I haven't been here in ages ... mostly drifting in different soundscapes nowadays ... but now I have a question. It really bothers me.
I just went to see some Mayday 2017 videos ... because the 2018 expression isn't far from now. But oh boy, what do I see ... dead crowds? People hardy moving?
What's up here? Are they even having fun?
That's Dune at Mayday 2017:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8SQCzBhE9I
What's going on, I mean, I see a few hands waving here and there ... but the rest? It's mostly just people shifting legs like they stand in a queue. What??? I mean, Dune always used to be commercial, but boy, it's never been that bad or has it? Huh??? :wtf:
Maybe the "old rave sound" is too off putting for the young audience? Let's try with a modern artist, such as Neelix:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6f_zzQ0mYE
I see marginally more movement ... but nothing extraordinary, nothing exuberant. Bunch of zombies as I would put it. What??? :eyes:
I already saw Neelix once. People were dancing and jumping so hard ... the venue was cooking! It was awesome :toothless
I mean, I left then anyways, because I don't dig Neelix so much, but at least being there I felt like people were ALIVE.
But what's going on there? It's MAYDAY, damnit! MAYDAY!
It's supposed to be like this:
It was like this as I started with EDM. It was superb :haha:
But what's it like now? Bunch of zombies. You find more cheer in a graveyard!
Is anybody of you going to these venues where people stand around? Can you PLEASE answer what you are doing there? Are you enjoying yourself? What's with the others? Do you have fun when not moving? Do you know how to dance? How's it with the others? If I was motivated and they'd stand around like this I'd ask them what's the matter, did their relative die or what ... need a hug or a kick in the ass, I don't know..???
I don't wanna make fun. I also have no problem with people not dancing. That's ok, just go to the side and rest there ... but this ... looks awful ... really wanna know what is the fun there standing around with the others. Because I don't understand. Where is the energy in the crowd? It really bothers me.
:(
Ted Promo
Sorry, dude, but ppl have smartphones now.
DJ RANN
Ted isn't wrong. Here's the longer explanation....
Tbh, the first video isn't a great example as the style he plays us banging rave mashup and from the look of it, it seems early on in the event. If someone banged that out as a warmup, I'd be waiting for someone better to come too.
Nelix also isn't my thing but one aspect that springs to mind is that "raves" (lol - that's aint a "rave") or events, is that they are all setup about DJ worship and celebrity of performance rather than music.
When I was really clubbing (90's) it was far more about the club night. Yes, you went ot go see a DJ but half the time you had no idea who was playing unless you were able to physically recognize them at the decks.
Since the rise of jesus superstar, er I mean Rock star DJ, the Dj's personalized LOGO is boshed in to your visual cortex and they're announced like they just won a world championship sport. Then so much of the set is "performance" and these days entirely filmed.
The whole experience is about the DJ and their place, rather than what they're playing. That is part of a system of people going to clubs for that - a form of sycophantic adoration that leads to people standing in crowds en masse filming it with their phones rather than jacking their bodies in a dark room to a strobe and pounding dance music.
it's trickled down to the music in the same respect too, with everything being simple novelty tracks that an uneducated crowd can easy be spoon fed.
Trance-M
Not enough light? Camera not close enough?
Compare these, also looks dead sometimes from behind. At the end same track as right.
Looks dead too at times from the back:
RTP
quote:
Originally posted by Trance-M
Compare these (...)
You are right that the camera angle is playing a part, but to me it feels like it's only "enhancing" what's already there. There's an area at the front where people are moving ... and in the "action looking" sequences, cameras were mostly filming in there obviously.
But you can't deny there was more energy in the older gigs.
In the third video, hands are up till the back (06:30) ... crowd screaming ... sure it can't always be full energy in the whole hall, but there was more, say, involvement to be felt from the people on a constant scale.
Seems to me: kids nowadays don't "go off" because they're bored or texting with their phone and the old tranceheads can't "go off" anymore because their back hurts from standing so long :wtf:
It's not only on Mayday of course:
Hardly any diehard movement. Ppl payed half a fortune for flight tickets and the hassle to be finally there, in front of Eric ... and then they stand still? WHAT? The dancefloor should melt ... darn, I'd at least try to melt it if I was there...
