In a Dark Hour, Tiesto Comes to the Rescue

Yes, I realize I’m now a million years old and shouldn't be going to these kind of shows anymore. However, when my favorite DJ (Tiesto) was coming into town, I wasn’t about to miss his performance at my favorite Venue.

Many of you have heard me continuously bitch and moan about the lack of a good dance scene or death of the ‘rave culture’ all around the country and especially here where I live. Being old and pessimistic about the present scene, I was hesitant about the show. Also, my usual crew was no longer around, so I was stuck to going by myself.

I was quite hesistant about going even though it is my favorite DJ. It didn’t help that tickets were being sold for 3x face value and I was tempted to sell them a few times. Oh, but I trusted in my DJ and the beats, and I was so happy that I didn’t take the cash.

When I first walked into the venue, to my surprise, I immediately saw some Candykids (for explanations please go here). It was like seeing an extinct animal. I thought it maybe just a small group of kids, but as I followed them a little, they led me to more and more groups of Candykids all over the place.

This was a good sign of things to come.

As I walked around the venue, I saw more and more types of people that I haven’t seen in a while. People that I’ve missed in this culture. The place was not packed with the usual drunk frat guys and their slutty jump-up-and-down-bouncing-their-boobs-thinking-this-is-dancing crowd. What I saw was a place packed with UFO pants, glow sticks, pacifiers, Vicks, bottles of water, and people who were there to dance.

I got myself ‘prepped’, you know, stretching so I don’t throw out a hip, and other things and got down to the dance floor. I quickly found a couple groups of people to dance with around the stage. This is far different than the usual drunk groups that do not understand the meaning of dancing and thinks it’s odd that people are actually dancing instead of getting hammered and just jumping up and down like a dumbass.

I was quickly accepted into these groups as we danced in similar fashion. At one point when I was taking a rest (shut up, I’m old), a couple of people came up to compliment me on the dancing. This was a big ego boost as it hasn’t happened in a while (since the good ol' days). These people understood how its suppose to be broughten.

This one girl (AM) and I struck up a conversation as she mentioned that I danced very old school (her exact words). I was amazed and delighted that she knew. Having watched her dance as well, I knew she dances the same way. We started talking about the old days. We had been to many of the same venues, parties, and shows from ‘back in the days’.

Yay old ravers! This needs to be a new category in Wikipedia.

If you’ve ever gone to a show with me, you’d know that one of my big peeves is being crowed, especially by people who are not dancing. I’m there to dance and you don’t need to be all up in my space. When the crowd was encroaching on the group’s dance space, amazingly enough, AM had the same thought as I to move to another area so we can have space to dance while giving the remaining group more room to dance.

This is a usual practice in the days. It’s cool to hook up with people, but we like the dancing and always get back together later. As AM and I walked, we talked a bit more about the scene. Its difficult to explain as its a mentality, but to hear someone else talking about raving was worth the price of admission.

Speaking of old school, at one point during the night, I got a head job from one of the CandyKids. This involves a face to face light show with glow sticks while Vicks vapor is blown in your face. You have to be there, but it’s very cool. I was also asked for drugs several times. This is a great feeling as the kids don't think I'm old enough to be a Narc.

Besides meeting AM and many CandyKids, I met up with people who worked at a cool dance club who would get me into VIP whenever I’m there. I also met up with some groups that wanted to have regular meeting up of the make shift groups. I’m sure it was all just club talk, but it’s nice to be involved.

These are the kind of things I’m talking about. While most people’s objectives when going to a club is all about getting hammered and picking up, ravers are never about that. It’s always about dancing, meeting people, and unity to beats. Sure picking up happens, but its not why you're there. There're a lot of touching with this crowd, but its very comforting and not the creepy kind you generally get at the clubs. Also, certain chemicals may make touching an unbelievable feeling.

The only bad part of the night was when I had to leave during Tiesto’s set. I have never left a set early, but the venue was getting so crowed and insanely hot. Not to mention that I was dead tired by about 2am (this is quite sad as we used to go at 1am and stay till about 6am). I was too tired to dance anymore and even if I wanted to, there wouldn’t be space anyway so I decided to leave.

It was a good time. Old school good time.