Crowds

The people it was for. Dancefloors, fields, warehouses and free parties, gabber in Rotterdam, hardcore, the fashion and the sound systems. Also the parts that get sanded off in retrospect: the drugs, as documented social history rather than instruction, and the policing. The music was made for rooms full of people and this segment is the only place they are the subject rather than the background.

Part of Techno

80 moments in this segment.

1. 1988 - History of Rave video from 1988 - Acid House Raves. Footage of acid house raves from 1988.
2. 1989 - The Summer Of Rave 1989 (Full Documentary HQ). The Summer of Rave, 1989, a documentary on the British acid house crowds that gave Europe its template for a mass outdoor dance audience.
3. 1991 - Spiral Tribe, Free Party in London [1991]. Spiral Tribe at a free party in London in 1991. The British free party movement and its sound systems are the political edge of this culture.
4. 1992 - BBC Everyman - E is for Ecstasy - Rave Documentary 1992. E is for Ecstasy, a BBC Everyman documentary from 1992. Drugs here are documented social history: MDMA became common on Berlin and British dancefloors in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the documented institutional response in Germany is harm reduction.
5. 1992 - 1992 BBC Documentary Inside the UK Rave Scene & How Illegal Raves Were Built | Oldskool Rave History. A 1992 BBC documentary on how illegal raves were built.
6. 1992 - Rave - BBC house music documentary from 1992 [1/3]. A BBC documentary on house music and rave from 1992.
7. 1992 - Dutch Hardcore / Gabber Culture and fashion 1992 - 2002. Dutch hardcore and gabber culture and fashion between 1992 and 2002.
8. 1992 - Thunderdome 1992-2002 A Decade. A decade of Thunderdome, 1992 to 2002.
9. 1992 - Spiral Tribe - Live @ Free Party, Castlemorton, Summer 1992. Spiral Tribe at the Castlemorton Common free festival in the summer of 1992, the gathering that triggered the legislation targeting repetitive beats.
10. 1992 - Spiral Tribe @ Castle Morton 1992. Spiral Tribe at Castlemorton in 1992.
11. 1993 - 📺 Close Up North: Rave | BBC Two | 18 Jan 1993 | 1992 UK Rave Documentary. A BBC Two documentary broadcast on 18 January 1993 following promoters setting up a rave. The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 followed, explicitly targeting gatherings with "repetitive beats".
12. 1993 - BBC 2 Ecstasy & Shelley's Laserdome Rave Documentary 1993. A 1993 BBC documentary on ecstasy and Shelley's Laserdome.
13. 1993 - 📺 1993 ITV News Documentary | Danger of Ecstasy Raves 📡🎥. An ITV news documentary from 1993 on ecstasy and raves.
14. 1993 - thunderdome video collection 1993 fs vhsrip. A Thunderdome video collection from 1993, transferred from VHS.
15. 1993 - Thunderdome 1993-1999 partyvideo's (VHS) 10 hours!. Ten hours of Thunderdome party videos from VHS, 1993 to 1999.
16. 1993 - Thunderdome 1-22 Commercials 1993-1998. Thunderdome television commercials from 1993 to 1998.
17. 1994 - ROTTERDAM 1994 💀 Oldschool Gabber & Early Hardcore. Rotterdam in 1994, old school gabber and early hardcore. Paul Elstak founded Rotterdam Records in 1992 and championed the harder, blunter sound against Amsterdam's Mokum.
18. 1994 - Thunderdome - Köln - The Video (VHS Rip 1994). Thunderdome in Cologne, from a 1994 VHS release. Thunderdome events were deliberately staged in neutral cities to avoid the Rotterdam and Amsterdam rivalry.
19. 1995 - 1995 Gabber documentary (Lola Da Musica) with English subtitles. A 1995 Dutch television documentary on gabber, with English subtitles. Gabber originated in Rotterdam around 1991 to 1992, with tempos often above 180 BPM and distorted kick drums.
20. 1995 - 1995 Gabber documentary (Lola Da Musica). An excerpt from the 1995 Lola Da Musica gabber documentary.
21. 1995 - Fucking Hostile - Gabber Documentary 1995 LolaDaMusica. A clip from the 1995 gabber documentary Fucking Hostile.
22. 1996 - Dawn at Ridgeway Free Rave 1996 UK - Pineapple Tribe / POD / Sabbatical Sound / BDI / Jellytree. Dawn at a free rave on the Ridgeway in 1996, with several sound systems.
23. 1997 - 💊 Generation E | Channel 5 Documentary | 1997 | Ecstasy, Rave Culture & 90s Britain. Generation E, a Channel 5 documentary from 1997 on rave culture in 1990s Britain.
