Party Vibe

@`Matt 410470 wrote:

There was only two rigs at that party and it was pretty bad vibes imo. About 40 of us came down from norfolk out of that 5 got mugged including myself :/. I guess thats what happens if aload of 17-19 year olds go to a london squat tho….

it didn’t when I was 17-19 and going to London squats and at one point living on my own in London. I had more trouble in streets than I did at any squat or squat party.

Admittedly the “good days” didn’t last long (gangs started causing problems at London raves as early as 1994) and Londonistan itself (it even already deserved that name) was just as rough on the streets – but there was a slightly different vibe on the London squat scene – people were a bit friendlier (the whole idea of raves was to get away from the unfriendly atmosphere of the rest of London).

Even though mobile phones and portable electronic kit (other than cassette walkmans) weren’t as common, young people still carried cash, more often than today as a 1990s cashpoint wasn’t always reliable late at night, so robbery was as much of a risk.. That said at those squat parties people genuinely lived in the building so people seemed to have a lot more respect… it also seemed that those what wanted to fight didn’t bother to go to “hippy’s parties” and kept their beef to the estates or other music events.

Do you like psy trance? those parties seem safer (its rare for them to be targeted by gangs as the attitudes gangs exhibit are too out of place and easily detected) and as the entry costs seem the same might be worth a try..

yeah thats the situation I’ve come across, especially as £30+ is a lot of money to get to London (even if you drive you will still be spending that of not more on petrol costs and wear and tear). I think there are wider social reasons for all this going beyond parties, and for the moment any large gathering of people presents major security risks which is why I don’t go out as much – but of course I wouldn’t feel the same way at age 18….

TBH the only people winning here are the Met and the gangs. Even security just creates a challenge for them and even psy-trance parties have been rushed.

I remember hearing about a psy trance event where security had repelled a gang but they returned, smashed every window at the warehouse and when cops turned up due to the ruckus the gang only went away after arguing with the organisers in the cops earshot, threatening to come back with guns.

Next thing was CO19 (metpol armed units) closed down the party and evacuated the warehouse for everyones safety. I don’t think the gang actually had any guns but just did this to fuck up the party out of spite.

if you know anything about the grime/urban scene its fairly common for rival crews to start beef at events and get them locked off so everyone loses out on the money they’ve spent, whilst this has happened at dance music events since the 1980s when the scene started, its only comparatively recently that violence and sabotage has been an actual part of any music scene..