, so I don't know how the big name LA ones really stack up (though of course I've heard they're just generally sketcher), but there's definitely a really incredible amount of human behavior, just what people actually get up to when they think no one's watching, that's really not fun to look at. You're probably better off rolling at a smaller event, one with good music, preferably local music, so that the people there actually care about more than grabbing underage girl's asses. The real problem with massives is how much space they have to fill (how much money they stand to make). When you have something like EDC to promote where you can get 200,000 people through your gates (and make millions of dollars in the process), well, there just aren't 200,000 ravers lying around, maybe in the whole country, so you have to expand your pool to all the people who like rolling and half naked girls, and when you put that all in one place and let it go, nasty shit happens. Rolling can sugarcoat a WHOLE lot of shit, but it's still a psychedelic (too often forgotten), and vibe control is IMPORTANT.

Wow, I did not intend for that to be that retardedly long. When I start going on about raves and there's nobody to inhibit me, I just go preacher mode.

 

[ich333]

small underground raves > massives. i hardly even want to call massives a rave at this point. i ABSOLUTELY prefer rolling at a ug rave to rolling at a massive. there isnt security out to catch you doing drugs, you can bring in whippets and its not too hot and crowded but your still surrounded by other people rolling and theres good music and dancing. its also great when theres a chill room where the music is quieter and you can sit down and talk with friends / meet new people ect.

 

[lostsoul.On.E]

i dont think anything is better than rolling with a few friends at a house. more comfortable and chill.

 

[De3eD]

As with what most of the thread is saying, underground raves/more intimate smaller events are definitely the best. I have never tried just sitting at home and chilling with friends but I have done that with other drugs and it's always a good time.