24. 1997 - Selected House Trends of The 90 - The Rotterdam Gabber Xperience [1997]. The Rotterdam gabber experience, 1997.
25. 1997 - Spiral Tribe - 69db & Iliel Live in Schwertberg , Austria (1997). Spiral Tribe playing in Schwertberg, Austria, in 1997.
26. 1997 - Thunderdome 1997 | Official Live Registration Part 1. The official Thunderdome live registration from 1997, part one.
27. 1997 - Thunderdome 1997 | Official Live Registration Part 2. The official Thunderdome live registration from 1997, part two.
28. 1997 - **actual rave footage** berlin / club funk-1997 DJ delerium. Rave footage from a Berlin club in 1997.
29. 1998 - Thunderdome the Best of 1998 | Official Live Registration. The official Thunderdome live registration, best of 1998.
30. 1998 - Thunderdome on tour Collossos LLoret de Mar 1998. Thunderdome on tour in Lloret de Mar, 1998.
31. 1998 - 90's Rave at Loveparade 1998 at Tresor Park Berlin 🇩🇪🔥 📹 by: @techno.germany [IG]. Crowd footage from the 1998 Love Parade at Tresor Park in Berlin.
32. 2003 - FREE PARTY - LE MEILLEUR DOCUMENTAIRE (2003). A French documentary on the free party and teknival movement, 2003.
33. 2005 - Mem pamal Lego sound system. Free party and sound system culture, including the Spiral Tribe lineage and teknival. This material is fan-made and widely uploaded rather than rights-managed, which makes it one of the few genuinely open parts of the record.
34. 2005 - Mur de son teknival. Free party and sound system culture, including the Spiral Tribe lineage and teknival. This material is fan-made and widely uploaded rather than rights-managed, which makes it one of the few genuinely open parts of the record.
35. 2006 - Gabbers. Gabber and hardcore come out of the Netherlands, centred on Rotterdam, with labels including Rotterdam Records and Mokum and the Thunderdome events run by ID&T. The culture is visually distinctive and its material is fan-made, VHS-era and weakly policed, which is why it survives freely at all.
36. 2007 - The only good system is a sound system. Free party and sound system culture, including the Spiral Tribe lineage and teknival. This material is fan-made and widely uploaded rather than rights-managed, which makes it one of the few genuinely open parts of the record.
37. 2008 - Soundsystems. Free party and sound system culture, including the Spiral Tribe lineage and teknival. This material is fan-made and widely uploaded rather than rights-managed, which makes it one of the few genuinely open parts of the record.
38. 2008 - eastteknival 2008 - spitting fire. Free party and sound system culture, including the Spiral Tribe lineage and teknival. This material is fan-made and widely uploaded rather than rights-managed, which makes it one of the few genuinely open parts of the record.
39. 2008 - eastteknival 2008. Free party and sound system culture, including the Spiral Tribe lineage and teknival. This material is fan-made and widely uploaded rather than rights-managed, which makes it one of the few genuinely open parts of the record.
40. 2008 - Sneaky Sound System - Sony Ericsson poster with Telstra Mobile Code. Free party and sound system culture, including the Spiral Tribe lineage and teknival. This material is fan-made and widely uploaded rather than rights-managed, which makes it one of the few genuinely open parts of the record.
41. 2008 - Studded Belts. Rave dress as documented material culture. Gabber style in particular, with tracksuits and Air Max, is distinctive enough to be legible in photographs, and this is one of the few visual traditions in the genre with a real free record.
42. 2009 - UV reflective phat pants. Rave dress as documented material culture. Gabber style in particular, with tracksuits and Air Max, is distinctive enough to be legible in photographs, and this is one of the few visual traditions in the genre with a real free record.
43. 2010 - Free Party
44. 2013 - spiral tribe. Free party and sound system culture, including the Spiral Tribe lineage and teknival. This material is fan-made and widely uploaded rather than rights-managed, which makes it one of the few genuinely open parts of the record.
45. 2014 - Niko sound system -Steve.C-. Free party and sound system culture, including the Spiral Tribe lineage and teknival. This material is fan-made and widely uploaded rather than rights-managed, which makes it one of the few genuinely open parts of the record.
46. 2014 - Purple lights, Party lights, Club wear, Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Rave dress as documented material culture. Gabber style in particular, with tracksuits and Air Max, is distinctive enough to be legible in photographs, and this is one of the few visual traditions in the genre with a real free record.
