Who killed the rave?

I think it’s health related, as the article mentions.

>One executive in the entertainment industry said younger people were less inclined to go out raving until 6am as they were more health conscious and less frivolous with money than previous generations

This is the same generation that has 12 step skincare routines, eats only organic food, chooses to vape or zyn rather than smoke because of secondhand smoke, everyone has an Apple watch on their wrist tracking calories, etc.

If anything I’m surprised that binge drinking and going out late as survived as long as it has.

And as far as the money comment, this generation is not less frivolous there’s just less money to go around haha.

And I would say the large festival audiences are wholly unfamiliar with that, given that the option of the bigger elaborate event was always in their face. There was nothing they needed to find or be in the know about, and to them, the festivals are that same journey.

Regarding expense: not everyone is broke. And many people have shifted their budget to exclusively going to music festivals. I know lots of people that scoff at the idea of going to a nightclub or “going out” at all, but praise and prioritize going to music festivals. Even more are on payment plans for festival tickets far in advance, they are confident they can sell them at a premium if they don't go.

I’m just reporting what I’m seeing and applying market dynamics to it.

Given the tension with “wooks” that bum their way to the bigger festivals and have little to support themselves or any integration into society, I see intentional segregation with the current generation of festivals goers that supports an intentional interest in paying a premium for the exclusion it comes with. Event groups found that pool of wealth and demand, and are capitalizing on it to its extreme. But this crowd is really not trying to be around the other budget conscious crowd at the warehouse and barnyard, and there are plenty of good vibes to be had - you just choose which festival has the vibe you like. if one is too fratty for you, or has too many influencers, then you can still go to the “PLUR” one.

Ahhh, I interpreted this as an oblique reference to accidental overdoses from impure/laced drugs which is a huge problem in the US and probably a real deterrent.

I realize now from the other responses this was maybe a reference to exploding pagers, which is dependent on (I suppose) the view that raves in Europe are heavily attended by people of middle eastern descent?

That’s not really the “known-as-ravers” crowd here in the US so that reference may have just flown way over my head and I injected the top-of-mind US issue which is drug contamination.

> The production value is quite high now and still improving so I don't see why the illicit rave experience would be so interesting when the facilities would be so lacking in comparison. There are lots of electronic dance music events on boats, cruiseliners, retired battleships and more.

There will always be people attracted to the underground scene where the production value doesn't rank higher than the energy on the dancefloor.

It's good to have both options but they are very different experiences, the mainstream stuff with high production value is a show, it's meant for people who are going to parties to see specific artists and their shows.

That experience is quite opposite of what a good underground rave is, it's much more raw, less concerned about the surface-level showmanship; artists are there to provide a journey to the ones on the dancefloor but not to be the main star, the main star is supposed to be the party itself.

I really enjoy much more the experience of the underground scene, I don't see phones up in the air recording, I don't see people staring at a light show/screens with AV, the experience of getting lost with a crowd of people, all dancing, interacting among each other.

Personally I think it's quite good to have the mainstream scene, it filters out quite a lot of people who wouldn't belong in an underground rave.

I would never expect powder when I said MDMA, I would expect crystals or pills. Ecstasy is often said to be cut with other substances, but almost never is, because most other drugs are more expensive and less potent than MDMA. There are often impure batches containing meth or other amphetamines, often other "designer drugs" being pressed into pills and sold as ecstasy while not being MDMA, but rarely intentionally cutting the MDMA with other drugs.

Drug pro-tip: anything powder is garbage, crack comes in rocks (crack users aren't all that picky though, from beeswax to swiss cheese to chalk, from white as snow to bright yellow, usually off-white, it comes in a variety of appearances and textures and users savor the cut - the most favored stuff is usually not the purest), coke comes in chunks (white, off-white, even yellowish, good quality stuff has a flaky structure and pearlescent shine), heroin comes in chunks (from white to tan to black, occasionally gooey), weed comes in nuggets (but used to come in chunks, maybe still does if reggies/illegal weed still exists in your area), meth is long usually clear crystals, molly is shorter and more cuboid crystals, usually colored (pink, tan/brown, only very rarely clear).