A rave (from the verb: to rave) is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The music is amplified with a large, powerful sound reinforcement system, typically with large subwoofers to produce a deep bass sound. Occasionally live musicians perform at raves. The music is accompanied by laser light shows, projected coloured images, visual effects and fog machines. Other types of performances may be included, such as go-go dancers and fire dancers. While some raves may be small parties held at nightclubs or private homes, some others have grown to immense size, such as the large festivals and events featuring multiple DJs and dance areas (e.g., the Castlemorton Common Festival in 1992). Some electronic dance music festivals have features of raves, but on a larger, often commercial scale. Raves may last for a long time, with some events continuing for twenty-four hours, and lasting all through the night. Raves are most associated with the early 1990s dance music scene, where DJs played at illegal events. Typical EDM sub-genres included acid house, techno, house, jungle, breakbeat, hardcore, happy hardcore, trance, trap and alternative dance. Fuelled by the emerging dance scene, and spearheaded by acid house music and underground bands such as the Prodigy, many of the "acid house" parties were held in squats during the late 1980s. Well known locations such as the "Dole House" (Peckham), the abandoned bus station and the squatted children's home in Camberwell known as Groove Park had crowds of over a thousand. Full Moon parties were organised at Groove Park by Pete Marland (who went on to start the dance scene in Western Ireland in the early 1990s) and multiple events went on for over a year as an Art Collective sanctioned by locals. The Times' first colour supplement carried an article about the dance scene at Groove Park, though some of the organisers did not want to be photographed. Law enforcement raids and anti-rave laws have presented a challenge to the rave scene in many countries. This is due to the association of rave culture with illegal drugs such as MDMA (often referred to as a "club drug" or "party drug" along with MDA), amphetamine, LSD, GHB, ketamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, and cannabis. In addition to drugs, raves often make use of non-authorized, secret venues, such as squat parties at unoccupied homes, unused warehouses, or aircraft hangars. These concerns are often attributed to a type of moral panic surrounding rave culture.
