Thursday, September 23, 2010

techno and raves go together like pb and j

I have always had a strong interest in music, every year I waited for the time the Coachella music festival came around. It's a huge music festival, that features a bunch of different bands at one time in one place. The festival takes place in Palm Springs, California. It's the one three day weekend I wait for all year, since I was fifteen years old. I'm going to describe one of my experiences at Coachella.
I enjoy techno or elecronic music, most people find this suprising if they don't know me very well. My laid back, shy personality can be deceiving. I've learned over the years that techno when seen live, is automatically related to a rave, or the concert suddenly turns into a rave. One of my favorite techno bands is MSTRKRFt, pronounced master craft. They were playing at Coachella, and I thought it might be a good time to go see them perform, or touch a computer live. I was pretty much forced under my will. The thought of dancing around with a bunch of sweaty, smell people in a confined space when it's about a hundred and fifteen degrees out doesn't exactly sound like the way I would want to enjoy myself, and that's exactly why I avoid raves in the first place.
So I took the challenge, and we ended up right in the center of the crowd, perfect for me, I was jammed between seven sweaty people literally on top of me. It took the band a good twenty minutes to set up the stage, and the waiting period might have been one of the most uncomfortable moments of my life. All of the things I hate surrounding me; being enclosed in a tight space with smelly sweaty people, to the point where you are breathing in other peoples BO, and not being able to do anything about it.

Once the music finally started it actually wasn't that bad, besides thinking about the embarrassment I let myself get into, post panic attack. Suddenly the lovely beats of techno music filled my ears, and the claustrophobia slowly started to fade away. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be and it actually was a good experience, dancing with my friends and having a good time, but that doesn't mean I will be going to a lot more raves in the future.


6 comments:

Blockhead said...

As a techno fan I can totally understand where your coming from. I like the personal anecdote, however, I feel the story ended rather abruptly. Overall it was a very good post.

Anonymous said...

I thought that your post was very insightful. I see that it was posted last week, but I thought it was interesting that we discussed facing our fears in the next class.

How many times have you been to that concert and what part of California is it in? Just curious because my cousins live all over California.

Madxcrazy said...

As someone who is shy, and scared of raves and concerts, I appreciate your anecdote ! I am glad you were able to face your fear! I really liked how you told the narrative as it felt like a friendly story!

Roxie said...

I, too, was impressed by your facing of a panic attack in order to attend this event. You did a great job of letting us feel your experience.

Roxie said...

Can you change your settings to allow people to sign up as followers, please? That way, I can access your blog directly from my blog. Thanks,

glow said...

Coachella!

been wanting to go for a long time. The way you put it makes it seem like its fantastic.
Liked the way you described the feeling and tried to show us how the night seemed to consist of the main events and no memory of how you got there.
sounds fun.