Jamie Lee Curtis Instructs The Rave Generation
I haven’t been out out dancing in years. I haven’t been to a rave in longer than that. I think it was Jamie Lee Curtis who I saw being interviewed about something who put forward the case for day time dancing because night time is for pyjamas only. I am 100% in favour of that. In fact, I have been kicking round the idea of reviving the lunch time school disco for people who can’t muster up the energy to do anything past 6.00 p.m. for years.
On Sunday, Jason fulfilled my daytime disco itch by taking me and the girls (who drove down from Leicester) to a rave in Finsbury Park. It was an Anjunadeep one day event. I had no idea what that meant, but it didn’t stop me going along and having an absolute ball.
Things kicked off from 1.00 p.m. We arrived at about 2 and Jason had spoiled us with VIP tickets so didn’t have to queue. I felt so fancy and we hadn’t even done anything yet.
It was like the boutique hotel version of raving. There were only two stages, so no five mile hikes to see anything. The whole area was wooded, so there was lots of shade instead of being stranded on a blasted heath with the sun frying your skull for hours. There was one merch tent and apart from a dozen food stalls and a handful of bars, nothing else, which was actually quite nice. There were dozens of loos, lots of water points and people picking up litter the whole time. I was genuinely impressed and that was before we got into the VIP area.
We had a tented area with day beds and lots of seating, proper loos with real sinks and fancy hand wash and a couple of dedicated bars. All the bars across the site were serving Stoli as their standard vodka and Dalston soda as mixers so I knew I was in the right place. I’m too old for cheap drinks these days. I’ve done my time at the coalface of vodka that tastes like petrol mixed with own brand cola and I’ve earned the right to give myself a headache with delicious drinks if I want to.
The food trucks were also top notch and I ate a huge and entirely delicious sandwich from the cheekily named, Dom’s Subs. It was some kind of wondrous aubergine concoction. I think it had been roasted with something delicious. It came with crunchy veg and a peanut and chilli dressing to die for. I followed it up with a Mr. Whippy 99 and felt like I was already living my best life before we even got near any dancing.
When the time came, I danced my socks off for several hours with all my best beloveds in various stages of getting their groove on. The music was banging. The crowd was friendly. I saw a man dressed entirely as a giant, furry unicorn putting his hooves together in thankfulness and knew exactly how he felt. It was blissful. No trouble, nothing messy, just a lot of people who were united by their desire to dance to repetitive electronic beats until their feet fell off.
It was genuinely uplifting and that was without a single pill, despite me being offered them more than once. Jason said it was because I looked so mental when I was dancing that I looked like someone who was in the market for more. The good thing is that you can’t be caring about how you look when you have good music to move to, because you’re too busy caring about how it makes you feel and it made me feel wonderful. I genuinely couldn’t have asked for a more positive experience.
We left at 7.30 p.m., having danced our fill, even though the event went on until 9.30 p.m. We avoided all the crowds, stopped by the supermarket on the way to the tube station to stock up on provisions for dinner and were back on the boat and cooking by 9.00 p.m. Jamie Lee Curtis would have been proud.