Best Raves to Go to in Europe (2025)

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NurtureAndGrace · 3 months ago

davez730 · 3 months ago

Cheech47 · 3 months ago

ununonium119 · 3 months ago

Vin-E1214 · 3 months ago

DowntownDraw8520 · 3 months ago

Different cultures. Different attitudes. Different outlooks.

I’ll say it’s very easy to wear all black. That’s what I always wear. But I think it takes some guts and bravery to wear brightly colored outfits.

The bright outfits come from the early days of American rave, which were heavily influenced by the 60’s acid movement and hippy culture.

That culture introduced wild colors, shapes, and patterns influenced by the psychedelic experience.

Look up the Acid Tests and the Merry Pranksters.

That’s where our bright colors come from.

So perhaps EU had no colorful psychedelic history from the 60’s? I thought it did?

Maybe the EU rave scene was disconnected from the multicolored hippy/acid rock 60’s scene?

I wonder why?

SomeRightsReserved · 3 months ago

Ya the rave scene in the 90s had absolutely nothing to due with the gay club scene. Actually they were complete opposite.

It's some thing that kids like to do now a days to claim the gay community founded this or that throughout history.

They also like to force history in their present view of thing. Gay clubs in the 90s weren't colorful at all . They were mostly devoid of color. The two most popular dress styles were black vest black pants black boots, or white ginny tee with white Reebok sneakers. I would go to those clubs cause my brother was in the scene they all smelled so horrible too. The combo of ass, BO, and poppers could make you vomit till death .

The rave/ festival scene in America today looks exactly like it did in Europe 15 years ago. The age of ravers in Europe is increasing while American raves are still attracting fresh youth that want to taste the silliness and keep alive the experience they saw others have as children. Where in Europe race is becoming extrovertive influence goth

A lot of the bright colors and such came from the gay club scene in the 90s, which was a cornerstone of the American rave scene. Also, Happy Hardcore had a strong hold on underground raves in the US for a awhile back in the day and happy hardcore kids are pretty colorful everywhere you go. So that carried over.

But also, this sub isn't a good representation of the US rave scene as a whole. Maybe it was at one point, but now it's largely populated with posts focused on the big festival scene. America is huge, and there are hundreds of smaller rave scenes across the country, all with their own overall ″vibe″. Different locations and different genres have wildly different norms. Movement Festival is happening this weekend and that crowd is wildly different than the crowd at something like EDC and closer to a festival youd find in Europe. We also have plenty of techno scenes full of people dressed in all black, like it's a uniform.

As far as how the word rave has changed so much here… commercialization of dance music did it. There's still lots of ravers who will refuse to call big festivals raves. And plenty of people from the festival crowd will get mad about it and call it gatekeeping.

Basically, it all boils down to no one agrees on anything here, and it's vastly different from state to state, or even city to city. America is just really fucking big and a lot of Europeans underestimate how much that effects things. American culture as a whole is not a monolith. There's a bunch of different cultures across the country, depending on where you are, and that carries over into sub-cultures like raving.

Edit: damn. I didn't realize how much I missed awards lol. So silly, but thanks y′all

iamsolow1 · 3 months ago

I’m Dutch myself and i think one thing you should take into account:

What they call raves, we call festivals. I can list a whole bunch of super colorful events in the Netherlands.

They just call every EDM event a rave, where in Europe raves are more dark, gritty and industrial.

scoutermike · 3 months ago

I started raving in 2000. My first was in an empty gutted Shoe Carnival store (just one huge box room that was converted into a temporary “club”). There was a mix of people but largely you had the JNCO Jeans crowd, Kandy Kids, and urban breakdance crews that had their own kind of “ghetto raver” serious vibe. I also went to clubs here and there. You heard largely DnB, turntablist DJ’s, House, and darker speed garage and two-step (my first rave had Dj Qbert as well as Aphrodite playing).

