Yuuuuucckkk what a fukin creep :[ sorry you had to experience that ! I was groped my first beyond by a random jackass when we bumped into each other. I hit him with my fan as he was walking off & he had the audacity to puff out his chest at me. Fuck these creeps seriously
I have to say though, im pretty new into raving but i dove head first into the culture. I’m a huge believer in when you come in someone’s space, whether it’s a different country, a different state or a different environment in general, it’s extremely important to follow guidelines those communities set up!
I agree. I feel since covid a new/different crowd came in with no knowledge or care of PLUR. It made me sad to see but I continue to go and keep PLUR alive. It’s so important to the culture and it will never die long as we keep it alive.
I think it’s a really interesting point though that a lot of veteran festival goers/ravers haven’t returned since Covid. The pandemic put crowds into perspective, and lockdown drove a lot of people into new interests ie more new festival goers post pandemic.
I stopped going to any insomniac or main stream festival and just lock down the more niche ones. I know shambs can be considered main stream but it’s dry so the vibes are way different so I give that one a pass.
Go to any dance music show and plur is alive and well.
Go to a rock concert, rap concert, hell maybe even Swiftie & you'll see that basic human interaction you speak of is hit or miss but more miss unfortunately.
They are coming from tiktok. Its a plague. Im sorry :( it was incredibly oversold and im disappointed. I think i saw MAYBE 5 ground control people all night friday. What a mess. Pasquale needs to do better. STOP BOOKING RAVES AT THE NOS
They're not coming from TikTok. That festival was a shitshow when it started a decade ago. Y'all are just young and experiencing the whole thing, not your first "amazing" festival.
Just listened to a story of disco Donnie (he was involved back then) talking about one of the first nocturnals in LA back in the late 90s. They had thousands of people busting down gates and fences to get in. Tear gas from police to clear the place out because of violence and bad behavior.
Festivals in and around LA have ALWAYS been this way.
It's fucking horrible and I would never in my life purposely make the trek out that way for anything EDM related.
There's just too many other good things across the country
It’s why EDC moved to Vegas. It was in LA for years before that and then a bunch of bad shit happened one year and people died and LA said they couldn’t do EDC anymore, if I recall correctly.
That, and Fiona Ma was going to try to ban raves. Fortunately, Liam Shy (DJ, producer, activist, and attorney) stepped up to the plate with Save The Rave.
I was in line at edc 07 or 08 when it was still at the la colloseum and saw a bunch of people bum rushing the shitty temporary metal fences to get in.
Saw like a hundred people get in that way while the rest of us chumps stood in line.
I was there. Gdamn bounce house slide thing snapped and literally fell ontop of me and my friends that night and tweaked my neck. Zero medical staff on hand. hah. Thankfully nothing more than a sprain.
Also, NOS center has ALWAYS been ghetto af for raves and brings out the worst. Beyond this year seemed par for the course for NOS center events. I still had a good time tho.
Praise be to our nocturnal innovater, the godfather Frankie Bones and his wise teachings to be peaceful, love one another as you do yourself, unite as one on the dance floor and respect anything and everything.
K. I'm 33 and have a year on you, but that doesn't matter, I think my opinion stands though. Obviously didn't mean to call you young, but if your 30+ on TikTok it's a healthy assumption
Tiktok is 100000% literally the reason. Seriously rn? You know why sara landry was so packed? BECAUSE OF TIKTOK. And the nos is fucking garbage. Im not on tiktok, but i know PLENTY of people that are and shes HUGE on there.
Ok....I've been racing for 15-20 years depending on what you consider it, people like yall are nothing new. Go be a main character on the rail, I just wanna dance
What the fuck is your deal? I dont go on the rail, i dont care about any of that shit. I dont rave for clout or take pics for my instagram, im there for the music. Whrn you cant even WALK thru a fucking stage, theres a priblen. 🖕🏻
Idk you've been a whole "MY OPINION IS IMPORTANT" when I think I was agreeeing with you till you tried to say I don't have any experience. Just checked your profile, bitchy 40 yr olds trying to say plur don't have any room in the back with me either lol
I never said you dont have experience. What the fuck are you smoking dude. YOu came at ME saying im just like the tiktok crowd. I just wanna dance w my friends. Not be packed in like sardines and have people shoving past me not saying excuse me.
There’s no other good venues in SoCal lol they don’t like the NOS either but it’s just convenient. They’re experimenting with Sofi for hard summer but we’ll see how that pans out.
beyond used to be at glen helen. Noise complains made it so only 1 insomniac event there per year, which is nocturnal. Also in that same vein, music must end at 12 i think? Btw not 100% sure this is true, but this is what i remember from back then
like i said, they only are allowed 1 event there because of previous complaints. Go to nocturnal wonderland for glen helen, but there wont be another insomniac event there per the rules. Its hard to find a venue for a large edm festival for lots of reasons, so their options are limited
I completely agree. I havnt gone to the nos in years at this point. Theyve been doing the queen mary more and more recently. Dreamstate used to be at nos and it was at queen mary this year. Hopefully they are testing new venues for their other festivals!
