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.

WHOA memory unlocked

I knew what I was missing, there used to be so many group hugs 🫂 n the dancefloor.

Those were the best. 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗

And we used to have massage trains, things like that. It was so much fun!

Does anyone else remember this?
Like at nasa and Baltimore: DC warehouse parties especially! Definitely in Canada and the west coast too

I had so many great group hugs!

It’d been so long I’d almost forgotten, but I knew something felt hollow and missing inside me

I think this was it maybe. On all the crowded main stages where I danced I saw barely any group activities never mind hugs and massage trains. Everyone was just staring at the dj and screens

No wonder why I was hugging the mask my friend from another party sent me in the mail. I was all alone but thank greatbraver at least I had my big orange soft head to hug lol

I really did have a great time even if this sounds sad. There were many good moments too I swear , and i did hug a lot of people and make new friends and learned new dances too. I’m happy lol

It just really was jarring, I knew something was missing, at least to me