Forums › Rave › Free Parties & Teknivals › IS THE FREE PARTY SCENE SLOWLY DIEING OUT?
I don’t want to sound like one of these people who goes around saying “It aint like it was back in the day etc” ……..BUT…… When I first started going to free parties around 5 years ago, I would have a choice of probably 5 – 10 different parties going off in my area, now it seems I am lucky to have a choice of 1 or 2. There was a thriving scene in Outer London, Central London East Anglia, Devon, Thames Valley, Surrey/West Sussex, Brighton, Bristol, Wales, Northern Home Counties.
Now I would say regular London parties have died down, was loads every weekend but now there is only a couple. East Anglia still has a good party scene, but Devon has died, Bristol & Surrey. It just seems there are a lot of crews who probably still have their rigs but just dont take them out anymore and there doesn’t seem to be many new rigs to replace the older ones who dont wish to go out.
There also seems to be less people attending the parties aswell. I realise the scene works in swings an roundabouts and things will more than likely pick up again at some point. But have others noticed the same things or not? or am i having a bad day and only thinking about the negative side of things.
i don’t know about london or north england
but i wouldn’t say free parties are dying out at all around here
good to hear. It’s just round my way there is a lot of talk that slowly but surely the parties are dieing down. The police are locking down most areas. Regular party crews haven’t been going out much. Esp in Surrey areas and there are hardly any new crews starting up. Don’t get me wrong i can only speak for the area I reside in. I just get the impression alot of people are losing interest and theres not as many people gaining interest.
Maybe i’m being a bit harsh with my comments today, I dont feel the scene will ever die out as you will always have people who want to go outdoors with their friends and dance, socialise, get merry and listen to music regardless of whether it is legal to do so or not. I just think maybe with all the police problems / operations the scene has shrunk a little.
i’ve noticed less people attending parties than a year or two ago, when it was easy to get 1000 people out in a night… been to a few parties this year with maybe just 100 people!
which i guess is an effect of police action… less people get to hear about parties as organisers are having to be more cagey, plus more people think they will get busted for going, because of warped ‘news’ stories, so don’t risk it
the challenge around here is persuading people to come together, share resources, information and all have loads of fun together…getting people working together rather than having 5 or 6 little parties….
its certainly been downsized, but is unlikely to die totally at least for the next 5 years and if we are all sensible…
some regions which got rinsed a few years back in the last peak of raves have been locked down because (with hindsight) crews did not think of the wider impact (as described in the ridgeway thread).
Even if your crew clear up the rubbish, you don’t know if some chav has tipped out all the crap in his car on the field further down the track, or even fly tipped something (a common thing which used to happen is gary boys would swap parts of their cars and then discard the bits they didn’t want)
there are three threats to free parties…
1. hostile action from the authorities
2. violence
3. internal crew politics (which splits crews and makes people less willing to turn out with a rig)
and all of these have caused less parties to happen – but they can be dealt with if everyone works together – better chosen areas, not rinsing the same bits every weekend, and making sure those who attend are there for the right reasons.
Giving clear directions as well stops people driving aimlessly around villages which hots up the party and gets people busted for small posesssion when black rats (traffic cops) are about who know the area better and can hide in laybys.
I’ve been at a few student houseparties recently in my city; the people there are a mixture of middle class students, and “harmless” chavs (TBH I probably come into that category just through appearance!). Sometimes there is beef, but all we had to do was talk to a few people and say “don’t bring ******” to the party as he caused bare trouble – and the rest of the group who are OK often just comply! OK in London things are darker, but in the provinces it can be simple as that.
attitude is killing the scene. if people don’t know where the party is then dont be surprised if no one turns up. when i used to rave about 5 years ago there were always loads of parties every weekend in london, it was simply a matter of calling up a number and deciding which rig you wanted to hear. and i didn’t ever see a single incidence of violence.
london is moody, but only becasue we let it get like that.
who’s ‘we’?
IME London is full of paranoid people… can’t see how I’m responsible.. when I lived there I did all I could to remain open and friendly, although it made people suspicious of me :crazy_fre
london is moody, but only becasue we let it get like that.
I’m a londoner -although I chose to move out about 12 years ago when things got too much. I also used to crew at some London parties (fuck doing that now though…)
a lot of the paranoia comes from the “rugged individualism” that people have – when youre in London its often “look out for number 1 and fuck everyone else” – even if someone is friendly you have to be careful as they could rip you off the next minute
as for the party scene the problems with violence etc started 10 years ago and people didn’t do enough about it.
the attitude was merely “learn to fight back – if you aren’t big then get a weapon” rather than trying to have security or keep people out
when there was security it as “local hard men” as self appointed “rave police” who would deal out punishment beatings with the obvious risk of running feuds/reprisals etc – for those who wanted violence it was the ultimate macho fantasy, for others they just didn’t care as long as they weren’t the ones being attacked, it was even seen as entertainment
there was a woman who tried to unite the sounds etc and do something positive but some crews wouldn’t listen to her because she was a woman and rig politics stopped anything positive being done to stop trouble until it was IMO a bit too late.
now violence is seen as part of the scene and those who cause it have got ingrained in the crowds. They allegedly even went all the way to Wales to follow the London crews and cause trouble – this is just pure evil as it shows they weren’t just robbing to fund addictions – if youre hooked you don’t put a 100 mile trip between you and your next rock!
