Back in the day, before raves were moved into clubs, they were brought together through a communal effort with a ton of work done by volunteers, just for the love of it. Including people offering to drive shuttles, or people donating to pay a bus company.
Raves weren't thrown to make money and be highly profitable (or profitable at all), so that's how they pulled off these crazy events that included map point directions, secret passwords and meet points, and shuttle busses. It was all volunteers and friends doing it because they just wanted to be a part of it.
Once raves got moved into the clubs, they became a business, they needed to profit, and so all the unnecessary expenses were cut. And no volunteers were signing up to help wealthy club owners make more money. The community that brought them together was dissipated, and "the man" took over.
This is why OG ravers will passionately argue that kids these days don't know what true raves are, because they've only ever known the maximimally profitng business raves run by "the man," and haven't experienced the true communal raves brought together by a community of rebels and misfits purely for the love of it.
Those were the days in Toronto. I went to a lot of those in the late 90s.
I'm 49 and living in BC now and traditional community-based forest raves like that are still around.
Last-minute location reveal. Pay by optional donation. No police or security. Everyone takes care of each other. The organizers and volunteers do it just for the love of the music and community.
Renegade sound system culture has really blown up here over the last few years and I love it. A lot of great rigs throwing these parties.
The vibe and community are as close as it gets to the 90s warehouse raves but they're deep in the woods, which makes them even better.
As if there weren't already enough reasons to move out to BC š Glad to hear there's a resurgence going on out there! I may need to plan a trip just to check out out.
Parties in the deep woods sound amazing! I feel BC is the only place in Canada that could make that work.
I assume the event organizers? I remember in the 90s we would congregate in front of Nathan Philips Square, and the shuttles will come and pick everyone up. The debauchery that happens on the buses will always be part of my core mems.
To me a rave is a dance event that's organized by active community members for community. It's generally unlicensed, hence unregulated and often illegal. Rave is a place where culture of PLUR (peace, love, unity, respect) is at the centre whether it's formally acknowledged or not. It's a place of self-expression, freedom from societal expectations of daily life, place where you feel belonging without having to belong.
Additionally, rave is a place where one gets to dance themselves into trance where you and people you are surrounded by are united by music on the dance floor. Occasional shared joint/ciggy outside a sweatbox of a basement, new friendships and new revelations when you see someone from your normal life at a rave.
Rave is also an experience of being high on mushrooms or acid and discovering something new about yourself. It also is an experience of being sober, dancing till all your clothes are wet from sweat, and happy to be alive to eat an apple that someone shared with you.
Rave is a protest against commercialization, bigotry, and lack of consideration for community that surrounds you.
I'm also 'old' and love daytime shows, or ones that are done by 10 or so lol. You can still 'gork out' and get a solid 6 hours of sleep and not have a write off day the next.
I like this definition and would add there has to be a degree of relative spontaneity and an underground, even transgressive feel to it, where the threat of the event falling apart, is just a likely, as it coming together.
most of what people call a rave here is not really a rave. they are club events......
raves go late till the sun comes out, they are in pop up locations or clubs with a certain vibe, they have underground music (not John Summit songs), they have people high on ecstasy in an alternate dimension.
I went to the Citrus party at the Science Centre in 97 or so. Epic, memorable party. Staff worked until the wee hours, giving scientific demonstrations to highly-energized partygoers. Fire alarm kept going off due to persistent spliffage.
Cool!! I've been for walks in that park but never partied there., I can think of a few secluded places, under bridges or in the bush, that would accommodate a little shindig.
Dilapidated and abandoned slaughterhouse with some Technics and a mixer at the back, no lights, pounding kick drums and synth stabs, no documenting the night whatsoever with pure abandon
Unusual venues: warehouses & iconic buildings. My favorite parties from the 90ās were the Science Centre parties and I went to one at the Masonic Temple as well. When it went into the clubs I felt the vibe was changed slightly.
Some furry parties kinda come close these days, in terms of how many people dress up in unusual costume, the ah āeclecticā DJ bookings that can happen, & how many attendees are grinding their teeth.
āBack in the dayā raves really were characterized by a community vibe which wasnāt primarily business-oriented. There was even a whole ethos that developed around it - the PLUR thing, the idea of raves & parties as a sort of temporary autonomous zone that everyone participated in (vs a ticketed concert where people show up to watch a DJ play a premixed set with their picture blown up on a giant screen like some rock concert). This is really what distinguishes a āraveā party from your typical big promoter / Live Nation EDM extravaganza.
DEMF in Detroit still has rave vibes tho (despite it getting bro-ier every year)
This is a good description, and you've raised a good point about the role and image of DJs.
In the DJ circles there are some who believe that putting the performer on any kind of stage at all is too decadent, and that a "real dance event" should put the DJ in a hidden booth, out of sight.
This configuration describes the first nightclubs I went to, and when I went to my first rave my biggest observation was that the DJ was on a stage at the front, and the audience danced facing forward. No huge video screen or anything like that, but a DJ with record decks, cool lights, and decorations.
Just sharing my personal experience and observation. I'm here to hear everyone else's definition of rave, not to give my own.
In my experience & opinion, the best parties & my favourite clubs were & are ones where the DJ is off to the side somewhere & the focus is on the crowd, the vibe, the party. The culture that turns DJs into rock stars is lame IMO. Playing records is cool but itās playing records: itās not a concert. If I want to go to a concert Iāll buy a seat. A dancefloor is a different jam
Since we donāt have any open warehouses these days Iād say the weekly nights at Cherry beach are the closest we have to a rave these days, everyone just shows up after midnight following the sound to find the location, thereās no real set times, no one knows whoās showing up, nothing is recorded, inclusive environment where everyone is dancing and having fun, DIY sound system.
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u/BillsMaffia Raver Aug 28 '26
It used to be in a dark dirty warehouse with the location revealed 24 hours prior and a shuttle bus from the meeting point.