It was just over week ago that I was speeding down highway 101, riding in the back seat squeezed between two guys, dressed up in a penguin kigurumi - a type of adult-sized onesie from Japan - and cradling my anime character themed backpack on my lap. Meanwhile, the night carried all 5 of us mile after mile into the city of San Francisco, each turn of the wheels syncronizing with each beat of the happy hardcore music blasting from the open windows.
Where the heck were we going?
A rave of course.
We parked in a huge shady parking lot on 10th Street around 9:30 pm and headed towards 11th to the DNA Lounge, where "So Stoked 13" was held. "So Stoked" is a monthly (sometimes once every two months) Friday night rave promoted by a Bay Area companies PLUR Alliance and Kandi Love, and sponsored by numerous others, including local musicians and professional photographers. It began in late 2011 and has hugely grown in popularity ever since, as ravers from all across the bay gather to promote the PLUR lifestyle: peace, love, unity, and respect, a revival of a movement that began in the early 1990's.
Friday, November 15th, marked the 13th rave hosted by PLUR and Kandi, and by far, it was also one of the most successful. While previous "So Stoked"s were also held from 7 pm to 2 am in venues capable of holding up to a few hundred people at a time, the massiveness of "So Stoked 13" definitely topped all the previous ones, for all the right reasons. Not only was the event held at the famous DNA Lounge, a club on 11th Street not far from Slim's, the popular concert venue, but also attracted a huge number of ravers, go go girls, hipsters, and of course, a special line up of djs. The headline included two rooms of happy hardcore, trance, gabber, drum & bass, and hardstyle, the usual fast-paced music styles of "So Stoked" events, but this time also included industrial hardcore and eurodance.
The line up included the much-loved djs John Beaver, Ravine, Jimini Cricket, and Giuseppe Paolo, with special guests Pyrofist and Curze (industrial hardcore) and Stoneface & Terminal (trance) covering for Daniel Kandi, who had to miss out on the event due to a sudden ear infection.
Yet even without main headliner Daniel Kandi, the "So Stoked" folks were not disappointed..and, in fact, were very much pleasantly surprised, me among them, when djs Rafer Rawb and No Left Turn popped up in the second-floor room to collaborate on what felt like the century's greatest happy hardcore set yet. The room, although small compared to the downstairs main dancefloor, soon exploded with color and cheers as dedicated brightly-clad ravers pumped their fists into the sky, jumped up and down, and sang along to the lyrics of the popular bouncy tunes which became closely associated both with No Left Turn and Rafer Rawb, who jumped, pumped fists, and sang along with the crowd.
By the end of the night, the only female dj Jimini Cricket, cosplayed in Japanese lolita fashion, threw the rest of the crowd's hands up with a remix of a popular old-school hardcore song "Have You Ever Been Mellow", as first made famous by the Party Animals back in the mid 1990's. At the point the crowd went absolutely wild.. and I dare to say especially me, a long-time fan of old-school happy hardcore.
On the drive home close to 4 am the next morning, the city was not yet ready to go to sleep. But I was, and even with my ears ringing at the speed of 170 bpm and sweating under my penguin onesie. I could barely keep my head up as we stopped for an early breakfast at Denny's back in San Jose.
But hey, everything that ends in ears ringing and a delicious omlet in your stomach ends well.
But only amid the flashing lights, the dancing crowd, and the fast-paced beats, do I find myself again.