Forums › Rave › Free Parties & Teknivals › Creating our own free party…
hi all,
i would like to ask if someone could help me creating a free party? Tell me how i should do it. Me and some friends would love to create one, but we don’t know how we should get started.It may sound stupid to plan a free party without knowing anything about it, but we have a very good reason:
Last year on TV i saw something about raves, after seeing the show i got interested in free parties and started to do some researched on the internet where i found lots of information which made my interest in raves grow even bigger. What i liked about raves were the people, they are so social and talk active there, Everybody is friendly, Everybody talks to each other about anything for hours, Everybody is in a good mood, Everybody helps each other out. There are no differences between classes or so, and that is what i found so great about those raves, the people, they are just some friends that came to party and nothing more. What I also liked about raves is that money isn’t the first objective, its all about the music, partying, making new friends,ect. But what i really liked the most was that it can go on for days!
After those researches i talked about those free parties to some friends, who also loved the concept and the meaning of raves, we soon started to listen a bit everywhere,looking all over the internet, hoping to find something about a rave that is coming up, but we didn’t found anything, maybe because we are from Belgium and that this kind of party doesn’t really come around anymore, or probably because we just know the wrong people. We searched for about one year long, and we didn’t even found one party. After this disappointment, me and my mates came on the idea of creating our own, if we can’t bring ourselves to a rave, lets bring the rave to us!. and this is how that whole thing started.
Our main problem is that we’ve never been to a free party before, so except for some pictures and so from the internet en TV, we don’t even know how those raves really go, or how they look like.We have some other problems which we can solve ourselves such as dj’s, areas, etc. Money isn’t an issue, we are able to bring up all the money we need together. To get people to come isn’t a problem neither, because the planning will take time, we are planning to do it next summer, which gives it enough time for mouth-to-mouth promotion to develop on a great scale, and we would also post on hundreds of sites all over the internet, etc. But stuff like the going of the party, the music installation and so, thats what causes a problem, due we’ve never been to one before.
I hope some of you party goers are willing to help us, it may seem an impossible task but you can’t win if you don’t try! So please, reply on this board, or send me an email or add me to MSN, my address is angelofdoom13@hotmail.com . If there are some Belgian people out there, i’m willing to come over if you want to discuss things and such, thats not a problem. I really hope things will turn alright…
~~ Greetzz ~~
wow – I am actually shocked to hear no free parties happen in Belgium – particularly as I remember Human Resource, Outlander, Joey Beltram etc…
In Britain we get away with many parties despite the fact that cops and locals don’t like them, and the UK is actually a very small area with everyone crammed into towns, cities and villages.
first thing I would suggest (as you say you already have venues) is check what the laws are like – if you do “music without a license” what can cops do? are you risking being fined loads of €€€€€€ or even jail and having your equipment confiscated? perhaps this is why there are no parties in Belgium?
I did also do a quick search for “teuf belgique” but did not come up with much useful info – someone said “there is one but they did not know where” and that was for 2003 (sorry, I do not know much Flemish so could only search in French)
What I have noticed over the year is parties more often get stopped due to locals complaining than cops doing james bond spy type stuff like monitoring mobile phone traffic.
If you find somewhere out of the way and do not create traffic problems like blocking roads you can often get away with everything. Also do not leave trash about the venue or cause environmental damage. clear up all trash and cans and take them away in the vans to the city recycling centre or wherever trash normally goes.
As you mentioned, other stuff like getting equipment is actually fairly easy. Plenty to be found, plenty of DJs; the main problem is keeping the crews motivated and other people issues like keeping away hooligans (but maybe there are less of these in Belgium?)
what I heard about belgium is that the government is very restrictive about illegal parties
you can check some dutch sites(many messages written in english, it’s an very international scene) with info about the Dutch Goa scene, it is very much alive and there are a lot of free parties going on in the netherlands
http://www.goatrance.nl
http://www.goatrance.net
http://roundtheclocknetwork.com
last weekend we did a free party in Amsterdam(without permits) and there will be free party again next weekend from another organisation and the weekend after that there certainly be another one 😉
some pics of last weekend
http://goa.trance.fotopic.net/c234177.html
Man let me ask you something , where do you wanna do it ? Like in the club, house ???
Last year I threw a party in New York City with my friends , we rented the place not for cheap , but it`s all good , cuz after the party we made a big profit . So I suggest u to make it in the club,so you could have fun and at the same time you get money that u waisted . I don`t know what to tell you , if you realy wanna do this then u gotta figure out everything , how much money you going to waiste and what are you planning to do ?
I helped a lot of my friends with their parties , so if you want any suggestions . You can ask me , I`ll tell you .
If you have AIM , then holla at me : DTRiPzX
had a quick look and found this for you party list and also links to some systems and organisers in belgium
hope it helps you out…some of the links appear to be dead others in flemmish or french so i’m not much use there.
You sound well up for it,and that counts for a lot…get yourselves along to a free party and check it out,talk to the crew,if you tell them what youve just told us on here,then im sure they will offer plenty of good advice
Those photo’s are wicked – improvising at it’s best.
If it don’t work – try again.
Nicely done !!
there’s a handy link on http://www.urban75.com that gives loads of info on free parties, and another one on http://www.magicbob2000.com
enjoy,
SKP
magic bob, the freeparty don.