I got out of it for a long time and missed it. I came back, went to a festival, and let’s just say it’s not what I remembered. What you’re seeing is the more popular side of the electronic scene in the states. These “big events” draw the influencers and social media crowd which amplifies the popularity. I’ve recently come to discover that there is a lot to offer in the States that’s more like the older rave/club vibe. It’s just not flashy enough to draw the attention seekers. And that’s a good thing. The people are there because they really like the music and aren’t trying to document or boost themselves on social media, so it doesn’t draw the attention of people that go to these things just because it’s becoming popular.

Big festivals have their place and if that’s what people like, then more power to them. But it’s only the most visible part of the scenes here.

As someone who has been to proper raves, festivals, and club/legal parties in the USA, Netherlands, France, Argentina, Germany Spain, and a few other places — a typical underground or semi-underground event isn’t really that different in the USA. I would say that in the USA, some of them have that PLUR type energy, but they lean either commercial or are parties thrown my old 90s raver heads who are reliving their youth.

You can find the type of parties that you’re used to across the USA, but the kind of people that attend these parties aren’t the type to go on Reddit and talk about the sick rave they went to over the weekend because the ethos is to be a little more discreet and chill about the whole thing. So I think what you’re seeing is a little bit of a selection bias.

AetherKatMusic · 3 months ago

Their explanation is spot on.

I grew up in Detroit in the 80s and early 90s techno scene. Lived and played in EU in the early 00s underground scene.

The US has plenty of what you’re describing.

This sub is extremely skewed toward mainstream events and festivals.

SnowyFaeryKween · 4 months ago

My first ever Rave was at Awakenings in Amsterdam. It was also the first time I tried Molly.

I think my soul transcended some inches after that experience...

Never seen kandi bracelets or totems at an European Rave. Colorful outfits at EDM parties? I agree if you go to a big multiple day festival, yes. But if you go to an underground rave or a local club where good music is being played, you'd mostly see people dressed in darker colors and being lost in the drugs and the music.

I think Americans are raving more consciously. (Careful: opinions can hurt)

Tomorrowland is huge, is probally the closest thing in Europe you will find to your festivals.

Never been there myself.

Tomorrowland is a better festival in implementation whereas EDC is better in experience. Tomorrowland is cheaper (camping ticket is like $480) while EDC is $450 without camping, the facilities are better, the food is better, the area is bigger, and there are more artists to see. EDC is nice in that each stage feels closer in production value and it being a night festival means you get to see pretty light shows the entire time. Tomorrowland's biggest drawback is that the crowd is just terrible, sooo many influencers, tweakers, rude tourists that aren't familiar with the rave scene, and everybody litters like crazy when there are 3 different bins within 5 meters in any direction, while EDC's crowd has always been decent.

TML is nice for the spectacle (like visiting Disneyland, for example) and if you enjoy a big range of house/techno (because the best stages are hosted by house/techno labels), but there are so many better festivals to go to in EU to rave.

Jeanettikroketti · 4 months ago

panzerxiii · 4 months ago

The scene here has its own flavor, and NY being what it is, it tends to be big and corporate, or secret and exclusive. The spectacle can be some of the best around though. The mirage(which everyone loves to hate) can have mostly mainstream programming. There’s occasionally something good there though, and it’s like the Broadway show of raves…

If you’re into European tech-house, try teksupport, they’re an operation conceived with old style rave in mind. They don’t have a venue, and they bring the gear and post up in warehouses around Brooklyn usually. They bring big acts, and will at times completely lose the underground feel because of it, but they still put on honest-to-goodness raves from time to time. It might be a good entry point to start to find some of the sort of thing you’re looking for.

I also recommend checking out some of the smaller ticketing apps like shotgun or get-in as there’s more of a chance of finding smaller DIY type events there. Even RA will list them towards the bottom of the list, if you look for parties with “TBA” venues or listed with “undisclosed location”.

blitzzerg · OP · 4 months ago

blitzzerg · OP · 4 months ago

Exactly. They know nothing.

Literally one of them thought that it would be badass to go to Swedish house mafia at the mirage last wknd. Like, they think THAT is a real rave.

