21/08/2025
Last Saturday I had the pleasure of helping to recreate the atmosphere and excitement of an underground 90s warehouse rave for an 18th birthday party.
I was blown away by the quality and sincerity of the requests and how the old-school tracks were received on the dancefloor, proving that the dance music of 30 years ago still gives that edge and energy for today’s teens too. Seeing the youngsters discover this music for themselves, lose their inhibitions on the haze-filled dancefloor and find the same sense of abandon in the same heavy dance music that I did in my youth, was a reassuring and life-affirming joy to witness.
With a list of requests that included The Prodigy, Orbital, Underworld, Massive Attack, The Shamen, Basement Jaxx, The Chemical Brothers, Groove Armada, Fatboy Slim, Faithless, DJ Zinc, Shy FX, Roni Size, Aphrodite and A Guy Called Gerald, I felt very at home indeed and really enjoyed getting playful in the mix, bringing in some more recent gems when it felt right too.
As I don’t record at such events, here are some favourite unexpected moments;
Mixing out of Fein (request) into Pinegrove’s Need 2 but seeing the passion remain the same was gorgeous, as was the response to the mix from DnB into Metronomy’s The Look at the same BPM.
The cheer of delight when I mixed in The Cure’s Lovesong brought tears to my eyes as did the beautiful reaction to the last track of the night being Mazzy Star’s Fade Into You.