I know loads of people who no longer go raving because of violence.
I appreciate though there are still good people and crews in London (such as Headfuk and the other Londoners who post here) but they still have a hell of a battle on there hands.
the attitude was merely “learn to fight back – if you aren’t big then get a weapon” rather than trying to have security or keep people out
when there was security it as “local hard men” as self appointed “rave police” who would deal out punishment beatings with the obvious risk of running feuds/reprisals etc – for those who wanted violence it was the ultimate macho fantasy, for others they just didn’t care as long as they weren’t the ones being attacked, it was even seen as entertainment
i think all the points you make are valid, GL. as i see it, things deteriorated because a lot of good people either stood there and did nothing when trouble started (which is as bad as being a trouble maker yourself IMO) or they turned their tails and fled london or stopped going to free parties altogether.
hope you’re not insinuating i ‘fled’ london to escape violence?
i left the city because it’s not my home – I spent 9 years travelling the world… and stopped in London for 6 months between trips at one stage … but London (or any city) has very limited appeal to someone like me… born and bred in the countryside :bigsmile:
the problem for free party crews in London though is they are trying to succeed where Scotland Yard and Red Ken (who have far more resources and power!) have failed….
And people on the urban music scenes have been bigging up the “rude bwoy/hard man/gangsta” lifestyle for years now – its become part of youth culture in London and very hard to get out of people’s brains if you ever can do so. people walk the street expecting beef, expecting people to try and jack them, why should it be any different at parties to the average youth?
I remember people back in the 90s warning this would happen but they got dismissed as “hippies” and not listened too – around the same time ketamine was coming in and although I won’t say its the source of all evil it dulls peoples emotions to an extent or makes you think “its all good” when things are fucked – in many ways its a “coping/denial” drug
worse still the London attitude is creeping out into the provinces (which may make people face up to the fact you can’t run away from the problem)
that may come back to another reason as to why you don’t see partylines as much anymore [apart from the situation outside London where crews are being done for licensing violations].
The events still happen but those who put them on are trying to limit the people who attend to people they can trust to an extent. A sad situation compared to the earlier days of easier access but perhaps the only way the party scene can survive?
And people on the urban music scenes have been bigging up the “rude bwoy/hard man/gangsta” lifestyle for years now – its become part of youth culture in London and very hard to get out of people’s brains if you ever can do so. people walk the street expecting beef, expecting people to try and jack them, why should it be any different at parties to the average youth?
I remember people back in the 90s warning this would happen but they got dismissed as “hippies” and not listened too – around the same time ketamine was coming in and although I won’t say its the source of all evil it dulls peoples emotions to an extent or makes you think “its all good” when things are fucked – in many ways its a “coping/denial” drug
i agree with what you’re saying GL, it brings me back to the point of us all being responsible.
i think there’s two things going on here. firstly, the ‘powers that be’ don’t want a hard drugs culture in inner city london so they’re doing quite a lot to respond to the increase of crack/heroin dealing and related crime.
secondly, they certainly dont want any kind of alternative/hippy culture that might distract people from being the good little hard working consumers that society/the media tells them they should be.
wouldn’t it be so much easier to deal with if these were one and the same problem, they could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.
i agree with what you’re saying GL, it brings me back to the point of us all being responsible.
i think there’s two things going on here. firstly, the ‘powers that be’ don’t want a hard drugs culture in inner city london so they’re doing quite a lot to respond to the increase of crack/heroin dealing and related crime.
secondly, they certainly dont want any kind of alternative/hippy culture that might distract people from being the good little hard working consumers that society/the media tells them they should be.
wouldn’t it be so much easier to deal with if these were one and the same problem, they could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.
indeed – there’s some big paradoxes and interlinked issues here
I agree that some authorities – particularly the Tory London Boroughs – are indeed wary of alternative culture – OTOH there isn’t really that much threatening or evil about it nowadays and stuff like infoshops/alternative bookshops / communal spaces are seen even by youth as an anachronism rather than anarchism (a shame really). If I talk to some of my younger friends about things like this many laugh and think its “hippies stuff”…. but perhaps we need more stuff like this…
OTOH these spaces (and raves) are easily disrupted by dysfunctional or negative people – I don’t think its a deliberate attempt by “dark forces” at infiltration but a problem due to their liberal nature ; we don’t like to exclude people so everyone gets a chance. The problem which may have happened is some people have been given too many chances… and once you have them on a scene they can drag the whole lot down, particularly if they are prepared to intimidate people into letting them carry on with their bad behaviour
it is indeed a case of responsibility; if we want to have a liberal community which allows recreational drug use even then there still have to be some rules and boundaries; and those who cross them just should not be in that community unless they are genuinely willing to change.
those who do not can stay in their own ghetto and destroy themselves, but should not be permitted to destroy positive stuff (which is what seems to be happening)
[This goes for everywhere, not just London!]
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Forums › Rave › Free Parties & Teknivals › IS THE FREE PARTY SCENE SLOWLY DIEING OUT?
