Last week, I was asked by a friend if I wanted to go to a rave. Now, I have no experience going to raves, and I would go as far to say that I don’t have much experience going out in general. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a homebody that would much rather spend the weekend in my apartment than going out to parties or clubs (yes, I know I sound incredibly cool right now). However, finals week is just around the corner and I wanted a reason to further procrastinate on the several papers and projects that I need to complete, so I said that I’d be down to go. I loaded four friends into my car with my GPS taking us to our destination of Charlottesville, VA (yes, we had to drive an hour to go to a rave because in what world would you find one in the friendly city?).
After making our way to Charlottesville, we arrived at “Planet IX – Alien Rave.” You may have been able to guess, but the theme of this rave was alien and it was highly suggested that we dress the part. While the location itself was a bit confusing due to the various events taking place that night, we were able to figure out where to go due to the loud music, flashing lights, and the man dressed in an alien suit near the entrance.
Once making it inside after going through the standard ID check, I was honestly a bit underwhelmed. The event was advertised like it was going to be this huge party inspired by space, aliens, extraterrestrials, etc., with a sold out crowd, but when we arrived not much was going on. We purposefully arrived an hour after the doors opened in hopes of bypassing the awkward build up that happens at the beginning of parties, but it was clear that we were still pretty early. Despite this, we decided to go to the dance floor and have some fun. It took us a while to loosen up, but once we did there was no stopping us.
We were at the event from 9pm to 12:30am, so we experienced almost four hours of non-stop dancing and music. It was advertised that seven DJs were going to be performing throughout the night and the first few were just okay. Their mixes were fun, but seemed pretty basic and didn’t really get us into the alien/space mood, whatever that means. However, as the night went on, the DJs got better and better, feeding the now full crowd with mixes that made everyone go insane. They used songs like, “Break Free” by Ariana Grande, “Don’t Trust Me” by 3OH!3, and “Love Story” by Taylor Swift and mixed them with beats and sound effects that I couldn’t possibly describe, to make pretty stellar mixes.
The music wasn’t the only thing that made the rave enjoyable, the crowd was also great. Everyone was dancing with absolutely no fear of judgment and this was something that I greatly appreciated because I felt like I could do the same. It’s not very often where we can enter environments without being acutely aware of the fact that anyone could be watching you with hopes of making fun/embarrassing you, but this event really did feel like a judgment free zone.
All in all, I really enjoyed my time at this alien rave. I went with people that I love to be around and we were able to step out of our comfort zones and have fun, which is something I need to do more often. We encountered some great music, along with some interesting people, and I would 100% do it all over again if I had the chance. I’m not sure if raves are of interest to a majority of students on EMU’s campus, but I’d highly recommend you go to one at least once, you’ll likely have a great time.
