Party Vibe

down south the risk of serious injuries being sustained at illegal raves has been regularly mentioned on CJA paperwork as justifications for closing down events !

it doesn’t matter though as they are the ones with the power (although the incident TVP mentioned was one death in a region where raves had gone on without major incident for 14 years, whilst at the same time there had been several stabbings and shootings at legal dance music events, but TVP never had them closed down as people paid their license money

that said the NHS and Ambulance Service in some areas are now getting a tad cross both with the amount of ravers they have to patch up due to preventable injuries and/or overdoses due to greed, and even more cross that their entonox cylinders keep going walkies. The NHS also have the power to impact on drugs enforcement (i.e suggesting that the cops stop certain kinds of events) via the local Drugs and Alcohol Action Team…

and I will be brutally honest and admit that in the last two years a lot of casualties associated with raves in SE and Eastern England have been victims of deliberate violence rather than even accidents, yes even in relatively fluffy East Anglian parties there has been a fair few fights over girls, as well as attacks and counter attacks between groups of chavs trying to rob one another (not quite as bad as London but still unwanted)

They don’t show their annoyance openly due to professional rules and much of it is from gossip between the paramedics, the cops and the healthcare assistants at emergency departments, I can’t be too open about where I get my info from but it is coming from various reliable sources within the NHS.

I was involved in the organisation of both legal and unlicensed dance music events from 1992-2005, over the years contributing to 3 crews in SE England, and in recent times I have noticed an increasing amount of violence at raves. It was one of the main reasons I knocked being a main part of a crew on the head in 2005, although in recent times I have helped on the sidelines with some legal events in the East.

I would say in some areas of SE/Eastern England the amount of incidents at events has closed the gap between “underground” and “townie” events.

Things may currently be better in other regions of the country. Outside London however, most of the violence occurs not randomly but between people what know one another.

South Central and Eastern Ambulance services are definitely passing on the details all incidents from raves to the Police and the Drugs Action Team, as well as “accidental overdoses”.

They aren’t passing across the names of casualties, just the fact that people were injured or overdosed at a rave. This happens for both unlicensed and licensed events and is used to justify police action of various kinds against these events. I would say at least 3 ambulances were deployed to raves in East Anglia in early 2007 – and by that summer there was zero tolerance. This was no coincidence.

its not a case of “violence per person” but violence amongst a small group of people. I have however definitely, in the last 5 years, noticed more incidents at the raves I have been to, both in unlicensed and licensed venues. bear in mind also as a former organiser you are constantly on the lookout for issues/problems more than someone what attends merely to get trashed.

I could give much more accurate figures and incident details but that would be rather unwise with cops constantly monitoring this board, people have got in enough shit for organising raves round here as it is, nor do I want to cost anyone their nights in legal venues.

But there definitely has been a increase in incidents at events – It tends to coincide with a drop in the quality or popularity of party drugs such as MDMA and an increase in the use of alcohol and cocaine.