My teenage self died of embarrassment for them

Personally haven't been raving in EU yet, but definitely on my bucketlist.

Rave culture in NA is very diverse which I'm sure it is the same in EU. Much of it is geographically dependent. Imo you can generalize rave culture in NA by several key categories, that all play a factor with each other. West vs East coast, subgenres of electronic music, demographic and scale. PLUR culture is more of a dominant aspect in the west, as it originated in the early Cali rave scene. Thus colourful outfits, and wearing/trading kandi are more common. But that is also dependent on the subgenre of the event. Most techno events regardless of their geographical location, most ravers wear all black. Scale of an event is huge determining factor for attire, culture and the demographic of the ravers that attend. Massive festivals, like EDCLV, will naturally drawn in a wide spectrum of ravers and people are more willing to dress to the nines as opposed to a random club set in there hometown. Ultimately rave culture is difficult to generalize within a whole region.

However I think the biggest difference between EU and NA rave culture is within their history, while there are many cities in NA that have long standing rave scenes. I truly believe EU had a larger impact on pioneering raving globally. Which I tend to think is due how each region views liberal arts respectively. Being an electronic music producers in the 90s was more viable in EU than NA, whether that be due to financial reasons, cultural, and/or lifestyle.

hello guy who lives across the pond here! the raving scene here is VERY VERY different, its gotten to a point where most Europeans (mostly eastern) wont even consider American raves " raves " anymore they just consider them parties which is kinda dumb but not gonna start that argument.

I'm on the east coast and where I'm at the music scene mostly consist of house, techno, and dubstep with occasional jungle/dnb n disco, not much of a musical difference besides dubstep (i personally despise it) but the one thing that is different is the culture around it because raves in America have become very mainstream since covid honestly so it resulted in a bunch of people who knew nothing about the culture/scene coming in just wanting to get high and party and not going for the music or to dance.
Which hasn't ruined the scene completely it has made it annoying for all the OG's and people like me who came in before it became popular. There's a bunch of drugged up kids who cant even stand (not that I'm much better but at least I'm not being a nuisance xD), Jessica who recording the entire event on her phone, or Jared and his group of buddies keep on pushing you to get to the center of the dance floor and then continue to bump into you because they have no dance floor etiquette lol, Jared's have always been prevalent so I'm just complaining to complain there.

Its not as bad as people make it out to seem especially over in Europe but it is very annoying if you aren't use to it or come from a different raving culture. The one thing I will say though in my experience is that American ravers are 10000x nicer and more welcoming then European ones but that may just be my experience. Most of the reels you see are from big events/venues and festivals so theres bound to be recording there but for the more inclusive and secret meetings everybody kinda has the unwritten rule to not record longer then like 30 seconds or just take a pic of the DJ or their friends.

all in all this is my experience so others may differentiate but its not as bad as the reels make it out to seem.

Material-Ad2327 · 5 months ago

BenlovesBud · 5 months ago

Pristine_Fuel_6034 · OP · 5 months ago

Pristine_Fuel_6034 · OP · 5 months ago

RealXavierMcCormick · 6 months ago

RubxCuban · 6 months ago

pookiepie88 · 6 months ago

I think it’s more understandable if you look at it like this - they do it to keep their scene authentic bc if not, every non raver douchebag that just wants to get fucked up and prey on women would hear Berlin is wild and ruin those awesome venues. The doors are strict for good reason.

I waited 2 hours for Kit Kat & berghain & did not mind because the crowd was so awesome. I was there alone as a tall topless blonde girl and felt completely safe and not harassed at all despite the fact that naked people were fucking everywhere at both venues.

If you visit r/aves, you will often find discussion on this topic. The brief summary is the following:

PLUR (Peace, Love, Unity, Respect):

• In America, raves often push the PLUR concept heavily. It is seen as a big part of the scene.
• Europe and the United Kingdom (UK) do not rely on acronyms to define their rave ethos; the sense of community and respect is more "natural" and organic.