SYSTEM-J
The bigger the room, the flatter the crowd, in my experience. It's difficult to feel any sense of energy or intensity when the music is evaporating into an enormous echo chamber. Throw in the empty spectacle of light shows and visuals and tiny, distant DJs at these mega arenas and you're asking for a detached, boring experience.
Whenever I go out and it's properly going off, it's almost invariably a low ceiling, small room and DJ at eye level.
Trance-M
Girls on stage do work well too :)
Dead from far, but happy faces nearby.
We also didn't do a lot of hands in the air stuff back in the 90's. Everybody just did their dance. Maybe a bit like this:
RTP
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
The bigger the room, the flatter the crowd, in my experience. It's difficult to feel any sense of energy or intensity when the music is evaporating into an enormous echo chamber. Throw in the empty spectacle of light shows and visuals and tiny, distant DJs at these mega arenas and you're asking for a detached, boring experience.
Whenever I go out and it's properly going off, it's almost invariably a low ceiling, small room and DJ at eye level.
That might be it.
It's the same with me. Small clubs yield the best energy level. The best "trance" experiences I had in the last years were in places with low ceiling, low light, lots of heat, psytrance on the speakers and room to dance.
I think this is a relic of our primal times ... people gathering in caves around the fire...
Big venues lack it.
And to the last video ... hmmm ... I kinda agree, but then I think the SloMo is a perfect example of what seperates the new from the old.
Back then the videos were not slowed, computers lacked the processing power for proper editing .. it all had a rougher edge, a more dirty atmosphere...
I think it was better. Problem is: is my thinking objective or am I just falling into the retro trap, meaning I'm unjustifyingly glorifying the past?
Omnisphere
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
The bigger the room, the flatter the crowd, in my experience. It's difficult to feel any sense of energy or intensity when the music is evaporating into an enormous echo chamber. Throw in the empty spectacle of light shows and visuals and tiny, distant DJs at these mega arenas and you're asking for a detached, boring experience.
Whenever I go out and it's properly going off, it's almost invariably a low ceiling, small room and DJ at eye level.
Yup. It's because these people are targeting a very large group of people. These big EDM events are now emulating rock concerts and have nothing to do with Dance music.
RTP
Gah, it's so horrible to see the DJs so agitated and the crowd so DEAD.
DJs are dancing more than crowds.
Maybe they are trying to compensate the fact that people are not moving by looking extra busy.
But hey look what I've found ... seems there is still some life out there ... it's from 2017 ... but it's Hardcore.
I always despised Hardcore. For me that music had nothing to offer. And it still doesn't have anything that would make me fancy listening to at home.
But look at the people ... they're not only motivated and having exuberant fun, they also go to certain extent with makeups 'n' dressing ... there 's' going some heart into that - and that's actually damn cool. Worlds better to watch all the way than the zombie show on the Mayday videos. And the festival is quite big, so it's not that size "takes the air outta everything" ... right?
What do you say?
I think I really oughta change my perspective on Hardcore ... it's a good source of people going properly bonkers. Like in the old times.
...
Better than this, right? Right?
Because this is what it's coming to.
I mean, this is even fascinating in a cringy way, but it's so bad. So bad!
If that is where the mainstream is going ... uh the horror
Swamper
"Million Miles Away From Home" was on my playlist for the longest time! I heard it YEARS before I went to my first rave and I was hooked...
I can't tolerate too much of that style of music now but that I still love that one ...and most of the Dune set posted.
As for dead crowds, I agree that phones have ruined the experience quite a bit. I've had an idea (for about a year) on how to reduce that significantly ...but there are some hiccups I (and others) haven't figured out yet. I'm hopeful something will materialize from it.
Apple tried to go about it the wrong way imo ... (link)
Vector A
The more of a "spectacle" it is, the more you'll see people filming it, I guess. And I agree with the general idea that smaller places have better energy.