47. 2015 - Hardcore Sound System. Gabber and hardcore come out of the Netherlands, centred on Rotterdam, with labels including Rotterdam Records and Mokum and the Thunderdome events run by ID&T. The culture is visually distinctive and its material is fan-made, VHS-era and weakly policed, which is why it survives freely at all.
48. 2015 - Kandi for rave. Rave dress as documented material culture. Gabber style in particular, with tracksuits and Air Max, is distinctive enough to be legible in photographs, and this is one of the few visual traditions in the genre with a real free record.
49. 2015 - 2015339212245 2015-12-05 Toxicator - Sven - 1D X - 001 - DV3P9088 mod. Contemporary festival photography. Festivals over-deliver enormously in free photo sources while the Detroit originators are nearly absent from them, so this material is deliberately capped in this archive rather than allowed to stand in for the history of the genre.
50. 2015 - 2015339212355 2015-12-05 Toxicator - Sven - 1D X - 003 - DV3P9090 mod. Contemporary festival photography. Festivals over-deliver enormously in free photo sources while the Detroit originators are nearly absent from them, so this material is deliberately capped in this archive rather than allowed to stand in for the history of the genre.
51. 2015 - 2015339213155 2015-12-05 Toxicator - Sven - 1D X - 006 - DV3P9093 mod. Contemporary festival photography. Festivals over-deliver enormously in free photo sources while the Detroit originators are nearly absent from them, so this material is deliberately capped in this archive rather than allowed to stand in for the history of the genre.
52. 2016-05-23 - Britain's Illegal Rave Renaissance: LOCKED OFF. Britain's illegal rave renaissance, filmed by VICE.
53. 2016 - Oude schetsen uit het gabbertijdperk. Gelukkig ben ik die tijd ontgroeid... Haha! NOT! #hc4l #sketch #draw #drawing #sketches #gabber #hardc. Gabber and hardcore come out of the Netherlands, centred on Rotterdam, with labels including Rotterdam Records and Mokum and the Thunderdome events run by ID&T. The culture is visually distinctive and its material is fan-made, VHS-era and weakly policed, which is why it survives freely at all.
54. 2016 - NewYearFreeParty15.16. Free party and sound system culture, including the Spiral Tribe lineage and teknival. This material is fan-made and widely uploaded rather than rights-managed, which makes it one of the few genuinely open parts of the record.
55. 2016 - MEM PAMAL - FESTIVAL SON LIBRE. Contemporary festival photography. Festivals over-deliver enormously in free photo sources while the Detroit originators are nearly absent from them, so this material is deliberately capped in this archive rather than allowed to stand in for the history of the genre.
56. 2017-04-04 - Illegal Raves in Europe's Only War Zone: BIG NIGHT OUT Ukraine. Raves in wartime Ukraine, filmed by VICE.
57. 2017 - HELL YEAH!! #THUNDERDOME #thunderdome2017 #hardcoretothebone #hardcore4life #hardcore #gabber #hakkuh #earlyraver #nostalgie #benikeenhashta. Gabber and hardcore come out of the Netherlands, centred on Rotterdam, with labels including Rotterdam Records and Mokum and the Thunderdome events run by ID&T. The culture is visually distinctive and its material is fan-made, VHS-era and weakly policed, which is why it survives freely at all.
58. 2017 - LEGENDARISCH! #thunderdome. Gabber and hardcore come out of the Netherlands, centred on Rotterdam, with labels including Rotterdam Records and Mokum and the Thunderdome events run by ID&T. The culture is visually distinctive and its material is fan-made, VHS-era and weakly policed, which is why it survives freely at all.
59. 2017 - Bitte raven Sie hart! (35357209590). Rave dress as documented material culture. Gabber style in particular, with tracksuits and Air Max, is distinctive enough to be legible in photographs, and this is one of the few visual traditions in the genre with a real free record.
60. 2018 - Czech teknival 2003 (41586686300). Free party and sound system culture, including the Spiral Tribe lineage and teknival. This material is fan-made and widely uploaded rather than rights-managed, which makes it one of the few genuinely open parts of the record.
61. 2019 - Mayday 2019 AKA AKA 4. Contemporary festival photography. Festivals over-deliver enormously in free photo sources while the Detroit originators are nearly absent from them, so this material is deliberately capped in this archive rather than allowed to stand in for the history of the genre.
62. 2019 - Mayday 2019 AKA AKA 6. Contemporary festival photography. Festivals over-deliver enormously in free photo sources while the Detroit originators are nearly absent from them, so this material is deliberately capped in this archive rather than allowed to stand in for the history of the genre.
