The word "vibe" refers to vibrations, or a common frequency that resonates throughout an object or objects. Of course, the best place to feel a (good) vibe is at a rave, in my opinion, and the main reason is the music. When a large group of people all dance in unison to the same loud drum beat, and with the help of accompanying visual effects, there is a trance like state that is created. The dancers essentially "lose themselves" to the group and the pounding beat "vibrates" throughout every person. A good DJ will use the music to bring the crowd into a frenzied climax that usually consists of a lot of cheering and raised hands - and THAT is the vibe.

The vibe is definitely spiritual. The sense of community and selflessness can be overwhelming at times (but not in a bad way). In fact, I have always found an interesting similarity between images of ravers staring ecstatically into the lights at a rave and images of religious worshippers staring ecstatically at a vision of the Virgin Mary or an angel. On the other hand, you won't find too many Southern Baptists with a head full of MDMA on a Saturday night :)

Although everything I have said so far indicates that the vibe is positive, I can still think of a few occasions where a negative vibe existed. There are some night clubs which I absolutely refuse to attend simply because they have a "bad vibe". The common frequency I described earlier may consist of power tripping bouncers, pickup artists, and those people who used to beat everybody up in high school yet never really grew up.

I recently attended a rave in Toronto, Ontario put on by Hullabaloo, a production company that focuses on happy hard-core DJs. I had never really paid attention to this sort of music before and when I first walked in, I had no idea how to dance to it. As the evening went on, I stayed in the trance room until finally I decided to migrate over to the main, happy hard-core stage at around 3:00am (which I have always considered to be the beginning of the "peak" of a rave). Well, did the vibe ever hit me hard! The music was so fast, the lights were so crazy, and the people were so happy that I just jumped in and started bouncing around the dance floor like a six year old. This particular DJ used an MC which I found helped pump up the crowd even more during the breakdown parts of each song. I found myself thinking for the first time - so THIS is what raving is all about! Ever since, I have been much more conscious about the vibe at parties and clubs.

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