Overcrowding and the death of dancing

[Blagsta]

I was never one for big names. Waste of money.

 

[killer b]

I stopped going to the Warehouse project because of this. I told my friends that I wouldn't come any more because it wasn't worth it.

I could just about put up with the ridiculous yoots with their sponsored poker visor things on, and their daft baggy vests. I could stomach the £22.50 entrance fee through gritted teeth. The overpriced, shit drinks were a right kick in the teeth, but the line-up was so good I could justify it as a rare treat. But when I went to see Aphex Twin and I literally couldn't get on the dance floor because it was so rammed, and when I did get near it, my hands were pinned to my sides and people were fucking pogoing up and down - that's when I decided I had had enough.

"I'm not coming any more, this is shit"
"You're just getting old"
"Maybe so, but just so you know, this is the last time I'm coming here"

Two hours later, all my friend were in agreement and we've not been back since. I know the WHP is the worst of the worst when it comes to commercial clubbing, but these DJs were Aphex Twin, Jeff Mills, Modeselektor, etc. Big names in a small scene, IMO. Or so I thought. It felt like I was at an Oasis gig or something.

heh. i only went to WHP once, to this. amazing venue, massively oversold. gouging cunts.

 

[Blagsta]

Biggest name event i ever went to was the first Atomic Jam i think, with Luke Slater and Richie Hawtin. That was only cos i got guest list. Other than that it was always nights that mates or mates of mates were involved with putting on.

 

[Fez909]

heh. i only went to WHP once, to this. amazing venue, massively oversold. gouging cunts.

I went a couple of times at the brewery and it was too big and cold - ironically loads of space!

But then the venue under the train station was absolutely superb. Loved it. Huge, good central dancing bit, felt intimate despite its size. But they just oversell and oversell. Ridiculous.

When it's been really bad I've just spent all my time in that back room to the far left, behind some curtains or something? Anyway, as I said, never again (as tempting as the line ups sometimes look).

 

[ska invita]

Some good news re Bussey Building:

Last time I went to Bussey was a few weeks ago to Saturday night's South London Soul Train. It was very busy, but I thought they managed it quite well. They opened another floor upstairs and they controlled how many people went into the downstairs room to stop it getting too overcrowded. I am sure it was a pain for people in the queue to have to wait, but there wasn't room for them inside and it was to the club's credit that they didn't just take the money and try and squeeze them in. Would be surprized if it gets that busy on Wednesday though, even with a big name DJ (Bambaataa).

Thats what its all about, giving a fuck.

 

[rutabowa]

my favourite club i went to looked like a david lynch film with smoke, light and cages and even though the room was small it was like the walls went on to infinite, and to move around you could just dissolve into the walls and emerge wherever you wanted to be.

 

[rutabowa]

this is what i call a good dancefloor, i was somewhere in here.

 

[DJWrongspeed]

my favourite club i went to looked like a david lynch film with smoke, light and cages and even though the room was small it was like the walls went on to infinite, and to move around you could just dissolve into the walls and emerge wherever you wanted to be.

Sounds like that bunkr room in the new tresor in Berlin. Very dark, smoke, big holes in the walls leading to nowhere, concrete and fucking loud!

 

[ska invita]

this is what i call a good dancefloor, i was somewhere in here.

that looks proper

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Sounds like that bunkr room in the new tresor in Berlin. Very dark, smoke, big holes in the walls leading to nowhere, concrete and fucking loud!

Sounds a lot like the old Tresor too.

 

[ringo]

I rarely go to the HootaHobba any more despite them having some of my favourite artists on very close to where i live, just because they jam so many people in you can't breathe. That and the sound system is abysmally shite of course............................

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

No offence to DJ's, but one is much the same as another once you've established that they're playing a genre of music you like.

This. The whole culture of the DJ being the star of the night is utterly ridiculous. They play records*. That's it.





*awaits the inevitable "oh but some do all sorts of clever stuff" posts. OK, some play records and press a few buttons as well. Woop de fucking doo.

 

[ska invita]

still utterly wrong everytime you post this

 

[SpookyFrank]

I can't remember the last time I saw a DJ who was willing to venture outside one particular subgenre and play something the crowd wasn't expecting. Possibly because the typical drug-addled raver brain is ill equipped to deal with such things.

Now that I think about it, the last DJ I saw who was willing to play anything and everything that got people dancing was Mr Scruff, who coincidentally tends to play smallish, friendly venues that aren't so packed that nobody can move.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

still utterly wrong everytime you post this

For the vast majority out there I reckon a blindfolded audience wouldn't ever be able to tell one DJ from another.

 

[rutabowa]

that looks proper

woahh check out the guy doing the splits at about 5:15. i do remember that night well. lights were fully up for the whole night.

 

[bi0boy]

Why not quit moaning and go to decent parties instead of shit ones? I remember going to Cream twice in the 90s and both times there wasn't much room to dance, so I fucked that off and went to better places from then on.

 

[jusali]

I don't know if it's down to festivals but there does definitely seem like more of a 'gig' type approach a lot of the time. Cram everyone in, facing towards the stage.

Yeah, this is my gripe, the "going to see" someone play! I mean WTF?
Music is for ears and dance music is for dancing.
It all ended to me in in 93, the dawn of cynicism and the rise of cool, DJ superstardom and their starstruck, picture taking, head nodding, chin stroking followers. People sneering at the gurners still throwing shapes 'cos they'd got lost in the beats, it just killed it for me.
If I wanna good dance party I'd just organise it myself nowadays.

