Why Go to a Rave or an EDM Festival?

While there are many opinions from friends and people you know that can make you want to go to a rave, EDM festival or a club and experience what is like to be a “raver” this short article may show you that it is definitely a good idea to give it a go.

Outdoors vs Indoors Raves

First of all when thinking about this kind of experience, one thing has to come to mind and that is the fact that raves can be outdoors or indoors. The first big difference is that while indoors you are protected from any kind of bad weather that can distract you from enjoying the music. However, being outdoors, will probably make you feel a bit more free since the sky is the limit. It really comes to preference but, if you want a fuller experience outdoors is the way to go. It’s only outdoors that you can enjoy the excitement of going, dance, then go camp with friends just to wake up and keep going, all of this while you see the sunrise and the sun go down with live electronic music and a crowd full of energy.

Keeping an Open Mind

These events invite you to relax in a strange way, it’s not a cup of tea and read a book relax, it’s more of a turn yourself in to the music kind of relax. It may be a bit hard at first, but it’s very likely that the whole environment will seduce you into a trance that will leave you tired and happy at the end of the day.

Rave Psychology

According to an article from Noah Little, who has a masters in music psychology, the motivation for going to EDM festivals and raves are:

“First, is novelty or an out of the ordinary experience. It is an enjoyable event that happens periodically, and you create an abundance of anticipation before it(2). In the case of large music festivals, this unique experience is often once per year. Ever find yourself counting down the weeks or days before a show? Human enjoy novelty, this is why we change cars, purchase new clothes, and look for new restaurants to eat at”.

“Humans have a tendency to escape. Iso-Ahola’s (1982) motivation theory suggests individuals are driven by the desire to escape their everyday environment(3). Movies, drugs, vacations; are all a temporary change of our realities, a way to forget about our worries and woes. Attending a festival lets us immerse ourselves into the world with removed social pressures, and no expectations; we leave our everyday responsibilities of work or school. Importantly, EDM fans don’t care if you have a purple mohawk and are half-naked”. 

Ultra 2015 Experience

There is actually an interesting experience from 2015 written by Emilee Linder from MTV News, which was about her going to an EDM festival for the first time.

“I have to admit, once I got on the ground at Ultra on Friday afternoon, no one seemed truly out of it. They seemed happy, friendly and extra-willing to take pictures with me, which was good, because I had to take lots of pics for MTV.”

At the end she wrote, why the experience was so fun:

“Everyone is bouncing around, spinning, swirling, bobbing, fist-pumping, wobbling — and there’s no judgement. Everyone is dancing together. You’re not a spectacle if you dance because everything is a spectacle.”

New Music

The best part is that you go home with a gift; a whole new library of music to listen to. These festivals will not only bring to the table everything you hoped for, it will also reveal music that you may not expected to hear, and it will be presented in the best way possible, live.

The Best

Once you made up your mind, you may want to check out these upcoming festivals for the first half of 2019.