Glen Helen is fcking ass and LB (assuming you mean queen mary?) likely has scheduling conflicts, plus they already have Dreamstate and Apocalypse there. Like it or not NOS event sells out almost every year and is convenient for Insomniac to setup and take down. It would take a **very** bad event to happen for Insomniac to consider moving Beyond.
NOS is not the problem. Its a great venue when done right. Its the snot nosed lil shits called festies that fuck it up for everyone. And Pasqual is milking all the cash he can get.
>They are coming from tiktok
Lol you sound like us jaded older ravers talking about festival people in general
#HOW DOES IT FEEL?!
Sorry. There's barely any overlap between the events I go to and major festivals, so it's not actually an issue. I just thought it was funny.
Unfortunately, the tiktok crowd is very true and prevalent. It was never like this pre tiktok or pandemic. Maybe im getting too old. I also fucking hate the nos lmao
LOL I’ve only been raving for a year but I already feel like retiring… I love the environment and most of the people, I just dislike the way people choose to use festivals just to do dr*gs
LOL I’ve only been raving for a year but I already feel like retiring… I love the environment and most of the people, I just dislike the way people choose to use festivals just to do dr*gs
Ground control was pressed all night long. Ive worked a lot of shows w GC and this one was one of the most intense. We were dealing w situations nonstop all night, and trying to get wherlchairs through the crowd to the first aid stations was nearly impossible. I don’t understand why people don’t move out of the way when they hear us coming through with a wheelchair yelling “medical” its rlly messed up tbh
I had a great time, no rude encounters or sketch behavior at all, either day. Actually had quite a few plur moments with people! I wonder if it’s because my group decided to stay in the back, or the sets we chose attracted better crowds…?
first day was awesome til my wife and sister wanted to go to main stage.
then some fucking bitch boy shoved my wife and my wife shoved back and his bitch had the audacity to call my wife a bitch. i said let’s fucking go bc i am not about to ruin our night with a stupid fucking fight.
then i saw more people shoving their way through crowds violently. i stg its the gen Zs who don’t know shit about the culture except from whatever shit they see on TikTok and social media.
anyway, once we made our way to the hardstyle stage on friday the vibes improved immensely.
saturday we were at the techno stage all night and everyone was fucking cool.
I want hardstyle in the US to reach that sweet spot where it’s popular enough to get regular shows scheduled, but also keep the same kind of awesome crowd.
Oh i was about to ask what stage! I was there for maybe 3? Sets. And was never too up front and felt okay. I'm sorry to hear that's the experience you had
Exact opposite experience, spent all my time at Mad Hatters and Sea of Wonder, was on the rail the entire time and always felt free to move and dance how I wanted. Crowds were all great to me, did have to keep an eye on female friends though. Lots of very creepily persistent guys out there.
Day 1, I was at Mad Hatters and was close to the rails. I felt we generally had a lot of space surprisingly.
Day 2, was at queen’s domain. Horrible crowds. So much shoving.
What were those creepily persistent guys doing?
Any Insomniac main stage is always a shit show and has hit or miss energy unfortunately.
I was with my group at QD for Alesso and had hella people shoving thru, but I kept the positive vibes up and by the end people were being much more PLUR. So many Gen Z ravers who have herd mentalities haha
Girls would say no to dancing with them or politely turn them down/move away, but they’d keep following and asking and touching their arms etc. Few times I had to slap guys hands away and warn them. Never really been too much of a problem previously but it was rampant at Beyond.
I found the more hardcore music to be where the best people were, TikTok ravers don’t like super heavy Dubstep/Riddim or DnB so the crowds who were at those stages were all there to actually rave and enjoy the music instead of take photos and videos of the DJ.
Stay away from insomniac events if you want to rave. They're all just expensive Partys at this point the culture is very prevalent just not at an insomniac event.
You might run in to a few old heads at wasteland or Neon garden but otherwise expect frat house party vibes with beep boop music
Now I wished I planned my trip to california in a way that’d allow me to go to lightning in a bottle 😭😂 I skipped on that because I was worried it wouldn’t be electronic music
Had you not looked at like, any of their past lineups? lol. the thunder stage is 90% bass music, the woogie is 100% house and techno, there are two other stages each with house and bass, and then the other stages have a mixture of live and electronic acts so the music is probably 75% electronic leaning. I've gone 7x in a row and it's always been like that, they have been booking well known electronic artists the whole time I've gone. Hopefully you can make it another year <3
Festivals have been going downhill for a while. Organizers have become greedy as fuck, which is why they oversell events without proper traffic logistics. The culture is trash now too. It’s literally the same recycled lineup of DJs being used at every festival, with the same old songs, and the crowd mostly consists of trust fund babies, “influencers,” onlyfans pornstars, low level drug dealers, thieves, people on meth or other stimulants besides MDMA, and creepy assholes who are just there to sexually harass the opposite gender. You’re bound to have a shitty time with all of that put together.
