I've seen pictures on my facebook newsfeed of old friends at festivals in that sort of attire. I just can't help but shudder at the thought of it.
Some past friends of mine from college who I can now say, most assuredly, embody the term 'bro' (and certainly embodied it when I knew them) have been making the rounds in the festival scene as well. I see pictures of them in day glo outfits, loose fitting tank tops with neon headbands, and so on and so forth. These are the same friends, mind you, who for four years refused to go to coachella with me. Over that same time period, week in and week out they'd tell me 'yeah we're down to check out that party with you next weekend' and then come go-time I'd have to attend alone / with only whoever my girl at the time was.
Even the more "I don't know anything about dance music and am weirded out by strange people but I like to have a good time"-friendly events weren't appealing enough for them. This year they asked if they'd see me at Coachella. We went different weeks. Still, I didn't have the heart to tell them that Coachella-as-true-music-experience is dying, quick. The Levels crowd has taken over the once-eclectic dance music scene there, and the festival is less stacked, for lack of a better word, with talent (emerging, past, present) than it used to be. That's a whole 'nother rant though.
What I'm really wanting to say is that it's a very popular thing to do now - be interested in dubstepping to remixes of levels. The bro crowd has latched onto it as a result of the associated 'coolness' and are trying, desperately, to integrate themselves seamlessly.
I'm going to DEMF next week with this girl I've never met before and she was saying something along the lines of "Detroit scares me, maybe it's best if I don't wear any of my rave outfits." To her credit, this girl has (mostly) very good taste in music, but is also influenced by her generation (18-21 crowd now, I guess)--in that regard, she's unlike anyone I've met before. She loves Dash Berlin and SHM, but no more than she loves Martin Buttrich and Chris Liebling.
Maybe I'm just too cynical, jaded.
Maybe we all are?
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