Today in 2020, I find myself writing this report from the confinements of my home, unable to wander the streets without good reason, unable to socialise with people other than my housemates and certainly unable to rave. It may seem trivial as I sit in this armchair working from home, but history shows that rave culture thrives through and after crisis. The human desire for hedonism and social interaction will be put to test during this time of isolation, as the notion of freedom that the West so cherishes has been stripped to its core. The house is no longer just a home, it is now the office, the high street, the gym, the local coffee shop and the nightclub. Nightclubs usually enters their quietest season in the summer, but this year, after lockdown restrictions are lifted, we are preparing for madness.
In this time of global isolation, it is imperative to look beyond the pandemic at the world in which we will emerge. Since the lockdown, rave culture all around the world has taken to the digital realm[1], accessible through your screens, headsets, laptops and TV’s. Before the lockdown club culture was suffering from the globalisation that came with social media, now it is feeding off it. Although the culture is doing everything it can to stay connected, through live streams and virtual parties, it is blatantly apparent that the true core of what this culture is about is painfully absent[2]; immersive sound, energy, heat, sweat and that physical escape from reality.
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[1] Resident Advisor. 2020. Save Our Scene. [online] Available at:
<https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/3640>
[2] Richards, C., 2020. This is what our nightlife sounds like in a pandemic. The Washington Post, [online] Available at: <https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/this-is-what-our-nightlife-sounds-like-in-a-pandemic/2020/03/23/13960d94-6d15-11ea-a3ec-70d7479d83f0_story.html>