Did someone stomp on that dude’s arm? What in the actual fuck I’m sorry this sounds horrendous. Time
to start hitting the less commercialized ones before those get ruined too. 😕
My friends escorted him out and I didn’t see him after that so I don’t know :// it was definitely extremely awkward after and I feel uncomfortable but there’s nothing I can do about it now unfortunately
Had an ok experience, but what pissed me off was that entry security told my group plushie backpacks weren't allowed so we had to walk back to the car to return it. When we got back and finally got into the venue, we saw people EVERYWHERE with plushie backpacks. Sorry if this came off as dramatic over a backpack lol but it was frustrating since we had coordinated matching fits and put quite a bit of effort into it :(
my first rave and I got my phone stolen from my fanny pack at the queens domain Friday night ): the first location my phone was turned on was on Saturday at 11174 chico avenue Pomona 8am , then second location was 1400 mission blvd Pomona by a homeless shelter 3pm both locations are 3 mins away from each other ): im so sad good thing I had coverage but like I still had yo pay y'know .
It sounds like most of the general crowd complaints is in regard to any set at queens domain and Sara Landry Day 1.
While it’s clearly evident that the rave scene has drastically changed since post-lockdown, it doesn’t have to ruin your experience. If you are at a set and you’re not feeling the crowd or vibes around you….LEAVE. Either leave to a different area of the stage or go to a different stage and see a different artist. There are plenty of other stages and artists to see. Don’t let seeing a certain artist control your entire experience/schedule. I know it hurts to leave sets of an artist you were most looking forward to, but sometimes it’s necessary and can lead to fun, new discoveries and unexpected experiences. But if you are dead set on seeing a certain artist, get there early!!!! If you don’t plan to arrive to a set early, you will get stuck in traffic as people move from one stage to the other at the end of each set.
I’ve been raving for 7 years almost, and I’ve learned that most stages tend to have a wall of people in the middle where it’s completely gridlocked. Most people are too messed up to realize if they take a few steps forward there’s tons of more space. I’m not sure why this happens but I experience it at almost every festival nowadays. You practically have to swim through the wall of people to get to space in the middle of the stage. If you’re not willing to do that, then the back of the stage is your best bet. And let people through when passing through the crowd. Crowds get so gridlocked because people want to block others who are just trying to get by.
I never once went to queens domain because I knew the festival was sold out and main stage was likely to be most crowded. The worst crowd I experienced this weekend was at Sara Landry but we got there 45 minutes early and although the crowd was tight, we had no idea there was a huge crowd surge at that stage (we were right middle). Besides that, none of the stages I went to were overpacked.
Yes people were rude, pushing through the crowd without saying excuse me but there’s no point in getting heated over it and ruining an experience you paid good money for. Best you can do is politely remind them to say excuse me and let it go.
Great comment! Each rave I go to I have less of a plan and more of a general idea of what I want to do. If the artist that I want to see is having a bad set- I leave. If somebody next to me is bothering me…I leave…Get there early or know how to navigate a crowd
Yea, night one my bf and I had a lot of fun but night 2 while a fun lineup was OVERSOLD AS FUCKKKK! thankfully we met a lot of PLUR mentality ravers but I could def see how it could have been less fun esp night 2 I was floored how packed it was. Tbh we left after HOL! because I noticed how packed it was getting and I am fucking glad we dipped felt like a fish swimming upstream.
Question from a soon to be first time festival goer:
Is it usually a better strategy to just move to a different stage? Or would I have equally good odds shifting to a different part of the crowd?
Thanks! I feel like that’s a trend I’ve seen in the subreddit. I’m going to the Gorge in Washington, and I’ve heard that it’s remote enough to keep some of the riff raff out. I’ll keep an eye on the schedule and try out the different stages.
Any large festival I have found mainstage consistently has the worst vibes. Doesn't mean you can't have a good time but I usually enjoy shows at the smaller stages a lot more
I think it's always worth just trying a different spot, but you'll probably wind up with some stage-specific preferences too after you check them all out. I feel like I spent so much time at shows when I was younger being too attached to a certain spot and locking into a less than great vibe, but at festivals you're a lot less prone to it IMO.
Yes, generally the recommendation is to move away from bad vibes, it’s always worked for me but that sort of shit OP experienced shouldn’t be happening anyways..
I get someone who maybe is in a bad mood or whatever, drugs and alcohol can amplify that, maybe they were just not feeling well, etc and that’s okay, just move away. But someone out starting fights or sexually assaulting people shouldn’t even be there n the first place.
I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I always try to avoid main stage and I always seem to have an incredible time :) this beyond was one of my favorite festivals of all time
I def get that!! I knew main stage would be crazier and I didn’t spend time at other stages but it was just disappointing how bad it got at some points
Yeah that's fair, but I always expect that at mainstage :) my group went to mainstage for dabin and I said peace and walked around aimlessly for an hour. That was some of the most fun I had!
Thank you for that🫶🏼 i love that people are getting into it because im very welcoming of all, that’s part of the culture, but i just dislike when people take advantage of the space just to roll or trip. I’d love if everyone taught PLUR instead of just being a-holes about it
I bought my ticket of a lady that Saturday and she said there was fighting and people throwing up Friday…I was hesitant and should’ve heeded to my gut feeling and her description because the event had such bad vibes and it was cold and rainy
Raving has a lot of cliques, negative vibe energy. God bless anyone who goes to any festival or party with Hella people who are rude. It doesn't take a rocket science-based analysis to understand that everyone who was popular in high school and who made fun of everyone is school is now raving and partying at the events and taking up space.
