Party Vibe

what I am saying about unis is that I would have expected a lot more people to become interested in the music scene as a consequence of this uni appearing – and a rise in everything from dance music events to band gigs. This isn’t happening, for a variety of reasons but mostly lack of venues, and different attitudes amongst students here.

@Minghead 418462 wrote:

Sorry to take you task on the above, but just because you have what i would call a negative/jaded whatever you want to call it out look on “the scene” dosent mean thats actually whats happening, you back up these
negatiove feelings with some facts (because of your job as i understand it) but if im correct i dont think youve been partying for sometime,

I went to a few events as recently as 2009 (both outdoor and indoor) but there are no legal venues left in this area due to others bad behaviour. OK its not the locals fault that Londoners come up here and shoot off guns and get our venues locked off but nor is it the authorities fault for closing down the venues. There are a few legal events but because of the backlash against excessive drugs and alcohol use its harder and harder to put them on in otherwise relatively safe areas like Suffolk. The only reason sensitize is tolerated in yarco is because that area is otherwise deprived and dependent on the night time economy. Even Lowestoft has made it harder to put on events as Suffolk has clamped down a bit.

A lot of my friends became disillusioned because they were putting a lot of effort into both outdoor and illegal venues and then being fucked over by a minority of people causing shit, as well as politics between crews and their own mates fucking up because of drugs. I don’t go around chatting peoples personal shit across forums in detail so I will leave it at that, but this stuff is happening.

At the moment, its basically the same 3000 or so people partying across the UK, young middle class people who have the time and money to go driving 100-300 miles every weekend for fun. Not everyone is as lucky as that, (especially with rising fuel prices) even amongst those what like dance music. Legal dance music based events look “busier” because (compared to even 5-10 years ago) they are now confined to a small selection of venues in socially deprived areas where the taxes/licensing gained from them offsets the issues caused by rampant drug/alcohol use.

Illegal raves (as I’ve said a few times previously) now usually happen in city areas where the feds have too much other violent crime to deal with to stop them. in many respects they are basically now a form of UK drugs tourism!

There are other good people such as damo666 putting on events here within the constraints of available venues and resources and doing quite well with them. These events end too quickly for me to want to travel 20 miles to them but fair play to them for putting these events on.

I don’t see anything “dark” TBH about wider society trying to strike a balance between peoples night time fun and other wider issues such as combating the problems of drug addiction and anti-social behaviour, even if it leads to some events being closed down. From the comments on here it does seem that many younger folk are now realising why certain things happen and behaving better or at least distancing themselves from more dysfunctional aspects of drug use, which is a very good thing indeed.

I certainly don’t agree with excessive police brutality being used to shut down unlicensed events – nor excessive licensing conditions, but if rave events are causing wider social problems and people piss multiple chances up the wall to make them better (which is what happened in EA) I can understand the authorities POV in restricting some aspects of nightlife.

A lot of travellers/squatters/hippies particularly the older ones are originally from relatively privileged backgrounds/upbringings and were or are often rebelling against these (sometimes with good reason) – if you look on tribal living many of the old original hippies even admit to this!

People try and dumb themselves down or even lie about their backgrounds because its “cool” but I stand by what I say – the bulk of people what have the time, energy and resources to live alternative lifestyles do originally come from relatively well-off backgrounds (particularly the TAA/art squat type) whether or not they admit it.

@Minghead 418475 wrote:

this forum gets read across the globe and if some one was to read your posts about “the scene” they would get a very negative unbalanced view of the scene, this may not be your intentiion but trust me you do not paint a happy picture, wich is fine if your a punter but as admin for a “party” site is a little unfair

so the last party you went to was 2 years ago and yet assumptions are still being made about the scene,i think thats a little too long to be abscent to make negative sweeping statements about the scene as it is today.

i hope your readingthis in the objective way in wich it sounds in my head!:group_hug

Again, I stand by what I say. The most important part of free speech is to get bad news out in the open – I do keep in touch with people who are still occasionally partying and little has changed in 2 years, and as a UK citizen and taxpayer I still have the right to comment on the wider effect of events in my region and elsewhere as a member of wider society.

Yes people are having “fun” but there are still wider problems with regard to drug use, violence, parties not being cleared up properly, mindless vandalism at venues which have remained unsolved in near enough 20 years.

At present, other than music policies there is now actually little difference in the impact to non participants between a event at a commercial nightclub, or a dance music event, or a free party.

