Has anyone been to an event with actual, real life, sweaty, vigorous dancing?
I’d like to use this space for people to comment on what the return to shows and events is like for them.
Was it awkward as fuck? Ridiculously fun? What was your experience and what might you want to share with other around the world who can’t yet dance but soon will gain that right back…
Also if anyone who isn’t yet dancing wants to share predictions, concerns, hopes and dreams of what the future of clubbing, festivals, and raves may be…
Can’t fcking wait for the clubs and venues to reopen i’ve got a lot of un-burnt energy that needs releasing and so has half the world probably.
There’s been a lot of hype regarding illegal raves around me and I’m thinking this is only going to get bigger as we progress through this weird af authoritarian time we’re in.
As clubs and venues reopen I’m guessing it’ll be okay for a while, good time, good memories and insane music. However I’m thinking it’s going to go down hill after a while. Implementation of vaccine passports to be allowed into clubs and venues. A card saying you’ve got a negative test result. All the bullshit; I think it’ll fuel the rise of illegal raves and self made venues and nights out.
Most of the people I’ve met who fuck with music heavily don’t generally enjoy a night out bc the music isn’t the best lets be honest (yeah, depends on where you go), so i think more and more people will be looking for something less restrictive and more free. No faffing around looking for your documents and no worrying about how long you’ve got left to down your last few pints before your allotted time slot is over.
The next few years I feel are going to pave a new road for the music scene. I can’t say I’ve been up to my neck in the current scene I just like going out every now and then and letting loose with my close mates. But I can see where we are headed and it’s going to be insane.
This summer will probably be the start of it if we’re actually allowed out :’)
I live in one of the countries that’s managed COVID pretty well, so I’ve been able to go to events for the last little while. Haven’t been to any festivals/clubbing since we were able to. But I have seen a few shows. Most of them were smaller events (reeal small), where it was just great to catch up with friends and make/listen to music together. Missed that a lot last year and coming back to it was really joyful. At the few larger events I’ve been to I’ve definitely had a bit of paranoia/germaphobia going in the back of my mind, but I tend to err on the side of germaphobia anyway.
Tbh, I generally enjoy the club environment and really do want to go dancing again, but with the amount of people I’ve witnessed not really being responsible and taking public health seriously, even in a public transport setting, it doesn’t give me a whole lot of hope for the clubbing experience once alcohol and other substances are factored in. Maybe I’m paranoid, but I think i’ll be slow to jump back into that environment. At the moment I’m generally sticking to smaller events where I tend to know most people and where I know that everyone’s looking out for each other.
i mentioned this is another thread but i recently went to an illegal generator rave in los angeles. crowd was really young, sucking down nitrous balloons like crazy, and really seemed like they were likely to spiral into oblivion eventually. i can easily see a lot of people going way too hard when theyre back in the clubs, and then ending up like the 90s nyc scene, party monster style, just getting unmoored from reality and extremely fucked up. NYC scene was already kinda heading that way imo, too many young kids coming up thru a scene that really lacked elders because it got decimated by giuliani, drugs, and 9/11 the first time around. criminalization of unlicensed nightlife due to vaccine passports or mandatory covid testing or whatevcer could exacerbate this, pushing people underground where theyre more vulnerable.
who knows, i hope i’m wrong. i could easily see a post-reunification-berlin-style euphoria taking hold as well.
Ok big post and this is a total 180 degree backflip but I ended up going to a bigger club show (although not huuuuge). Marcellus Pittman was DJing in my city and (~someone told me~) this was his first time playing live since COVID (fact check pls). It was intense and beautiful and I didn’t realize how much I needed it.
People were, for the most part, really good. It wasn’t oversold, so I found a large, empty spot at the back and stuck to it the whole night. Everyone down the back seemed very respectful and cool with giving each other space. It definitely got super crowded closer to the booth though, so I figured that might not be the best idea (? lol). It was a pretty pricey show (likely because of travel restrictions and a lot of the quarantine cost being taken on by the promoter etc etc…) and the drinks were a little expensive, but there was catered food, which was nice. The price is important, I think, because I got the impression that it had a slight effect on the type of crowd that showed up. Not that the crowd was any more or less respectful or anything like that - like I said, people were mostly really cool and nice. More that it was definitely a group of people who could afford to spend a fair bit of money to be there.
The set was fantastic. I’d never seen him DJ IRL before so I was really blown away by the flow of his set over the 6hrs - the pacing was really well considered, but it also felt like a real conversation with the crowd. 4ish hours in, he played this and it hit me right in the gut.
Something about this record, and something about the moment he chose to play it just set me off. Never been one to cry in the club, but when that vocal came in… That moment and this song are gonna stay with me for a long time. It felt like a lot of stuff came out of me that I didn’t know I had hiding away.
The only issue I had, as much as it hurts to say it, was the sound! The venue was a really beautiful old building, but the room was a box with concrete walls and virtually no soundproofing/insulation. It meant that the bass was quick to vanish and the mid/highs were reflected to the point where songs I knew were well mixed sounded really muddy. The reflections were particularly an issue because every time there was a rimshot or slightly loud hi-hat, it was deafening. I’ve had tinnitus for years and it never really worried me until the few days after that show - now made a note to invest in some better earplugs before I go out again. It sucks, because it was such an incredible set, but the sound was just not doing it justice. No disrespect to the sound person though, I think it was largely down to the venue being not the best choice for the music. I guess another way to look at it is that Marcellus Pittman is such a good DJ that he had me losing myself for 5hrs in a spot that was uncomfortably, borderline painfully loud. I couldn’t drag myself away.
As for how this fits in with the rest of the world, I’m not sure. I think it’s the kind of event that was only really able to happen because my country is in a fairly good position COVID-wise at the moment, and has been for quite a while, and I definitely wouldn’t be going if that wasn’t the case. I don’t have any plans to go to any other events for a while, but we’ll see what happens. I didn’t see too much in the way of antics, like @uames0 described. But again, my country wasn’t hit anywhere near as hard as the US was and it still felt very emotional - a biiiig release. I can see how that would only magnify in places that felt the pandemic a lot more, so I think it’ll probably be a mixture of the two - a whole lot of euphoria, but a lot of people getting lost in that and it does worry me a bit too. I can’t speak to the whole vaccine passports thing, that hasn’t really been a conversation at all in my city. But I do think there’s a chance things might get more expensive coming back into it and that’s going to have an effect on crowds (maybe temporarily, maybe longer). I’m wondering if the club will become a less accessible space because of this? That’s definitely too vague and simplistic a thought, but not really sure where to go from there. Just a guess haha.
Anyways, TL;DR: Went to a Marcellus Pittman show and got my ears fried and life changed
EDIT: I take back what I said about things getting more expensive. I thought about it a bit more and the situation is waaay too complicated and contextual for such a broad guess lol
That moment and this song are gonna stay with me for a long time. It felt like a lot of stuff came out of me that I didn’t know I had hiding away.