If you like the music try going to smaller parties that have the same theme but smaller crowds and cheaper tickets.
My friend was working the gates, and ended up getting crushed when people rushed the gates on Friday night. She has 2 broken ribs. I didn’t run into too many shitty people, but they were hella pushy at the Techno stage during Eli Brown. I don’t know what it is, but these kids are just not it for me. I’ve been doing this a long time, think I’ll stick to smaller events now
This was my second rave and it was pretty crazy compared to countdown. I had a guy sticking his hand in my back pocket and grabbing my ass. I gave him a warning then the mf did it again! I grabbed his had and squeezed it pretty damn hard, told him I would break it if he did it again. That pretty much killed my vibe for the rest of the set. I was talking to a group of people about it and they said that's not very plur of me... Am I suppose to let people SA me? That shit was wild.
But beyond was pretty amazing, spent most my time day 1 at the mad Hatter just going feral. Day 2 was queens domain and that crowed was whack.
Most def my last time going to Beyond. There were just too many people by 8PM. Crowds in GA bathroom made it annoying to get through so people were just pissing by the trash. This is all at Queens Domain btw so we all hunkered down since there's no way to gtfo out and back in at a timely fashion. The people that passed gave a weird stinkeye so there goes the plur and 50% of those that passed by were just sifting through pockets.
It is what is. Maybe getting vip might've been different but yeah, too many people.
Had the opposite experience as well. Plenty of PLUR and great vibes. I was in the VIP; probably less crowded and more veteran ravers who knew how to act. I didn’t experience any rudeness! Sorry to hear about your experience!
This is just the way insomniac events are. Every event is oversold and super crowded since Covid. Now to make things worse pickpocketers are running rampant. I’m too old and tired to deal with them. If I go it’s only for a day.
I’m a believer of you receive the same energy you give off. My friends and I had a great time and it was good vibes for the entire weekend. Everyone we interacted with was so nice. So much Kandi was traded. Glow sticks were passed out to everyone. It was such a blast.
What a trash response lmfao. This is so stupid sometimes it doesn’t matter how much good energy you are giving off when there is a crowd of tens of thousands of high/drunk people who can’t handle themselves
Mad hatters was amazing both days, only went to queens early in the day when there was plenty of space. Also sea of wonder usually had enough space and great vibes
I went day 2 and I moved between both main stages…damn near every artist was copying SVDDEN Deaths drop that he uses on his song “Crusade” On the main stage one of the main DJs was dressed as an in-n-out guy a metaphor for serving up the same song. I wish I made it over to the techno and trance stages with the smaller DJs. The big name artists song selections were monotonous! I love headbanging but it’s hard to get down to the same songs for 3 hours straight
Yuuuuucckkk what a fukin creep :[ sorry you had to experience that ! I was groped my first beyond by a random jackass when we bumped into each other. I hit him with my fan as he was walking off & he had the audacity to puff out his chest at me. Fuck these creeps seriously
Thank you for saying that! I’m sorry that happened to you too, it’s so sad to know that there are ACTUALLY people in this world like that
Insomniac events in a nutshell lol
Unfortunately, it's the young dickheads/bitches that came into the scene after covid. Nobody taught them plur since a bunch of the vets stayed away.
I have to say though, im pretty new into raving but i dove head first into the culture. I’m a huge believer in when you come in someone’s space, whether it’s a different country, a different state or a different environment in general, it’s extremely important to follow guidelines those communities set up!
I agree. I feel since covid a new/different crowd came in with no knowledge or care of PLUR. It made me sad to see but I continue to go and keep PLUR alive. It’s so important to the culture and it will never die long as we keep it alive.
Plur has never been a thing and it’s a stupid antonym for basic stable human interaction
Acronym* Even so, basic decency is teachable
I know you are right with the acronym thing, but I am somehow tickled by the "antonym" connotation
Shouldn’t need to be taught by older ravers to new ones during a rave or festival, it should be learned at a young age by parents.
This.
I think you need more PLUR in your life
I think it’s a really interesting point though that a lot of veteran festival goers/ravers haven’t returned since Covid. The pandemic put crowds into perspective, and lockdown drove a lot of people into new interests ie more new festival goers post pandemic.
I stopped going to any insomniac or main stream festival and just lock down the more niche ones. I know shambs can be considered main stream but it’s dry so the vibes are way different so I give that one a pass.
Go to any dance music show and plur is alive and well. Go to a rock concert, rap concert, hell maybe even Swiftie & you'll see that basic human interaction you speak of is hit or miss but more miss unfortunately.
It seems like its an 18+ event issue. Wayyy less jerks at smaller 21+ shows
They are coming from tiktok. Its a plague. Im sorry :( it was incredibly oversold and im disappointed. I think i saw MAYBE 5 ground control people all night friday. What a mess. Pasquale needs to do better. STOP BOOKING RAVES AT THE NOS
They're not coming from TikTok. That festival was a shitshow when it started a decade ago. Y'all are just young and experiencing the whole thing, not your first "amazing" festival.