 

[8115]

Not to be too severe but I wouldn't think that anywhere should be able to get overcrowded because of fire capacity (problems with one room being full aside). I wouldn't necessarily know as it's that long since I've been out.

 

[Fez909]

woahh check out the guy doing the splits at about 5:15. i do remember that night well. lights were fully up for the whole night.

Lights are the big problem with that video. Otherwise

 

[Moronik]

I like lots of room to dance... I move around a lot. And I sweat. A LOT.

I like it to be dark but not too dark... hard to get the happy medium i guess. I've had some incredible times in almost complete darkness, totally losing myself. But other times I've been dancing in the middle of the day and it was beautiful. So I guess there is no be all end all rule.


Personally I believe people dance less because they do less ecstacy. I think you get overcrowding because people are willing to accept it, if they have just had a drink. If everyone were E'd up it would simply get too hot very quickly and people wouldn't tolerate it.

 

[Moronik]

I'd also like to add that there seems to be a trend of people want to be seen to be having a good time, rather than actually having a good time.

The best times of my life was when I was a sweaty mess flailing around like I was possessed.

People like to look a little more poised these days, so they can upload the inevitable photos to prove to everyone that they are out having fun.

 

[Fruitloop]

Agree with the above.

A lot of these clubs are just very loud bars without anywhere to sit down

 

[pesh]

totally agree about the stage designs turning what should be a rave into some sort of gig... a million lights at the front and all of them on all the time. theres just no need.

the last decent design ive seen at a big event recently was a one nighter in a black box style warehouse space, they'd stuck the stage in one corner then done a ridiculous lighting rig throughout the venue, hundreds of Sharpy moving heads on wonky trusses really low overhead and they used them sparingly. the end result was a nice dark space with people dancing facing in every direction and a lot of people falling over when the lighting operator really went for it. bliss.

 

[krink]

there's none of this carry on at northern soul nights, you're just going to the wrong places

 

[tendril]

Trade used to be packed to the gills (I'm sure it was over capacity, sometimes took half an hour just to go from the dancefloor to the bogs), but it didn't stop people dancing. The only thing I could say about why it worked was because it wasn't full of Knobs (even, being a gay club it was literally full of knobs ). Sure there may be one or two bitchy queens who might shove a bit but in the main people were very respectful of each other, and especially to women (be it handbag or lesbian). And all this from one of the few straight men who went, and went back and was accepted.

 

[Threshers_Flail]

Personally I believe people dance less because they do less ecstacy.

This. I'm only 23 so I wasn't around in the rave days but when I'm at a big night it's guaranteed that the majority of the crowd are only drinking. Those who do dabble tend to take smaller doses out of fear of looking like a munted schoolboy. People go to nights like WHP to be seen, a lot of people aren't keen on the music on offer but just think it's the cool place to be.

 

[ska invita]

Yeah, this is my gripe, the "going to see" someone play! I mean WTF?

+1

totally agree about the stage designs turning what should be a rave into some sort of gig... a million lights at the front and all of them on all the time. theres just no need.

the last decent design ive seen at a big event recently was a one nighter in a black box style warehouse space, they'd stuck the stage in one corner then done a ridiculous lighting rig throughout the venue, hundreds of Sharpy moving heads on wonky trusses really low overhead and they used them sparingly. the end result was a nice dark space with people dancing facing in every direction and a lot of people falling over when the lighting operator really went for it. bliss.

definitely agree - who is responsible for this i wonder? rigging companies?
More smoke machines and lazers!!!

I can't remember the last time I saw a DJ who was willing to venture outside one particular subgenre and play something the crowd wasn't expecting. Possibly because the typical drug-addled raver brain is ill equipped to deal with such things.

Now that I think about it, the last DJ I saw who was willing to play anything and everything that got people dancing was Mr Scruff, who coincidentally tends to play smallish, friendly venues that aren't so packed that nobody can move.

Its a good point and genre nights usually mean 8hours of music in exactly the same mould. This is part of the 'drop' culture, and general movement away from depth and musical elements for straight rhythmic ones. Its not a totally lost art, but its definitely a problem out there.

I can really recommend a guy called ChrisPCuts who comes from a hiphop dj culture background, can juggle, scratch and beat match, but often in a set will cut between old soul, rap, dub, DnB, dubstep, and other odd bits and pieces, often staying well clear of the obvious, and make it all seems effortless and above all else keep the dancefloor with him - no easy thing.

Personally I believe people dance less because they do less ecstacy. I think you get overcrowding because people are willing to accept it, if they have just had a drink. If everyone were E'd up it would simply get too hot very quickly and people wouldn't tolerate it.

Yes and no - if you look at the club scene pre-ecstasty: B-Boys and B-Girls, Northern Soul, Disco, Jazzcoteque dancers, Electro, all had full focus on dancing. The change in drug use has changed some things but you dont need MDMA to have a party, just a funky beat and you to get it started and aaah we'll dance the night away

 

[Moronik]

haha i know. I was taking a recent view.

But in England the dance music scenes have generally been closely related to one form of drug or another. (Although I'm not too sure about hip hop and electro.) Certainly Northern Soul fanatics were speeding their tits off

 

[ska invita]

true true - though dancefloors out there today are hardly class A free. Im happy to blame cocaine on all of the UKs problems, from messing up the dance scene to creating the financial crisis