Party Vibe

not at all, now ravers will be linked with extremism.

there are ways of fighting the system but this isn’t one of them – this is Britain, you have to be more subtle than that

ravers aren’t rioting for bread or votes or freedom (all of which we have to an extent ) or making a peaceful protest like those climate change lot in London – but they are fighting for the “right” to take illegal drugs (that many of their elders have fucked up on) in someone elses property (and often to make a mess of it afterwards, I’ve seen what happens to party warehouses and its not pretty) – so these days lots of “normal” people just disagree with that and support the cops rather than see it as “robin hood” style mischief

the saddest thing is I’ve been partying in this area and there are loads of proper sound ravers with the original vibe from the 90s, but amongst them are just a few angry young men who always push things over the edge (and I suspect other regions would be just as bad but its only the case the cops have already hit the scene harder – Norfolk has less cops than other counties for its size!)

even when there aren’t any feds there always seems to be a slightly agrressive atmosphere amongst certain people, I know its an East Anglian tradition to be a bit stubborn and headstrong but with raves its increasingly difficult to hold the “moral high ground”

I’m just glad I wasn’t out last night (been feeling ill and had family round yesterday so stayed at home) and I hope my friends didn’t get caught up in all this..

its a kind of desperation TBH..

I live in the next county along – compared even to Suffolk the youths in Norfolk earn less, have less prospects, they have extreme competition for jobs from and for many raves and drugs are the only bit of fun they have at the weekends.

some of the “Norfolk ravers” start partying at age 14 upwards and many are already a bit burned out/angry (the sort of mood swings you get from constantly caning drugs) by age 18/19 so they get really aggressive if any form of authority tries to challenge them – although most do sort themselves out in the end the rest of society isn’t prepared to wait for them to do so..

when the good stuff was around “back in the day” all it did was push the crime and anger into Tuesday/Wednesday comedowns. People didn’t riot with the police at raves but they would go through sort of warped stages midweek where they’d “self-justify” petty crimes and disputes even with those close to them because they were on a comedown.

About a third of my mates from high school went off the rails that way and a large bulk of them got on to heroin and crack in the end, and ended up in jail, some weren’t’ just in for dealing but psychotic violence as well.

Actually pills even today arent’ that bad but people go off them because many cane “too much too young” and then they turn to K until that starts to do their brains in. But then again I know plenty of K-heads who are sketchy but they are really sound people deep down.

Drugs alone aren’t the answer. they often just make people ignore the wider problems rather than face up to them.

It needs to be more people not being dumbed down and just living for the weekend but if they are gonna chat about “community” etc actually acting on this and creating real communities, real networks of friends, not just a bunch of people what get together on a weekend to take drugs.

If ravers weren’t seen as scum because of the bad actions of a small minority, a lot of people would be less likely to demand heavy action against them. When I speak to “normal” people at work a lot of them don’t think raves are evil but they (particularly if they are parents or in their mid-20s to 40s) are concerned because they have seen good people fuck up through too much drugs and hedonist escapism.

The time to “sort ourselves out” is running out though – because of technology and wider society accepting more severe policing (because of the fear of crime/terrorism) its getting a lot easier for the authorities to mobilise large numbers of cops and “deal robustly” with large gatherings.

lots of people in the 90s did think though that E was gonna make Britain a better place, at least younger people today are more sensible and pragmatic.

The problem is the “corner” that illegal ravers are currently fighting is to be able to use others property without payment, and to commit various illegal acts on that property.

It was grudgingly endured by wider society throughout the 90s and until 2003/04 or so but that was because in cities we had the dot-com euphoria which led to lots of spare warehouses, and in the countryside farmers had good weather, bumper harvests and fat subsidies from the Government, all of which have evaportated in recent years.

We can already go to HTID or Raverbaby or Eastern Haze and pay our way and accept the rules if we want to “party”, the same applies for footy – you seem more into it than I am so I’m sure you know how expensive a ticket is and how many cops are there!

Another problem is the violent people win either way. If raves get locked down they can still fight in the streets until they end up in jail. IMO they shouldn’t be on the scene in the first place, but the old 90s ethos of violence being a last resort has slipped away a lot.

many younger people I work with (the ones who “do what they should” at school/college and who haven’t taken drugs) and particularly the girls/women (especially young mothers) are way more conservative in their views than a single bloke of my age who lived through the better part of the rave scene.

A lot of the girls have been fucked around (maybe literally!) by a druggie bloke who couldn’t handle responsibility and has left them with a baby that he isn’t supporting, or they have had a relationship with a raver who has become a bit controlling/aggressive on the comedowns.

also people in larger families have seen their older brothers and sisters have bad experiences with drugs in the 90s

Its not so much just incidents like the “riot” (after all trouble happens in the streets anyway) but the more personal family stuff that shapes peoples views.

I think it could take another generation before things get any better – if they do…

thats the problem . it is spilling through… that said there have been riots at raves in the early 90s and similar “demonstrations” outside the old bill but all they have done is provoked further lockdowns.

thats why I’ve never wanted kids, I know my own weaknesses and that I wouldn’t be able to cope with the responsibilities and demands of fatherhood.

Incidentally my parents were once almost “hippies” but they gave it all up and totally embraced thatchers britain in the 80s, working hard so they could get enough money to support me and my sister – I think thats what shaped my views when I became a teenager and rebelled a bit so I can see how it works the other way round.

one person won’t do it on their own. what it needs is for the people who are ravers today to do as much other positive things for society as they can whilst keeping true to the rave scene.

For instance if a crew actually owned or rented a barn out in the sticks that they were selling organic produce from of they could probably get a TENS for a rave there and the cops wouldn’t be able to do jack shit to stop it as it would be legal!

The problem is too many people are stubborn or don’t want to put in more effort than just what is needed to selll a few drugs and break into some place – it was overlooked during the boom times of this countries economy but now thing are getting a lot tighter.