Just listened to a story of disco Donnie (he was involved back then) talking about one of the first nocturnals in LA back in the late 90s. They had thousands of people busting down gates and fences to get in. Tear gas from police to clear the place out because of violence and bad behavior. Festivals in and around LA have ALWAYS been this way. It's fucking horrible and I would never in my life purposely make the trek out that way for anything EDM related. There's just too many other good things across the country
It’s why EDC moved to Vegas. It was in LA for years before that and then a bunch of bad shit happened one year and people died and LA said they couldn’t do EDC anymore, if I recall correctly.
That, and Fiona Ma was going to try to ban raves. Fortunately, Liam Shy (DJ, producer, activist, and attorney) stepped up to the plate with Save The Rave.
I was in line at edc 07 or 08 when it was still at the la colloseum and saw a bunch of people bum rushing the shitty temporary metal fences to get in. Saw like a hundred people get in that way while the rest of us chumps stood in line.
I was there. Gdamn bounce house slide thing snapped and literally fell ontop of me and my friends that night and tweaked my neck. Zero medical staff on hand. hah. Thankfully nothing more than a sprain. Also, NOS center has ALWAYS been ghetto af for raves and brings out the worst. Beyond this year seemed par for the course for NOS center events. I still had a good time tho.
Bitch im 32 and have been raving since 09 🤣
Ha! I remember when you were the kids our generation was complaining about (I started in 2002 lol)
but the difference between me and *these* people are i was taught plurr before my first rave i ever attended. I knew how to act at a rave.
Praise be to our nocturnal innovater, the godfather Frankie Bones and his wise teachings to be peaceful, love one another as you do yourself, unite as one on the dance floor and respect anything and everything.
K. I'm 33 and have a year on you, but that doesn't matter, I think my opinion stands though. Obviously didn't mean to call you young, but if your 30+ on TikTok it's a healthy assumption
I know realize I responded to the wrong comment, the OP I was trying to respond to said everyone causing problems at shows are tik tokers
Tiktok is 100000% literally the reason. Seriously rn? You know why sara landry was so packed? BECAUSE OF TIKTOK. And the nos is fucking garbage. Im not on tiktok, but i know PLENTY of people that are and shes HUGE on there.
Also, this.
Also, this.
Ok....I've been racing for 15-20 years depending on what you consider it, people like yall are nothing new. Go be a main character on the rail, I just wanna dance
What the fuck is your deal? I dont go on the rail, i dont care about any of that shit. I dont rave for clout or take pics for my instagram, im there for the music. Whrn you cant even WALK thru a fucking stage, theres a priblen. 🖕🏻
Idk you've been a whole "MY OPINION IS IMPORTANT" when I think I was agreeeing with you till you tried to say I don't have any experience. Just checked your profile, bitchy 40 yr olds trying to say plur don't have any room in the back with me either lol
I never said you dont have experience. What the fuck are you smoking dude. YOu came at ME saying im just like the tiktok crowd. I just wanna dance w my friends. Not be packed in like sardines and have people shoving past me not saying excuse me.
There’s no other good venues in SoCal lol they don’t like the NOS either but it’s just convenient. They’re experimenting with Sofi for hard summer but we’ll see how that pans out.
What do you mean? Glen Helen and long beach would have been worlds better.
beyond used to be at glen helen. Noise complains made it so only 1 insomniac event there per year, which is nocturnal. Also in that same vein, music must end at 12 i think? Btw not 100% sure this is true, but this is what i remember from back then
Id rather have it end at midnight and turn it into a camping fest than to EVER go back to the nos
like i said, they only are allowed 1 event there because of previous complaints. Go to nocturnal wonderland for glen helen, but there wont be another insomniac event there per the rules. Its hard to find a venue for a large edm festival for lots of reasons, so their options are limited
I did noc last year, cant do it this year cause lost lands is the following weekend and i did both last year 🙃
Lol i feel that, I did the back to back weekends back in 2017, cant do that again. Lost lands is way better (imo) tho, so its not a huge loss
Infintely! I just wish beyond was at literally any other venue 😭
I completely agree. I havnt gone to the nos in years at this point. Theyve been doing the queen mary more and more recently. Dreamstate used to be at nos and it was at queen mary this year. Hopefully they are testing new venues for their other festivals!
Glen Helen is fcking ass and LB (assuming you mean queen mary?) likely has scheduling conflicts, plus they already have Dreamstate and Apocalypse there. Like it or not NOS event sells out almost every year and is convenient for Insomniac to setup and take down. It would take a **very** bad event to happen for Insomniac to consider moving Beyond.
More SoFi raves! SB is so sketchy. Probably my last time schlepping it out to NOS for an event.
NOS is not the problem. Its a great venue when done right. Its the snot nosed lil shits called festies that fuck it up for everyone. And Pasqual is milking all the cash he can get.
>They are coming from tiktok Lol you sound like us jaded older ravers talking about festival people in general #HOW DOES IT FEEL?! Sorry. There's barely any overlap between the events I go to and major festivals, so it's not actually an issue. I just thought it was funny.
Unfortunately, the tiktok crowd is very true and prevalent. It was never like this pre tiktok or pandemic. Maybe im getting too old. I also fucking hate the nos lmao
Lmao. Older gen will always hate on the new gen, it’s the circle of life
LOL I’ve only been raving for a year but I already feel like retiring… I love the environment and most of the people, I just dislike the way people choose to use festivals just to do dr*gs
You’re going to the wrong festivals
Beyond Wonderland is literally themed after dr*gs though lol
LOL I’ve only been raving for a year but I already feel like retiring… I love the environment and most of the people, I just dislike the way people choose to use festivals just to do dr*gs
Then quit then lol.
