Rave Music Scene

Thesis/Central Idea: To people who do not have an idea what a rave is, or to people who wants to know more about raves, it’s important to inform them a bit about rave and the different kind of rave there are out there, the unique environment you’ll only find at raves, and some downfalls and misconceptions that should be informed to people.

Organizational Pattern:

Topical I. Introduction

a. Attention Getter: Imagine when the city is asleep, a vibrant community of music and lightshow lovers get together in an after-hour party.

In this dark setting, flashing lights and neon colors fill up the room as people gather to dance and socialize to electronic music.

b. Relevance Statement: Many people probably have heard of EDC, which is Electronic Daisy Carnival, an annual electronic dance music festival hosted in the summer in several States, including Colorado, New York, Texas, and Nevada. The first EDC was hosted in 1997 in LA, and now it’s one of the biggest events hosted the in United States, with an estimation of 115,000 attendees per day for the last EDC that occurred a few weeks ago, according to the Las Vegas Local News reported by Denis Wong.

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People may have also heard of Beyond Wonderland and Nocturnal Wonderland which are both hosted in California, Tomorrowland, which is hosted in Belgium, and Ultra Music Festival, which is hosted in Miami, Florida. There are a lot of short movies of raves on youtube channel, one with 80 million viewers and increasing.

Also, a movie about rave and EDC is actually coming out next year.

c. Credibility: As a raver myself, raves have always fascinated me with a different unique experience. Read also music concert report essay

I enjoy raving very much, even though it’s only been my second year raving. I’ve been to dozens of raves, travelled to a lot of cities, and attended most of the biggest raves in the States. I’ve learned to what to know and expect at a rave, understand the significance of rave to people, and the positive and negative impact of raves toward people.

d. Thesis: For people who have never been raving before, they would think that raving is all about people getting high and listening to loud music.

Raving is definitely more than that, so by giving a brief information of what a rave is, the unique environment and behavior you would experience at a rave scene, and the major downfalls about raving, there should be a clearer view of what rave is all about.

e. Preview: Therefore, we will first talk about what rave is and the different kinds of raves you’ll find, then hop into the raving environment and acknowledge the behavior you’ll find from ravers, and then finally take an overview of the downfalls you’ll have to expect sometimes at a rave.

Transition: To start off with this speech, I will be giving you a brief description of what a rave is and what kind of raves you could find out there.

II. Body A. So what is a rave?

1. According to Helen Evans, who wrote An Analysis of Rave Culture, a rave is where people gather around to dance off to EDM (Electronic Dance Music) with DJs mixing various kinds of electronic music. It could be hosted almost anywhere; the location is not significant.

a. Smaller raves usually occur in an empty warehouse or building.

b. Bigger raves, such as EDC, are hosted in a big open area, like the sports arena and outdoor open fields.

2. There are also legal and illegal raves.

c. Legal raves are common, and they have a legal permit. d. On the other hand, Illegal raves are not as common, but it could still occur. Basically, the rave does not have a legal permit. If any cops find out about the illegal rave, the rave would immediately be shut down, and ravers would either be told to leave, or under more severe circumstances, arrested. Usually these kinds of raves are more dangerous.

With past experience, I went to this one illegal rave which got shut down after some people threatened to shoot us for pissing them off. It was a really scary experience. They’re usually called an underground rave or a renegade.

Transition: Now, I will bring you into the unique raving environment

B. If you have ever been to any raves, you’ll see how the environment is unique and the ways people behave are special too, and the good vibes you only find only at raves. This really differentiates between a club or concert and a rave.

1. Ravers have four values they follow at a rave.

The word is PLUR, which is an acronym for peace, love, unity, and respect. a. Peace: Ravers do not believe in violence, they cannot tolerate it. They believe that people should be peaceful in your inner self and also act peaceful through your actions.

b. Love: Ravers help out each other, everyone is one big family. They care for and help out people everywhere, whether you’re a friend or a stranger.

c. Unity: Ravers do not care where you’re from and who you are. They believe that people are the same, and are there at raves to enjoy the same experience.

d. Respect: Ravers respect everyone else, and that’s how everyone treats each other. Gender, sexual orientation, age, and race do not matter at a rave. People are not judged at all for what they wear, what they look like, and everything else. This is why people enjoy the rave scene, because it’s a place where no one judges and you’ll get to be who you are and who you want to be.

