I was already 18 years old and had not had the opportunity to go to a rave yet. I always wanted to go to one, but I didn’t know many people who were into that kind of thing and never knew where or when they were taking place. I already loved electronic music since a very young age. My dad DJ’d sometimes at parties or quinces and had a taste for everything. I remember all the CD’s he had. In a black disc binder. He would get these mix CD’s from like the swamp-meet, I think. There was cumbia mixes, salsa mixes, hip hop, hard house, all kinds of mixes with the latest and greatest. Growing up in LA, you had to have heard the Hard House Punch mix or the Trix Hard House mix. You can find them on Youtube now, but those were my absolute favorite CD’s of my youth. I was addicted, so it was only a matter of time that I made it to my first rave.
It was the end of June and the beginning of summer in LA. I don’t quite remember the details, but one of my older cousins asked me and my sister if we wanted to go. I, of course, had already heard about the event and said, “Hell, yea!”. I remember not knowing what to wear or what to do with my hair. I did not know what to expect. All I knew was that I wanted to experience it and wanted to soak it all in. When we got to the parking garage near the Coliseum, my sister and I took a picture to remember the state we walked in to this experience. I look back and cringe at what I decided to wear now. haha
I remember walking into just chaos. A huge crowd of people walking towards the same direction. I had no idea where we were going, but it seemed right since everyone else was going that way too. I don’t remember there being much security checks being made as we entered the venue. Once inside, the very first stage we saw was like a boat. It’s kinda fuzzy now, but I know Dirtyphonics was performing. That’s when I felt the overwhelming presence of the loud bass. That’s when I knew I was at the right place and would never get tired of this feeling. We hung out there for a bit and then ventured off to the rest of the stages.
We made our way around exploring the rest of the grounds and made it to the main stage. I remember it was so difficult to get in through the crowd. The sun was starting to set and there was a lot more people now. If your were looking into the Coliseum, we were hanging out on the left side of the seats, not on the grounds. We could see carnival rides on the ground where the sea of people kept growing. At this point we realized the ground area had reached capacity and the gates were closed. People started rushing the fence in front of us so we moved higher. That’s when Lil’ John started yelling on the mic to get the people to stop hopping the fence. We could see people were getting hurt. It was pretty intense to see that happening and people not listening.
Once the sun had set and it started to get dark, we roamed around a bit more to look for food. By the time we got back to the main stage, Above and Beyond was towards the end of their set. We found some seats on the right side this time, up in the mid section closer to the stage. That’s where we watched Benny Benassi’s set. We watched the fireworks and by that time, we were so tired since we had got there pretty early. I wasn’t prepared for how tired I was going to feel. It was a pretty chaotic and wholesome experience and I wanted to find out when the next one was taking place. Luckily, (as we all know) after the show, there are flyers EVERYWHERE when you’re heading back to your car. Even some on your car. I don’t remember taking photos of that day. There was a lot going on.
A few months after that, I found myself at Monster Massive! I have even less photos of that day. I was just as wide-eyed as I was at EDC. It was so much fun especially because it was during my favorite holiday; HALLOWEEN!! This is where I discovered new music during the set of Armand Van Helden, Felix da Housecat and Robbie Rivera. It was also there where I first got to see CARL COX live!
It was also memorable to me because I randomly bumped into a friend from middle school! I was in shock, tbh. lol I still have the little Monster Massive bear they gave out to those in VIP. I still have the ticket stub for both EDC and Monster Massive for this year. It was only the beginning for me.
Needless to say, I found my love for music fests and raves and you’ll probably catch me one til my body can’t.