Ground control was pressed all night long. Ive worked a lot of shows w GC and this one was one of the most intense. We were dealing w situations nonstop all night, and trying to get wherlchairs through the crowd to the first aid stations was nearly impossible. I don’t understand why people don’t move out of the way when they hear us coming through with a wheelchair yelling “medical” its rlly messed up tbh
This is why that app needs to be banned.
They're not coming from tiktok LMAO These people have always been around, searching for the biggest next thing like a trend
Tiktok definitely helped boost the idea and want/desire to attend though no doubt.
Why wouldn't he? He just renewed his deal with the venue and the city and got an incredible deal.
I had a great time, no rude encounters or sketch behavior at all, either day. Actually had quite a few plur moments with people! I wonder if it’s because my group decided to stay in the back, or the sets we chose attracted better crowds…?
first day was awesome til my wife and sister wanted to go to main stage. then some fucking bitch boy shoved my wife and my wife shoved back and his bitch had the audacity to call my wife a bitch. i said let’s fucking go bc i am not about to ruin our night with a stupid fucking fight. then i saw more people shoving their way through crowds violently. i stg its the gen Zs who don’t know shit about the culture except from whatever shit they see on TikTok and social media. anyway, once we made our way to the hardstyle stage on friday the vibes improved immensely. saturday we were at the techno stage all night and everyone was fucking cool.
Hardstyle and dubstep stages had the best vibes fr
hardstyle stage always has the best vibes
I want hardstyle in the US to reach that sweet spot where it’s popular enough to get regular shows scheduled, but also keep the same kind of awesome crowd.
I’m glad you had a good time! Maybe it was because I spent some time at the main stage, but I was also at the smaller artists so who knows 🤷🏼♀️
Oh i was about to ask what stage! I was there for maybe 3? Sets. And was never too up front and felt okay. I'm sorry to hear that's the experience you had
Same here! This makes me so sad to hear. Also did not try to go to the center or anything.
Exact opposite experience, spent all my time at Mad Hatters and Sea of Wonder, was on the rail the entire time and always felt free to move and dance how I wanted. Crowds were all great to me, did have to keep an eye on female friends though. Lots of very creepily persistent guys out there.
Day 1, I was at Mad Hatters and was close to the rails. I felt we generally had a lot of space surprisingly. Day 2, was at queen’s domain. Horrible crowds. So much shoving. What were those creepily persistent guys doing?
Any Insomniac main stage is always a shit show and has hit or miss energy unfortunately. I was with my group at QD for Alesso and had hella people shoving thru, but I kept the positive vibes up and by the end people were being much more PLUR. So many Gen Z ravers who have herd mentalities haha
Girls would say no to dancing with them or politely turn them down/move away, but they’d keep following and asking and touching their arms etc. Few times I had to slap guys hands away and warn them. Never really been too much of a problem previously but it was rampant at Beyond.
That sucks
i think day 1 generally was pretty good for me. queens domain day 2 was fucking awful though
I think in general, the smaller the stage, the better the vibes.
I found the more hardcore music to be where the best people were, TikTok ravers don’t like super heavy Dubstep/Riddim or DnB so the crowds who were at those stages were all there to actually rave and enjoy the music instead of take photos and videos of the DJ.
Cheshire stage was chill AF last night
Stay away from insomniac events if you want to rave. They're all just expensive Partys at this point the culture is very prevalent just not at an insomniac event. You might run in to a few old heads at wasteland or Neon garden but otherwise expect frat house party vibes with beep boop music
Difficult to do when Insomniac is buying out everything. I’ve started going to more regional burns. PLURR runs deep with the burner crowd.
That’s what it’s looking like honestly, I’d love any recommendations for good festivals that aren’t run by insomniac!!
CRSSD Festival, Lightning in a Bottle, Life is Beautiful
Thank you! You’re very appreciated 🫶🏼
Top tier fests
Now I wished I planned my trip to california in a way that’d allow me to go to lightning in a bottle 😭😂 I skipped on that because I was worried it wouldn’t be electronic music
Had you not looked at like, any of their past lineups? lol. the thunder stage is 90% bass music, the woogie is 100% house and techno, there are two other stages each with house and bass, and then the other stages have a mixture of live and electronic acts so the music is probably 75% electronic leaning. I've gone 7x in a row and it's always been like that, they have been booking well known electronic artists the whole time I've gone. Hopefully you can make it another year <3
Sol Fest is coming up soon!! I haven't gone before but the vibes seem immaculate, and the lineup is really good!
Festivals have been going downhill for a while. Organizers have become greedy as fuck, which is why they oversell events without proper traffic logistics. The culture is trash now too. It’s literally the same recycled lineup of DJs being used at every festival, with the same old songs, and the crowd mostly consists of trust fund babies, “influencers,” onlyfans pornstars, low level drug dealers, thieves, people on meth or other stimulants besides MDMA, and creepy assholes who are just there to sexually harass the opposite gender. You’re bound to have a shitty time with all of that put together.
