What Really Happens at Raves (2)

I took my friend to his first rave (well, since he became a Christian). I was writing a screenplay at the time and wanted to video some ravers to get a better idea of what was going on, how they spoke, what they thought. We were very surprised at what we found.

This night changed everything for us. This is when we decided to start going to raves for the sole purpose of ministering to the ravers.

I had been going to raves and DJing raves for about a year before this, but his perspective was enlightening. It was easy to get drawn in to this lifestyle. It was a good thing that I teamed up with my friend. It kept us focused on the task at hand.

Here’s my friend’s account of what he saw. I asked him to write this a few months later.

Sugar – Austin, Texas – 2001

11:00 – 12:00
I remember pulling around the corner and seeing such an array of vibrant colors and different costumes. It was like each person was there for a show or a costume party. Each person was there as an alias. Or at least to give a better idea of what they wished to feel on the inside. This was what I saw when we saw the line. there were people all over the place. There wasn’t any sort of a straight and formed line. People were all over the place. Some were dancing in the street and others were sitting against the wall. Some were walking in the middle of the road without any care of cars. It was a trip.

After we parked we went down the stairs to go to the line. But on the way I remember seeing so many people holding hands and skipping. I could sense an excitement. There was an energy in the air. It centered around the inside of that building with all the lights shooting from the windows and the bass bumping from the walls. I was pretty excited to see what was the inside now.

We got down to where the line had formed. This is where I began to be aware of what I was involved in. I saw girls kissing girls in the line. I saw guys dressed as girls. I saw young girls, probably around 13 or 14, wearing thongs with their pants dropped way down on their hips. I saw women dressed in very see-through clothing. I saw people who were already wired, x’ing, and/or drunk. It was like it hit me in the face. We talked for a few minutes about who we wanted to speak with/interview. Then we moved forward and began.

This is where I felt shaky on the inside. It was like every person we talked to was so angry on the inside but disguising it with this PLUR that they experienced at the raves. They spoke of family, friends, and love that encompassed them at the raves, but man I remember the hate, disgust, loneliness, and pain I saw in ALL of their eyes. It was like looking at clams. They had a shell on the outside that everyone saw and experienced but the true “them” was on the inside. The trip was that many of them were laughing with us and joking with us but you could see a NEED to be in the building. It was like a 5′000sq. foot savior. Even in the midst of the line you could sense a need to be out of the world. I began to wonder what I was going to experience on the inside.

Once inside I knew why they were sweating to enter. It was a rush of energy unlike anything. Between the bass, the lights, the music, and the bouncing of the dance floor you couldn’t help but stand in awe at this overload of visual stimulation. It hits every part of you. It makes you feel all sorts of things at once. It makes you feel naughty and secure and yet on edge. It makes you feel a part of something and yet an individual. It makes you feel coordinated without words. It’s very intense. And we were sober.

Once through the door I felt caught inside of something unlike anything I had ever seen in my rough life, at least nothing I could remember. I saw kids dancing with each other for fun and kids dancing with each other with sexual motives. I saw some kids on the floor already massaging each other and some kids huddled in corners all by themselves. I saw kids running back and forth going absolutely nowhere. It was a playground of chaos. It was worlds within themselves. It was a million little soap operas all with a similar plot. It was freaky.

Throughout the night I remember going from one group to the next watching a lot of people who’s only motive seemed to be to freak everyone else out. I was amazed at how proficient some of these kids were at tripping others out. Those kids are awesome at “melting” for others, crazy with the glow fingers or the light shows. The ones watching would sit as their eyes roll in the backs of their heads. They would literally drool, mesmerized by someone in front of them overloading their brains.

Some of the kids danced all night long. I can remember watching certain people over and over and over just moving in the exact same motion with their eyes closed. They were so into the music, the whole place around them and everyone in it had disappeared. That was freaky.

Then there were those who were standing directly against the speakers. How could they do that? Just walking around the speakers is hard enough. It almost hurts, but they were leaned against them and looked as though they were asleep. How did they not explode internally?

12:00 – 1:00
People were trippin on our “bubble guns”. They seemed to be making people feel kind of peaceful and secure. That made me so happy, cause at this point I was overloaded with the reality of all the death in the room. Not only the physical death from the drugs and the apparent promiscuous lifestyle, but the emotional death from letting go. They had let go and done things I would imagine they hadn’t ever done before. Some of them for the first time, some of them would do things they would never return from.

One girl we saw laying on the floor in a “K-hole”. Her brain would never be the same. (Ketamine is a small animal tranquilizer. A “K-hole” is when your body stops working and you just lie there motionless for a while. Ketamine is also known to cause persistent nightmares.)

Not only did I notice an emotional death but also a spiritual death. I saw so much spiritual death in the room. They had no idea about God. Most of them probably had no idea about Jesus, who loved them. Not with the temporary love they were experiencing there at the party.

1:00 – 2:00
Here is when we went upstairs. This is where I almost became sick to my stomach. I remember seeing a whole pond of kids on the floor all laying on each other. It looked like something I had seen in school books when we studied the Greek orgies and stuff. For real. They were laying all over each other and they didn’t even know each other. (At least some of them) I mean, they were rubbing on each other and all zoned and comatose, but then they would feel our bubbles and explode with life all of a sudden. Then almost as quickly, they would melt back away into the world they were just in.

Some of them were losing clothing and not even caring. This world was like a place all within itself. People would come up the stairs and look at the floor as if it were the norm. I was in shock.

I looked at the writhing, bouncing crowd (this was when DieselBoy was playing). The puddles of kids on the floors downstairs were growing. They were all over the floor now. People were just walking through the mazes of possibly OD kids and not even caring. Each person was in it for themselves. If they were there as “family” and “friends”, like we had heard them tell us earlier, then wouldn’t they check on their family members?

2:00 – 3:00
At one point I remember seeing that little girl who was probably about 12 or 13 huddled against the wall and she was hugging her knees. She was rocking back and forth. I tapped her on the shoulder and she looked up at me with tears all over her face and she smiled. I asked her if she was OK and she nodded “yes” but i knew she wasn’t. Her eyes were so big. but not there. I asked her if she was OK again and her smile lowered. I prayed for her.

We continued to do this all throughout the night. We prayed for so many kids that night. It just got worse. That’s what I remember. The same things over and over but gradually growing worse.

I have to remember that i have a bag of seeds in my mouth and in my actions at these things. I drop the seeds and know who’s coming behind me to water them.

But it kills me. To see all of that kills me. So many little kids dying at these things. So many tiny little souls reaching out. They all look to each other but each with no answers. They all have a temporary fix that they convince themselves is going to be permanent, but somehow they all know its not going to work, so they do more and more and more and more until they just don’t know what else to do.

I remember talking to a girl who had been doing acid for like 5 days. Man it’s a trip to see that. It’s killing people.

But if we didn’t go then who would be there to save one or two of them?

What would have happened to “S”? She would have continued to hang out with those people and keep doing who knows what. Or what about “R” who was considering doing things he had never done until we came along? What about those kids who ended up on ambulances? What about the ones who we got water for or the ones who drank from the faucets we got turned back on?

The truth is, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Have a good day

What do you think?
1. My friend kinda freaked out didn’t he?
2. Ever been to a rave?
3. What’s your story?