"Mature ravers only"

john eden

male pale and stale
This cropped up in the funky house thread - some of our fresher faced posters were outraged at there being age restrictions on some nights.

Some of us recently went to an "over 25s" reggae night which had a load of stuff on the flyer about no hoods, no jeans, no trainers, etc. In fact it was full of all sorts, nice mixed crowd many of whom were under 25 and in hoods, but were well behaved. Also present were people like Bunny Lee (b. 1941) and the original crews for Coxsone Outernational, Unity and Fatman.

I've been thinking about this a little bit. I was at a free reggae bash in Dalston on Saturday with a bunch of people. The crowd was probably mainly in their 20s and 30s, but this guy I know in his 50s/60s turned up and got hassled by the bouncer for "loitering". Admittedly he stuck out a bit, but he's been into reggae since the sixties and grew up in the area, so it was basically out of order. The bouncer was ok when I explained.

One time at Dirty Canvas I had a teenage girl taking the piss out of me for being an old pervert when I was trying to get past her (which was ok, we were both laughing about it...)

I think on the one hand there is something pretty good about having a whole bunch of people of all ages under one roof, having a good time.

On the other hand, sometimes I can't be arsed going somewhere if I think it's going to be full of people half my age. Doubtless the yoofs of today don't always want to go clubbing and have the place half full of people the same age as their parents.


Are you the oldest raver in town? Still feeling that PLUR?

Do you enjoy blokes in their forties leering at your girlfriend on the dancefloor?

Is it inspiring to see elders in the dance?

Will there come a point when a weekend is pipe and slippers and Jools Holland on the telly for you?
 
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mms

sometimes
it's quite weird but i've noticed at some parties and raves, often the most hardcore ravers who do loads of pills and are dancing to dawn are the older ones.
i think it's good, we had one bloke in our raving crew when i was a teen who was in his 30's, it was just normal.
I'm 33 now and i don't really care, i used to worry about energy levels and just not having any in comparision, but if you stop drinking you have loads of energy, so i did.
Don't think doing something you enjoy should be something you stop as you get a bit older, as long as you're not using it as a ruse to pull teen girls or something. Lots of my friends seem to have given up though, they've got married and now just go to the pub, or go hill walking with their parents, or refuse to get into some new music they don't know, which is just pathetic really i think.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
It depends what kind of night it is, sometimes. A reggae night I would expect to see people of all ages... in fact, I'd expect that anywhere, but when I see some 50 year old gurner at a techno night off their tits on pills its like I've suddenly been visited by the ghost of Christmas future in world-of-leather-man form.

Seriously though, I don't care.
 

matt b

Indexing all opinion
well, friday's subdub was a very strange and disorientating experience.

micheal prophet was playing live (and ruled), so there were more than a few dreads and old fans of mr prophet (average age, mid 40s)- couples w(h)ining, groups of mates re-living/re-visiting their youth etc.

mixed with this was a whole heap of freshers, going to subdub/a reggae night for the first time. most of them absolutely fucked- kids at the bar unable to speak, and just vaguely pointing at their preferred beverage; a girl pushing through to get a drink as she was 'about to pass out' (ie. an e'd up mess at 12.00am); lads just wandering around dazed and mumbling; people passed out in the toilets; a (white) teenager attempting to speak in a grating faux-patois etc. really, really messy.

frankly, its the young people who are fucking things up- it seems that few of them can entertain the idea of a good night without getting battered. and then annoying other people.

and their fashion looks shit.

i won't be attending again until after the initial student rush to get mashed at the WI centre fades
 

zhao

there are no accidents
haha think i'll start putting FOR MATURE RAVERS on my flyers from now on :D thanks john!

not real age restriction but just meaning for seasoned ears...

there was this retired russion lawyer who came to all my experimental music events back in LA... around 60, hardly missed any -- my "friends" sometimes showed but him i could count on.

i'm 33 and getting more and more jaded by the week... sweating in a overcrowded room full of late-teens until dawn just does not sound appealing hardly at all anymore -- unless it's a really good artist or i'm playing myself. a perfect night out is live avant jazz or classical and good wine with GF which ends at 12, and maybe a drink or 2 after around the corner...
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Don't think doing something you enjoy should be something you stop as you get a bit older, as long as you're not using it as a ruse to pull teen girls or something. Lots of my friends seem to have given up though, they've got married and now just go to the pub, or go hill walking with their parents, or refuse to get into some new music they don't know, which is just pathetic really i think.

hear hear. It just strikes me that people who do give up on it, never really liked the music that much in the first place...
 

mms

sometimes
hear hear. It just strikes me that people who do give up on it, never really liked the music that much in the first place...

or dancing and having fun is something for the young.
The other thing is people tend to spend as described by matt b, a massive amount of time getting fucked, its almost like a display of some kind of status, getting coked up all the time, mdma, never actually fucking dancing cos you're showing off how much drugs you can do.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
And, having staggered into my 30s myself now, I think that that attitude (that fun is jsut for the young) is bloody terrifying, and, more than that, quite sad.

