back in the day I know there's been these threads before but I just remembered going to some world music night at the old Riverside and at half time having a wander downstairs and opening the doors and walking into a dark dark space with a wall of sound and strobes going off showing peoples arms waving around in motion and walking round and treading on someone lying on the floor who apologised to me and the whole air of friendliness and warmness from people and the heavy bass and the heat and not understanding any of it but thinking yes I want some of this and feeling so out of time with it all and loving it. Around 1992 I guess. And it not being till 1997 when I finally had the full on clubbing experience with a bunch of about 20 people in a little club in manchester which had a pallet of water bottles and some juice as a bar and no alcohol and no pissed blokes wanting to alter my face and looking for bother and everybody happy and into it and feeling the music take over my whole body and the people all up for it and dancing like I never did before and knowing my life was changed forever. And I know that don't happen now cos there's beer and money to be made and everybody became cynical and realised it aint real cept it was at the time....... anyway got very nostalgic and a bit sad.........
lol - just different times when dance culture was very new and exciting like u say, now it's different , brand and DJ driven
Re: back in the day still happens every weekend for a hell of a lot of people... Im pretty sure things arent as different as people think they are.... You're just older.
Re: back in the day it sounds like u have. things change but im sure i felt the same my first few times. if you were going out now for your first pill/club experience you not think you would still feel it was a life chnging thing? and i reckon you get a lot less idiots at club nights than you do in places like blu bamboo or something. even with alcohol.
yeh I guess you're right. I remember clubs before pills. It was basically very pissed up blokes being obnoxious and fights all the time. coupled with shit music and overpriced drinks. Then it all changed for the better.... there does seem to be a lot more alcohol around now though whch does make a different atmosphere. And there are a lot of people who realised they could make shedloads of money and didn't care about anything but that and that fed through to the scene and coarsened it and you can't deny that there are cynical people.
pills were something like a tenner each, coke was pretty rare, ket was virtually unheard of, if people did mix their drugs it was usually pills and a bit of speed, and a lot more people stuck to the advice of not drinking or not drinking much when on E, which essentially led to clubs full of shiny happy people with loads of energy, dancing a lot, chatting away to strangers (without the coked up self importance thing), and in the right clubs virtually everyone was on pretty much the same vibe. Because pills were so much more expensive people tended not to take as many as today, and they mostly were more mdma based (as the chemicals needed to produce mdma were easier to get hold of, and not as heavily watched as they are today largely). Nowadays it's oretty rare to find a club where most of the people are on the same tip drugs wise, there are some people in a reet clip on ket, some coke up, a few on mushies, half the people on pills have had about 5 which are as likely to be mdea as mdma, plus a few on mdma crystal which it's very easy to go a bit overboard on by mistake... plus virtually everyone's drinking fairly heavily and there's usually quite a few just on the drink. So no imo the atmosphere's generally not the same as it was 'back in the day' though if you look hard enough there's a few places that you can still find something like the old atmosphere. I find road trips help too, new places to explore, new people to meet etc.
<disclaimer> not that I'd have any idea about all these illegal drugs, they're illegal and therefore must be a scurge to society that should be avoided like the plague. Remember kids - drugs = bad, alcohol = good. </disclaimer>
yes I guess thats more or less it. And I know you can have drug free good times and it's about the music and all the rest. but there is nothing to beat the atmosphere in a room full of people all on the same feelgood high. and that rarely seems to happen any more in clubs. and it's not just me getting old and cynical, clubbing really has changed. I still enjoy it but it aint got that old time religion
To me things seems to have changed alot from my early years of going out. I agree with alot of what gav has said about the rugs issue at my first allnighters there was no alchol at all and everyone was on Double Doves and totaly loved up even the Hibs Casuals. Loads of poeple hugging you and saying safe alot, to me thats better than being barged into or sneered at when your getting into the music. Mainstream clubbing and raving is so commercial to me its nothing like the early Rave's that i started out at, but dig a bit deeper and go to festivals, non mainstream nights/free partys and the atmosphere is very much there. The lack of good pills and the rise of loads of poeple on coke have had an effect on atmosphere but i just avoid big clubs and still have a great time 14 years on from my first Rave. I Still get really excited by the music (Old and New) and was total chuffed to find a 12 of an oldschool piano rave track off the first Carl Cox tape i ever had in alt vinyl and can't wait to play it at Detox.
Digital has taken the soul out of Shindig for me, I dont think I'll ever be back clubbing at Digital for any night. Much prefer free nights/raves etc.. went to a castle party a couple of months ago and the atmosphere was spot on everyone there for the right reason. The Ballroom is the closest to Foundation but isnt quite there for me, I miss foundation
I like the cosmic as the nights are more speacilised so you get a better crowd who there for the music not just to be seen at the right club. Did the backroom sound at a psy-trance party last thursday@the cooperage and the atmosphere at the party was great. Not my kind of music but a dead friendly interesting crowd. The younger generation 17-22 seem to be kicking back against the plc clubbing experience free partys are stronger than ever across the country. Just hard to get it going up here next summer i have feeling it might change though.