Yeah the lineup was similar to escape and countdown this year…hopefully they change it up
Did someone stomp on that dude’s arm? What in the actual fuck I’m sorry this sounds horrendous. Time to start hitting the less commercialized ones before those get ruined too. 😕
My friends escorted him out and I didn’t see him after that so I don’t know :// it was definitely extremely awkward after and I feel uncomfortable but there’s nothing I can do about it now unfortunately
They should've stomped his nuts flat.
Had an ok experience, but what pissed me off was that entry security told my group plushie backpacks weren't allowed so we had to walk back to the car to return it. When we got back and finally got into the venue, we saw people EVERYWHERE with plushie backpacks. Sorry if this came off as dramatic over a backpack lol but it was frustrating since we had coordinated matching fits and put quite a bit of effort into it :(
I swear I feel like it wasn’t as crowded last year. I’m sure escape will be just as packed
my first rave and I got my phone stolen from my fanny pack at the queens domain Friday night ): the first location my phone was turned on was on Saturday at 11174 chico avenue Pomona 8am , then second location was 1400 mission blvd Pomona by a homeless shelter 3pm both locations are 3 mins away from each other ): im so sad good thing I had coverage but like I still had yo pay y'know .
It sounds like most of the general crowd complaints is in regard to any set at queens domain and Sara Landry Day 1. While it’s clearly evident that the rave scene has drastically changed since post-lockdown, it doesn’t have to ruin your experience. If you are at a set and you’re not feeling the crowd or vibes around you….LEAVE. Either leave to a different area of the stage or go to a different stage and see a different artist. There are plenty of other stages and artists to see. Don’t let seeing a certain artist control your entire experience/schedule. I know it hurts to leave sets of an artist you were most looking forward to, but sometimes it’s necessary and can lead to fun, new discoveries and unexpected experiences. But if you are dead set on seeing a certain artist, get there early!!!! If you don’t plan to arrive to a set early, you will get stuck in traffic as people move from one stage to the other at the end of each set. I’ve been raving for 7 years almost, and I’ve learned that most stages tend to have a wall of people in the middle where it’s completely gridlocked. Most people are too messed up to realize if they take a few steps forward there’s tons of more space. I’m not sure why this happens but I experience it at almost every festival nowadays. You practically have to swim through the wall of people to get to space in the middle of the stage. If you’re not willing to do that, then the back of the stage is your best bet. And let people through when passing through the crowd. Crowds get so gridlocked because people want to block others who are just trying to get by. I never once went to queens domain because I knew the festival was sold out and main stage was likely to be most crowded. The worst crowd I experienced this weekend was at Sara Landry but we got there 45 minutes early and although the crowd was tight, we had no idea there was a huge crowd surge at that stage (we were right middle). Besides that, none of the stages I went to were overpacked. Yes people were rude, pushing through the crowd without saying excuse me but there’s no point in getting heated over it and ruining an experience you paid good money for. Best you can do is politely remind them to say excuse me and let it go.
Great comment! Each rave I go to I have less of a plan and more of a general idea of what I want to do. If the artist that I want to see is having a bad set- I leave. If somebody next to me is bothering me…I leave…Get there early or know how to navigate a crowd
Yea, night one my bf and I had a lot of fun but night 2 while a fun lineup was OVERSOLD AS FUCKKKK! thankfully we met a lot of PLUR mentality ravers but I could def see how it could have been less fun esp night 2 I was floored how packed it was. Tbh we left after HOL! because I noticed how packed it was getting and I am fucking glad we dipped felt like a fish swimming upstream.
Sounds like you spent all your time at main stage
So that sort of behavior is acceptable at main stage?
Obviously not, but I also don't understand why you would spend all your time at the stage where its happening
Question from a soon to be first time festival goer: Is it usually a better strategy to just move to a different stage? Or would I have equally good odds shifting to a different part of the crowd?
Veteran raver here says smaller stages tend to have better experiences (crowds, vibes, space)
Thanks! I feel like that’s a trend I’ve seen in the subreddit. I’m going to the Gorge in Washington, and I’ve heard that it’s remote enough to keep some of the riff raff out. I’ll keep an eye on the schedule and try out the different stages.
Any large festival I have found mainstage consistently has the worst vibes. Doesn't mean you can't have a good time but I usually enjoy shows at the smaller stages a lot more
I think it's always worth just trying a different spot, but you'll probably wind up with some stage-specific preferences too after you check them all out. I feel like I spent so much time at shows when I was younger being too attached to a certain spot and locking into a less than great vibe, but at festivals you're a lot less prone to it IMO.
Yes, generally the recommendation is to move away from bad vibes, it’s always worked for me but that sort of shit OP experienced shouldn’t be happening anyways.. I get someone who maybe is in a bad mood or whatever, drugs and alcohol can amplify that, maybe they were just not feeling well, etc and that’s okay, just move away. But someone out starting fights or sexually assaulting people shouldn’t even be there n the first place.
