Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Silent Raves: Great Idea

I give you the newest craze ... Silent Raves. I heard this for the first time today on the radio and instantly thought, what a great idea. Young people coordinate these mass gatherings through facebook or their favorite online meeting places, in which groups will bring their ipods/head phones to a specific location (ie. a public park), at a specific time, and then simultaneously start their music and have a massive dance party outdoors. Genious! Recently, these silent raves took over Boston's Copley Square and New York City's Union Square. The Union Square rave boasted 7,000 young people!!!
The positives. You save the money you would've spent on expensive city nightclubs. People are getting outside, breathing fresh air. The event is free of loud, booming speakers that may be considered noise pollution to any down-lookers (old people).
The neigh-sayers insist this is further evidence that america's youth are traveling further down a road of anti-social behavior, hundred's of kids "dancing in their own little worlds." However, I think this is just another case of people figuring out new, creative ways of coming together.
Questions I have: Do people actually coordinate their playlists and coordinate the start times of the tracks?? And if so, how do you do this with thousands of people???
For more reading: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94541066
YouTube footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8leK1mfNivc&feature=related