:lol_big: :cyclop_2: :head_bang :wtf_beard :head_to_h
enjoy,
SKP
there’s some handy links here as well, thank you very much :surprised
still, always worth biggin’ up urban75, that is a top site.
magic bob!
I think u must c this —> EVANTS
HappyHardcore &…
DangerHardcoreTeam
FUSE
some…:)
When it comes to throwing a party….
PROMOTION, PROMOTION, PROMOTION
Plan WAY in advance. Promote your party as soon as you can, to allow the maximum time of exposure to promotion before the party. This will get more people, and makes it look more professional rather than a half arsed get together among friends who like the same music. How long to promote before the party is up to you, could be a week to a couple months, but usually at least two or three weeks. Listen to a bunch of Local DJs at other events, and after their sets go up and chat with them. Explain that you’re throwing a free party, and its your first party, so you’re figuring things out. Tell them you really liked their set and their style, and you’d love to have them at your event. DJs more than anyone can appreciate music for music’s sake, and they sure as hell aren’t in it for the money. Most of them are really nice, and will be happy to play for free or dirt cheap if you play your cards right.
Usually you can find one of the locals to supply their own tables and mixers, maybe you might toss them a bit extra dough for the effort. Do some research before hand, don’t get the local with the shittiest tables to bring his to be used by everyone. You might even find a local with a couple thousand watts of sound they can provide. If not, talk to a smaller sound group or sound guy, and explain your situation to him just like the DJs. He’ll probably only want reimbursement for gas and transportation, and maybe a pack of beer (or something stronger) 😉
Once you got all your DJs and sound, get your lineup straight. Plan carefully what DJs should go in which order. Have someone strong at the begining of the night to set the vibe, a solid crowd pleaser in the middle, and someone with energy to keep the party going later in the night. As soon as you get that lineup, PROMOTE. You can get a few hundred lower quality fliers for dirt cheap. Hand them out to friends, and get them to hand them out to people they think would be cool. This keeps a pretty solid demographic of people who would enjoy the party. Always post an info line, never the exact location.
Location. Thats #2 right after promotion. Find a good spot, and a safe one. I would STRONGLY suggest an outdoor party for your first party. You’ll need to rent a generator, talk to the sound guy to find out how much power you will need. You can find one at any major hardware store. Always get one size bigger than you think you need. If you choose a warehouse, you’re on you’re own for finding one. Thats unique to every city, so you would know best here. A good location is a balancing act. You need to balance one that is far away that the authorities won’t find or bother you, but close enough that people will be willing to go to. Enclosed enough that the sound won’t piss off people in they nearby countryside, but not so small that it could get overcrowded or dangerous, or that the sound will sound shitty. Also, make sure it is easy enough to access for your sound guy to haul all his gear down (nothing worse than the sound guy’s truck getting stuck in a ditch a kilometer from your party an hour before it begins), and make sure you have SOLID directions to put on an infoline and give your crew.
After that its a game of waiting. And making sure that everyone who said they’d be there will. Especially the DJs and sound guy. DJs have a tendency to live a bit in their own little world, and need reminding from time to time to keep them on track for your party. While you’re waiting, you could also work on cheap things to make your party better. This includes homemade props and decorations for a theme of whatever you party is called, getting pallets of wood for a fire, finding a vendor who could sell water, glowsticks, etc at your party and give you a flat fee for the priviledge. Keep checking on your venue to make sure its good. Check it out at day and night. Make sure that it doesn’t flood or get muddy, that there are no dangerous areas to get hurt on.
Thats at least how we do thing here. Hope my advice applies and could be of some help. If you need any more help feel free to IM or email me.
If it wasn’t for people like you willing to volunteer their hard work, money, and time just to make other people have a great time, then there wouldn’t be a scene at all. Kudos to you, and Good Luck!
:horay:
that is a good check list for puttin on a party, i have to say. almost makes it seem easy. the order i usually do things is find a venue first, check it out, put the word out that a party will happen a week before (any earlier and the police have too much warning), hire a van and genny, get the rig out, ring up the crew, dust off the banners and decor, then wait for the night. most crews in england have their own roster of djs mcs and vjs that play on their system, with freinds and special guests as and when. the idea of the soundsystem is based on the reggae tradition, where soundsystem actually means full party crew, whop you can just ring up, say “we’re doin this here” and theyll be there.
i dunno bout in the US, but in this country, the police come down hard on these events if they can, so promotion is not a good idea. at least not in the way youre talking about. if uk organisers get caught publicly promoting a freeparty, you can get jailtime or £20,000++ fines. if you wanna see british underground dance events, check out the uk teknival thread….
ps: are US partys free /donation? i was under the impression that unlisenced parties didnt really happen stateside.
Beste vriend,
I lived in Brussels for a long time. They throw some free parties there every now and then, some outdoor parties in the woods in summer and some squat parties in winter.
The website you are looking for is http://www.boups.com (who throw a big NYE party every year). Take a look at the agenda…22.6 is the next free party
They are defenitely happening, keep your ears to the ground!
Good luck!
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Forums › Rave › Free Parties & Teknivals › Creating our own free party…
