Melbourne Watches Notes on Rave in Dublin & Discuss Local Issues

By Chris McAtomney
Photos by Ash Blackwell

On Sunday evening, supporters and fans of APS came together for a screening of the documentary film Notes From Rave in Dublin. We’re grateful to the friendly Hope Street warehouse crew for hosting the event and it was great to see attendees getting acquainted and comfy early on among the plethora of couches, beanbags and blankets.

Prior to the screening, we heard from High Alert campaign manager Nevena Spirovska, bringing us up to speed with the success of the campaign and her plans to up the ante even further in response to the outrageous new stop and search powers that police minister Lisa Neville reportedly plans to grant police. Nev is fast becoming one of the loudest voices in our community and one that I hope we hear a lot more of.

Mel from Rainbow Serpent Festival’s The Nest explained the ethos behind the initiative, and shared some insights as to how social cohesion looks in a designated safe space like this, and her future vision for The Nest. Kate and Emily from The Cool Room gave an informative talk on inclusion and diversity at Cool Room, and in the club scene as a whole.

The film took us into the backstreets of early 90’s Dublin and did a great job of capturing something of the essence of the dance movement in its infancy. It illustrated how integral a sense of community is in underground dance culture, and also how greed, fear and capitalism can poison the scene if they’re allowed to. A comprehensive linear narrative of the rise fall and rise of rave culture in Ireland and, as expected, there were some great accents to boot.

Those who were lucky enough to be raving in the 90’s might have felt some nostalgia, and others, myself included, probably a hint of envy.

Big thanks to the APS team and affiliates for putting on such a fun night, and providing enough popcorn to kill a small horse.