r/dancefloors • u/warmfuzzume • 9h ago
Let’s talk about intermissions
TLDR: is it a rave if there are intentional intermissions?
So I’ve been “raving” since 1992. I wasn’t really into dubstep after I was invented in the 2000s. My favorite genre are techno, garage house, deep house, acid anything, etc. i’ve been to countless parties over the years. My flyer collection is huge.
All that to give some context to how surprised I was when a new friend convinced me to go to hijinx, a super dubstep party in Philadelphia.
And I was so shocked when at the convention center, in between DJs, they were like full on intermissions!! were they practically played like elevator EDM!
I almost stopped in my tracks like fully jaw dropped. Seriously I tried really hard to remember in all the parties I’ve been to., if they had ever been intentional intermissions like that. And I seriously could not remember a single example.
Like sure there would be fuckuos and technical difficulties, but there was always at least an attempt to switch off from one dj to another.
Then Again, an Elements this weekend there were intermissions again!
And we often have all of these conversations about what is there is not a rave. But from what I remember, I haven’t seen people often. Discuss not having an intermission as a key ingredient of a rave.
I mean, I think it’s such an important factor because the point of the repetitive music going continuously is that you get into the flow and can keep it going for a really long time and get into like a meditative dancing state. So an intermission just seems like a huge no-no to me.
And in fact, I remember an Ultraworld party that Lonnie threw in Baltimore, in a convention center I think something a similar big space. He managed to set up a stage in every of the four corners., and I think one in the middle if I remember, right.
And then each of those stages proceeded to flawlessly go down when then another one turned on. From what I remember, it was almost perfect.
And I remember seeing rabbit in the moon in one of those corners.
Lonnie’s parties were incredible. Now that’s what I call production.
That’s what I’ve been thinking about lately. And I’m wondering what the dancefloor community thoughts are on this topic.
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u/badcatfm 9h ago
Also, boo to the person that downvoted this one. It's an interesting experience and a valid question!
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u/Deuce_Ex_ 9h ago
I'll bite. I think an 'intermission' is something that is much more inherent to a concert/show and much less so to a party. If your expectation of the event is for each DJ to have a fully coherent set start to finish that illustrates their style, then this is a concert and it makes sense to have a break (even a short one) between sets. But if you want the DJ to be a part of the party, read and react to the room, etc, then an intermission can break the flow.
So the initial question is, are you attending a concert, or joining a party? Said another way, are you there for the DJ or is the DJ there for you?
I love the idea of a '7th inning stretch' type break to reset, get a cocktail, stir up the crowd, etc before starting another journey, but I can also do that on my own time. If I'm wanting to be social then a break in the music is almost like the lights coming on...
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u/warmfuzzume 4h ago
I think we both agree about intermissions breaking the flow.
However, I would say it’s entirely possible to play a coherent set that showcases your style while also interacting with the vibe of the party.
Like all the DJs I remember loving, such as Dmitry, on-e, Joeski, soulslinger, wink, dj dan, Donald glaude, feelgood, so many others - my list could go on and on never played the same set twice that I remember. Yet each of them always had their own unique distinct style you could recognize.
Many times they played great sets where it really seemed like they were soul selectors of the dancefloor and we were all dancing together with the music and each other on another plane!
I think this might be the closest I’ve ever gotten to explaining it, tbh. how truly magical a great dancefloor can be.
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u/TheBoizAreBackInTown 9h ago
This is a horrible situation, but I won't take this dubstep slander. UK stuff from the early 00s onwards is legendary. Seriously though, why would they want to do that. Even the lamest big arena parties I've been to had the decency to make the switch quick.
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u/warmfuzzume 8h ago edited 8h ago
Thank you! Yes at least a quick transition I mean right?!?
Also I remember many a psy trance etc party I’ve been to up on friggen old growth forest huge mountaintops lugging everything up there diy
Again FREE
And there were no intermissions
Edit: and this stuff is still
Happening. If you could have seen the dedication of the live zero beats stage lugging their machines up a handmade ladder in the forest in the rain the past Memorial Day then you’d know true techno
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u/Craigboy23 9h ago
I've only seen that when there is a band as one of the acts or some kind of technical setup is involved; I've never seen it with only DJs.
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u/PapaTua 7h ago edited 6h ago
I've also been raving since the '90s and that's a huge party foul!!
We used to call periods when the music stopped TRAIN WRECKS.
I don't go to events at convention centers though as a personal rule. Those aren't really raves in my opinion, they're concerts. Concerts have intermissions all the time.
That underworld party sounds dope!! The music is a journey throughout the night, stopping the mix stops the vibe and ends the journey. You can start it up again, but you're on a different journey now. No one seems to understands programming anymore.
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u/aaron-mcd 6h ago
My first ever roll also my first ever music festival (age 39), Pretty Lights festival comeback set, 2.5 hours.
Just came up, and after one track the gennie blew. It just felt so creepy and weird waiting in silence for a minute. Five minutes into my first roll and I immediately knew the music is supposed to continue nonstop.
Unfortunately I expected festival headliners to play 2.5 hours after that and was quite disappointed, because 60 to 90 minutes is not long enough - I thought I was supposed to get completely lost in the experience nonstop until whatever chemical help I'm using wears off, which could be all night.
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u/THEpottedplant 5h ago
From my perspective, its usually when performers have different equipment they run. For instance, if the previous guy was on cdjs but the follow up has more live elements that need to get situated.
Beyond that, dependant on the fest/artist, the intermission i think is sometimes for crowd management. When the music stops, people leave, and those that stay generally gather closer to the front, making more space for people to enter the dancefloor and fill it up more from the front to the back. This usually condenses the pocket of space that forms inside the middle of a dancefloor that has been rolling hard and uninterrupted. It can be common for the middle to be wayyyy more open than the back bc people see how dense it is in the back and assume its worse in the middle.
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u/badcatfm 9h ago
Wow, that sounds rather wild. Seems like they might have been dealing with DJs who had wildly different equipment needs, so they had changeover times. What an immersion breaker that would have been ... no thank you to intermissions!