Venues:

• American events are typically held in commercial spaces, meant for a broader audience.
• European and British ravers prefer underground venues and hidden outdoor spaces, staying closer to the original spirit of raving. Even commercial spaces in Europe and the UK feel more "raw".

Music:

• The American scene is open to a mix of genres, but mostly it is mainstream EDM and, as a consequence, might lack depth as it is more commercialised.
• European and British events have a richer variety of subgenres, including techno, drum and bass, house, and psytrance, with a stronger commitment to the roots and evolution of electronic music.

Drugs:

• Americans seem to be very focussed on harm reduction. Probably, this is due to a mixture of people's attitudes and the risk of coming across drugs cut with dangerous agents (e.g., fentanyl).
• Europe and the UK adopt a more reckless approach to drugs, with less emphasis on harm reduction but without the moralising aspect of "watching out" for others. You often find people that cannot even utter a word after a certain time at raves. However, most drugs are cheap and safe to buy, with no dangerous "cuts", or even no "cuts" at all.

Clothing:

• Bright, neon outfits, and kandi are popular in the American scene. Americans seem to dress to impress, or have popular social media posts after the party.
• Ravers in Europe and the UK opt for more practical, understated attire, with no or few flashy accessories. There are exceptions, of course. However, people dress mostly for comfort, not to put on a show, and kandi do not exist.

Vibes and Atmosphere:

• The atmosphere at American raves can sometimes feel overly enthusiastic but not always genuine.
• The vibe at European and British raves is more about the music and the experience. To me, there is a more authentic sense of unity and enjoyment.

disco-mermaid · 7 months ago

yellow-koi · 7 months ago

For me a good rave starts at 2am and ends at 10am. Every American “rave” I’ve been to ended around 3am and didn’t have a proper live DJ set.

Plus in the Netherlands or Germany or other European countries x is cheap and almost always of excellent quality. In the US you have to be super careful and test everything for fentanyl because for some reason people get killed by that stuff. Takes all the fun out, if you have to fear for your life just because you ant some party drugs. Never have to worry about that in Europe.

Anyone who lived through 90's will say that you can't have a rave with EDM.

These two are almost a decade apart. When EDM took over from the original hard techno and house, in around 1997, the public split, and it is like this until today. The split was articulated or caused by a cultural change because the millennials that were being raised on the EDM, didn't have much to fight for at the time. Gen X, for instance, was fighting for gender equality (EU), against privatisation (UK), and for the freedom of expression (DE/NL).

So yeah, you can have a party, open session, a concert, but hardly a rave. Source: my memory.

trymadomical · 7 months ago

Most-Welcome1763 · 7 months ago

luielvi · 7 months ago

stumpycrawdad · 7 months ago

Austin_Chaos · 7 months ago

This is weird to me, bc one of the most common ways I hear Europeans say they can spot Americans is because of how overly friendly/sociable we are. And one of the most common complaints I hear from American tourists visiting Europe is how (relatively) unfriendly native Europeans are.

Not sure how to reconcile this with the common view that Americans are assholes at public events

spartancobra36 · OP · 7 months ago

Strict_Efficiency844 · 7 months ago

lecanar · 7 months ago

the netherlands 100%

germany if you are into techno, but as someone in the middle of the united states who loves both house and techno i would probably pick ade weekend in amsterdam for my first over the pond rave adventure given the chance. like 2,000 different events across the city last august, i couldn't keep up with the many many many good streams going off at one time here at home.

awakenings is another that seems to attract my attention, simply because i need to spend a day in the gashoulder and see what they have done to it live. that shit looks nuts from my screen at home.

dats-tuff- · 7 months ago

I just had a CRAZY trip on 2cb. The entire world seemed to be an alternate reality and I felt like hell. It was not crazy bad cause i could control it and think clearly but it wasn't a good time. Wouldn't do it again if I had the choice.

The pills I had were untested on strength and I wasn't expecting strong visuals. So to see the entire world change around me depending on what I thought of said area was crazy. Please dose responsibly. I'd probably do 1/4th or 1/2 a pill in a couple of weeks, knowing what this feels like now.