The only reason society should tolerate a youth subculture which encourages drug use and other laws such as private property rights being disregarded is if it is in fact “less worse” than anything else what is going on (which was the case a few years ago).

Otherwise the rest of society has every right to take action. we are never going to recreate the 1990s and society is more clued up about both the positive and negative effects of drug use and “party” lifestyles. Authorities taking action certainly isn’t the end of the scene but I wouldn’t even call it a “crackdown” – its simply the result of society becoming more aware. my view is organisers have to live with this.

@Minghead 418479 wrote:

ohh im very aware of trusatafrians, trust me. and i am 100% sure that orginsers will “live with it”

i know there are issues in the scene, and there allways have been its just sometimes reading your posts gets the better of me & i have to stick up for what i know to be right, i really do hope one of these days you will spend that 30quid and grace a system feedback/friendz electric/avon raveon/ st pauls carnival dancelfoor, then maybe i can get those jaded glasses and destroy them with the plur that emenates from the 20k void and the dancefloor & community it serves!! harraaa
:group_hug

anyway enough of this debate it has been fun, but i feel we could go on all day
big love!

used to go raving in Bristol fairly regularly when I lived in Reading, including gener8r etc.. but its a lot more than £30 to get to Bristol from here, and I simply don’t have the time to spend a few days recovering. I’m sure this event, like any others “serves” a “community” what like drugs, music and hedonism. Not got a problem with that anywhere in UK, provided it doesn’t impact on others.

No disrespect intended to your crew who put in a lot of effort as do many others but I really don’t see any difference between raving in Bristol, Reading, Yarmouth, Thetford Forest, Lowestoft or Ipswich and I’m not that fussed how much sound system there is or about DJ’s or genres, all I care about is the right people are there for the right reasons!

Its up to wider English society to decide collectively “what is right” though, not just party people. We live in a decent, modern European nation I am proud to be part of but there’s much room for improvement.

The best case would be a European approach to all night time events (a cross between NL and FR maybe) where non problematic drug and alcohol use is tolerated as well as smaller outdoor events, but this will only happen when both sides make concessions and at the moment its up to the the people involved in the party scene to do this, not to expect non participants to let them take the piss (such as anti-social behaviour outside legal events).

we can , and must, learn from those across the North Sea…

@Minghead 418484 wrote:

yeah i do remember you sayin youve been to a few of our gigs,i for one would be more than happy to adopt a french approach to teks & free parties,

I’m thinking more of a wider European approach, a cross between the Netherlands acceptance of drugs testing, the pragmatism of Germany (such as how Fusion festival is organised) and the French permitting small events in some areas (its not 100% true that small raves are allowed everywhere in France, as each council area has the right to say yes or no to them)

None of this happened overnight either – in all these countries though the reason there is dialogue between ravers and councils / wider society is due to a greater sense of community and consensus and other people tolerating stuff even if they disagree with it (its hard to explain as there are words to explain this existing in other languages but not in English!)

there are wider plans in UK to move towards these kind of communities but it takes time and goes a lot further than just parties…. (what was more of a shame is some of my friends were nearly getting there, if they are lucky though they might get another chance)

TBH local crews here only lost out on venues because of others fuck-ups – it was just one ill-advised event in a local venue all the ravers were using what fucked things up here in recent times and got the place closed down.

Also another good venue got closed down due to market forces/mismanagement by its young owners and made into a starbucks and shop units..

Wasn’t that long ago that venue owners welcomed raver crowds as they were so much less hassle than pissheads, if people are prepared to perhaps behave a bit more respectfully (and aren’t so blatant about their drug use) then that could still happen again.

Outdoor parties are normally more fun and nicer surroundings but that doesn’t stop the issue of someone who is a bit of a twat still getting in because they drive and their friends want lifts (and thus endure their twattishness) I know you’re smart and I guess your mates are too and same with young `Matt and his friends, but I remember when outdoor raves were all over places like bebo 3 years ago and there were some right jobanowls who were clearly going to them…

I don’t think crews are “in it for the money” as such as all my mates what do parties have had to subsidise them from their own pockets.

By 2007 most of the East Anglia party venues particularly those around Thetford, Swaffham and Fakenham got rinsed (though I find it really hard to understand why people cannot find other places in such a large rural area…)

I think “older” systems (more precisely those what didn’t already stop around 2005 when things were getting on top) have “given up” mostly because they can’t afford to have a rig taken every time they come out which is what did happen and will happen once more if they take the piss again.