True. I'm not against going out and getting fucked, but that shouldn't be the focus of the whole night.

Oh, and in defiance of the 'fun is for the young' brigade, I saw LKJ at quite a happening bar (well, perhaps it was - I was drunk) round Brixton this weekend. Very nice chap.
 

mms

sometimes
And, having staggered into my 30s myself now, I think that that attitude (that fun is jsut for the young) is bloody terrifying, and, more than that, quite sad.

True. I'm not against going out and getting fucked, but that shouldn't be the focus of the whole night.

Oh, and in defiance of the 'fun is for the young' brigade, I saw LKJ at quite a happening bar (well, perhaps it was - I was drunk) round Brixton this weekend. Very nice chap.

'fun is for the young' is a very english idea i think, if you don't keep that distance from the young what have you can't complain about them, english love making up stuff to moan about.
 

Leo

Well-known member
in your 30s? ha...how do you think i feel, i'm in my freakin' 40s! late 40s!! :eek:

funny, i find kids in groups are usually dismissive of an old geezer but if i happen to chat with them one-on-one, they're often sincerely interested in hearing the war stories of what it was like at danceteria/mudd club/hurrah/funhouse/max's "back in the day."
 

Blackdown

nexKeysound
"IOU @ Papermill

If your tired of raving in places with no atomosphere, where djs are afraid to play tunes out of the top ten, where ravers take no pride in their appearance, and most importantly, you feel like your babysitting, then THE USUAL SUSPECTS proudly presents a brand new night called I.O.U. You are guaranteed 110% quality in music, vibes ravers who are strictly 23+, and not afraid to hit the dancefloor early! Simply because I.O.U.
"

Taken from this.


I think people make interesting points upthread about age, inclusivity, drink/drug intake and giving up as you hit parenthood. but an additional angle here, in a urban London context is security.

obviously a lot of the younger inner city kids are on a hype now: angry, obsessed by status and violent retribution if their status is publically questioned, protected from the law by their age and so the consequences of their actions, in peer groups where negative actions are seen as positive. hungry for visibility and status, especially within a club context.

so i think the above text on a funky flyer is an attempt to make clubs where youngers can't go, where people a little older and more level headed, probably with jobs etc, can mix amongst peers without feeling threatened.

that seems to be the point of the separation by age, to me...
 
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vimothy

yurp
Clubs are sometimes filled with annoying students and have shit music and twatish bouncers, which is why I don't go to them any more. Parties and free parties that I go to are always filled with people of all ages getting mashed, which can be good or bad depending on your mood... Never seen this as an issue before, though.
 

swears

preppy-kei
Bah... you're all just jealous of all these sexy youngsters enjoying that first rush of clubbing before they become boring, jaded record collectors. ;)

I'm 25 and my 20 y/o girlfriend and her mates make me feel like an old fart! People should feel like they can go out clubbing for as long as they want, but all this hate towards kids doing what you were doing X amount of years ago just smacks of resentment. And any scene that excludes young blood is gonna die on it's arse.
 
D

droid

Guest
msyko-speaker-cart.jpg
 

STN

sou'wester
I just see the 'More Mature' tag as a guarantee of lover's rock being played more than anything else, with possible babycham supping thrown in. I quite enjoy the invisibility being older gives you, and I'm (only?) 28.

I do hate people who get completely twatted at reggae nights though.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
Yeah I think that security etc was certainly one of the implied benefits of the "mature ravers only" reggae night I went to.

To be honest I think that is an extension of the more general "less teenagers = less aggro", which applies to violence as much as it does people not being able to hold their beer/drugs.

The adults ravers getting completely munted phenomenon mentioned upthread is possibly trying to cram everything in one weekend cos you have a babysitter, I dunno.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
but all this hate towards kids doing what you were doing X amount of years ago just smacks of resentment. And any scene that excludes young blood is gonna die on it's arse.

It's not hate, it's just a recognition that sometimes people are up for different things.

Having said that, I never really enjoyed people being sick on me in my teenage years, and I don't think I would now.
 
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