2. Also, as you can see at a rave scene, you’ll see a lot of different outfits.

a. Some people wear animal costumes, other people dress up as cartoon characters.

Also, you will see girls topless with pasties (stickers that you tape on the nipple), and no, they are not whores. People don’t judge others for what they wear and that’s why you’ll find all kinds of dress up and costumes at a rave.

b. Personally, I do not wear costumes. Like many other people, I prefer wearing kandis, which are rave bracelets that ravers make beforehand and trade at the rave, which is a kind of technique in which ravers could interact with each other. And there’s a way ravers like to trade the kandis with: using hand signals. Read also music concert report essay

They use four hand signals that symbolize peace, love, unity, and respect, to remind each other what rave is about. People definitely other accessories including sun glasses and gloves with lights, because they’re all part of the rave culture.

Transition: And lastly, I will be talking about the downfalls some people experience from raves

C. Many people have witnessed or experienced some kind of downfall due to raving.

1. Even though it’s a misconception that all that people do at raves is to get high and listening to loud house music, it is still somewhat true.

People who attend raves are more likely to be exposed to drugs. The party environment and/or peer pressure makes them vulnerable to experiment with drugs.

a. The most popular used drug at raves are called MDMA, which a drug that helps with sociability. It also helps with positive stimuli in your emotions and removes the negative stimuli inside your mind. It also enhances the sensitivity to light. According to the author Michael S. Scott who wrote “Rave Parties”, not only MDMA is involved in the rave scene, but also Ketamine, LSD (also known as acid), Rohypnol, and all kinds of drugs.

In fact, I was chilling at the bathroom of EDC waiting for my friend to come out from the bathroom, when a couple came up to me and asked me if I had keys. I didn’t have any keys because I took the shuttle to EDC, so instead, I offered them some gum. They sat beside me and took out a bag of cocaine, and started snorting cocaine. Drugs have always been a big problem, mostly because of drug overdose, which is the overuse of drugs.

b. According to a statistic report given by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18 people visited the hospital due to ecstasy related issue during a new years’s eve rave in LA.

Also, according to the author Rong-Gong Lin II and Sarah Ardalani, who wrote on the LA Times, wrote about this girl named Sasha Rodriguez, a 15 year old girl, who died the Tuesday after the EDC at LA during 2010 due to drug overdose.

2. Another downfall of rave is the environment the ravers have to endure the whole night raving.

a. The heat you would have to endure is unbearable sometimes, leading people to dehydration. At a rave it’s hard to get water, because people are usually dehydrated due to their body response to certain drugs, so if you’re not hydrated at a rave, usually that’s a problem that could lead to severe situations.

b. In another news report given by Denise Wong, out of the 115 thousand attendees this year at EDC, there were 160 medical calls. Although we couldn’t really confirm if they were due to dehydration, drugs, or other situations, rave is definitely a place where you would definitely need to be aware of what’s going on and take care of yourself so you won’t have to face with any of the problems that could possibly harm you.

3. All of the downfalls that are caused by raves could always be prevented, as long as you rave responsibly and be aware of what’s going on.

If you can’t take care of yourself, things could get problematic.

III. Conclusion

A. Thesis/Summary: Ravers are often misrepresented as drug users or hippies, dancing off to all the disturbing electronic dance music. After learning a bit more about what a rave actually is, both illegal and legal, learning the values of ravers, the unique environment due to how people dress up, and some downfalls that could definitely be avoided , people can have a better idea what rave is, and understand a little better what it’s all about.

Certain rave stereotypes are somewhat accurate, but it is unfair to generalize as it offers a pleasant party atmosphere with an unique environment.

B. I follow a group on instagram called “whywerave”. One quoted by kdanbaby says “Others may not realize just how much of an impact the edm scene has on a person. For me, it’s the place where I feel that I most belong. This is my home. The vibes, the music, the lights… everything is just beautiful.

Being at a festival, a rave, a concert, I feel more alive than ever before! I love the edm scene and all the amazing plur babies that make it the beautiful culture that it is. Peace, love, unity, respect”. I am not here trying to convince you that rave is the best that you must go to a rave, that it will change your life. This quote do pushes out the impact raves have on people life, and mine too. I hope by this speech, you all will understand a bit more about rave, and more significantly, why people rave.