63. 2019 - Mayday 2019 AKA AKA 7. Contemporary festival photography. Festivals over-deliver enormously in free photo sources while the Detroit originators are nearly absent from them, so this material is deliberately capped in this archive rather than allowed to stand in for the history of the genre.
64. 2019 - Brandt Brauer Frick am Haldern Pop Festival 2019 - 04 - Foto Alexander Kellner. Contemporary festival photography. Festivals over-deliver enormously in free photo sources while the Detroit originators are nearly absent from them, so this material is deliberately capped in this archive rather than allowed to stand in for the history of the genre.
65. 2019 - Brandt Brauer Frick am Haldern Pop Festival 2019 - 03 - Foto Alexander Kellner. Contemporary festival photography. Festivals over-deliver enormously in free photo sources while the Detroit originators are nearly absent from them, so this material is deliberately capped in this archive rather than allowed to stand in for the history of the genre.
66. 2020 - Spiral Tribe logo. Free party and sound system culture, including the Spiral Tribe lineage and teknival. This material is fan-made and widely uploaded rather than rights-managed, which makes it one of the few genuinely open parts of the record.
67. 2020-09-01 - Rave Days: The Birth of Melbourne's Rave Scene. The birth of Melbourne's rave scene.
68. 2021-09-03 - The Link Between Drugs And Rave Culture | Scotland The Rave | BBC Scotland. BBC Scotland on the documented link between drugs and rave culture. Underground Resistance explicitly rejected techno's association with drug culture, which is why this thread belongs to the European rave story rather than to Detroit.
69. 2022-06-28 - Better Days The Story of UK Rave Documentary Amazon Music. Better Days, a documentary on the story of UK rave.
70. 2022-10-24 - De Nieuwe Gabbers. The new gabbers, a Dutch documentary on the culture's later generation.
71. 2023 - COIL in front off 1000 ravers. Rave dress as documented material culture. Gabber style in particular, with tracksuits and Air Max, is distinctive enough to be legible in photographs, and this is one of the few visual traditions in the genre with a real free record.
72. 2023 - SunIce Festival - Timmy-Trumpet. Contemporary festival photography. Festivals over-deliver enormously in free photo sources while the Detroit originators are nearly absent from them, so this material is deliberately capped in this archive rather than allowed to stand in for the history of the genre.
73. 2024 - Pomnik Powstańców Śląskich na tle Spodka w trakcie trwania Mayday Polska, 2024, KsP 005. Contemporary festival photography. Festivals over-deliver enormously in free photo sources while the Detroit originators are nearly absent from them, so this material is deliberately capped in this archive rather than allowed to stand in for the history of the genre.
74. 2024 - Katowice, Pomnik Powstańców Śląskich a za nim Spodek podczas festiwalu Mayday Polska, 10.11.2024, KsP 067. Contemporary festival photography. Festivals over-deliver enormously in free photo sources while the Detroit originators are nearly absent from them, so this material is deliberately capped in this archive rather than allowed to stand in for the history of the genre.
75. 2024 - Katowice, Spodek, Mayday Poalnd Festival, 10.11.2024, KsP 066. Contemporary festival photography. Festivals over-deliver enormously in free photo sources while the Detroit originators are nearly absent from them, so this material is deliberately capped in this archive rather than allowed to stand in for the history of the genre.
76. 2025-06-03 - DISTRUCTION BOYZ Gqom DJ Set Live From DESCENDANTS Johannesburg. A gqom set from Johannesburg. Gqom, from Durban, explicitly departs from the four-to-the-floor that defines most Western house and techno, foregrounding local percussion instead, so calling it techno erases what makes it itself.
77. 2026-03-03 - My Bad Sister - Inside The UK's Rave Underground. Inside the UK's rave underground with My Bad Sister.
78. 2026 - Manifestive of 6 June 2026 in Nantes - Wall of free party, antifa and anarchist slogans. Free party and sound system culture, including the Spiral Tribe lineage and teknival. This material is fan-made and widely uploaded rather than rights-managed, which makes it one of the few genuinely open parts of the record.
79. 2026 - Organic '96 Music Festival Event Flyer with Full Lineup. Contemporary festival photography. Festivals over-deliver enormously in free photo sources while the Detroit originators are nearly absent from them, so this material is deliberately capped in this archive rather than allowed to stand in for the history of the genre.
80. 2026 - Organic-96-Festival-Flyer. Contemporary festival photography. Festivals over-deliver enormously in free photo sources while the Detroit originators are nearly absent from them, so this material is deliberately capped in this archive rather than allowed to stand in for the history of the genre.