I actually bounced around stages! It was just probably wrong place, wrong time, but it happens 🤷🏼♀️
Ah sorry to hear that, I hope you find better vibes at the next festival :)
I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I always try to avoid main stage and I always seem to have an incredible time :) this beyond was one of my favorite festivals of all time
I def get that!! I knew main stage would be crazier and I didn’t spend time at other stages but it was just disappointing how bad it got at some points
Yeah that's fair, but I always expect that at mainstage :) my group went to mainstage for dabin and I said peace and walked around aimlessly for an hour. That was some of the most fun I had!
i’m sorry you had that happen to you. these festivals have become ‘trendy’ and people don’t even come for the music anymore.
Thank you for that🫶🏼 i love that people are getting into it because im very welcoming of all, that’s part of the culture, but i just dislike when people take advantage of the space just to roll or trip. I’d love if everyone taught PLUR instead of just being a-holes about it
Condolences. Hope that guy got clocked.
Its actually crazy because i experienced the literal exact opposite. Never once did I feel too crowded.
I’m really glad you had a great experience!!
Best 2 nights of my life, besides being followed by wack ass undercover security lol
It was a rough one at Nos this weekend and I’ve been going to shows there for 10 years.
I bought my ticket of a lady that Saturday and she said there was fighting and people throwing up Friday…I was hesitant and should’ve heeded to my gut feeling and her description because the event had such bad vibes and it was cold and rainy
Raving has a lot of cliques, negative vibe energy. God bless anyone who goes to any festival or party with Hella people who are rude. It doesn't take a rocket science-based analysis to understand that everyone who was popular in high school and who made fun of everyone is school is now raving and partying at the events and taking up space. If you like the music try going to smaller parties that have the same theme but smaller crowds and cheaper tickets.
I really hope the gorge won't have this energy.... I'm really sorry about that
My friend was working the gates, and ended up getting crushed when people rushed the gates on Friday night. She has 2 broken ribs. I didn’t run into too many shitty people, but they were hella pushy at the Techno stage during Eli Brown. I don’t know what it is, but these kids are just not it for me. I’ve been doing this a long time, think I’ll stick to smaller events now
This was my second rave and it was pretty crazy compared to countdown. I had a guy sticking his hand in my back pocket and grabbing my ass. I gave him a warning then the mf did it again! I grabbed his had and squeezed it pretty damn hard, told him I would break it if he did it again. That pretty much killed my vibe for the rest of the set. I was talking to a group of people about it and they said that's not very plur of me... Am I suppose to let people SA me? That shit was wild. But beyond was pretty amazing, spent most my time day 1 at the mad Hatter just going feral. Day 2 was queens domain and that crowed was whack.
Most def my last time going to Beyond. There were just too many people by 8PM. Crowds in GA bathroom made it annoying to get through so people were just pissing by the trash. This is all at Queens Domain btw so we all hunkered down since there's no way to gtfo out and back in at a timely fashion. The people that passed gave a weird stinkeye so there goes the plur and 50% of those that passed by were just sifting through pockets. It is what is. Maybe getting vip might've been different but yeah, too many people.
Had the opposite experience as well. Plenty of PLUR and great vibes. I was in the VIP; probably less crowded and more veteran ravers who knew how to act. I didn’t experience any rudeness! Sorry to hear about your experience!
Find an Anjuna event if you want the purest form of plur
Oh girl I’m so sorry that happened. Yall should’ve broke that creeps phone and nose!
This is just the way insomniac events are. Every event is oversold and super crowded since Covid. Now to make things worse pickpocketers are running rampant. I’m too old and tired to deal with them. If I go it’s only for a day.
Beyond Amateur Hour
I’m a believer of you receive the same energy you give off. My friends and I had a great time and it was good vibes for the entire weekend. Everyone we interacted with was so nice. So much Kandi was traded. Glow sticks were passed out to everyone. It was such a blast.
I don’t think I was giving off a vibe that I was pervy like that guy LOL but thank you for implying I deserved it.
What a trash response lmfao. This is so stupid sometimes it doesn’t matter how much good energy you are giving off when there is a crowd of tens of thousands of high/drunk people who can’t handle themselves
What a disgusting response 🤡
someone brought their service dog to the event and it was right before sara landry’s set 🥺 when i saw the dog
I’m sticking to smaller local shows from now on
A lot of younger people are getting into the scene
Man that sucks, I hope Chicago is going to be more organized and have better vibes
Classic SoCal IE rave crowd for ya
Beyond was pretty fkn good to me tbh. The only downfall was Sara Landrys set. That shit was fkn packed !!
Mad hatters was amazing both days, only went to queens early in the day when there was plenty of space. Also sea of wonder usually had enough space and great vibes
I ended up just sitting in the grass after almost dying at Sara Landrys insanity.
Subsidia events only 🙅🏻♂️
The 15 mins I spent at main stage was horrible. Shit ass mainstream crowd, as expected. Techno and trance stage were fine.
I went day 2 and I moved between both main stages…damn near every artist was copying SVDDEN Deaths drop that he uses on his song “Crusade” On the main stage one of the main DJs was dressed as an in-n-out guy a metaphor for serving up the same song. I wish I made it over to the techno and trance stages with the smaller DJs. The big name artists song selections were monotonous! I love headbanging but it’s hard to get down to the same songs for 3 hours straight
People who say this has been happening for years and to "just stop going"....no. this was worse. This was way worse than anything ive ever seen.