Piknic Electronik

For a more “heightened” read. Listen to this song (or just electronic dance music in general)

So remember how I always talked about going to a rave? Well I finally got my chance and it was fucking awesome.
Piknic Electronik is this thing that goes down EVERY Sunday from May to September if the weather permits.
It showcases ANY type of EDM from DnB, Dubstep, House,Trance, just to name a few & basically anyone and everyone attends.
Like seriously, this dude came up to me and my friend while we were dancing and he was like “Duuuude! I’m fucking 50 years old! And I still love this!”

The crowd was just amazing. Once the dancefloor was packed, EVERYONE was just vibing off each other and we were all one big unit. I dunno if you ever danced to EDM before. But the whole point if to let the beat control your actions. Some people were just simply jumping up and down, while others were grinding. Whatever you did, it just “fit.”

Anyway, now we got some background done, let’s go a little bit more in-depth about my experience.

So me friend and I got there at around 3pm, about an hour after it actually started. The DJ on the first stage was this brown girl and she was playing some bass heavy music. While we were still a little bit anxious, we weren’t in the right mood to dance it up.
We wanted to explore the rest of the site (it takes place on this big ass island, beautiful view of the city <3)
So we went to the 2nd stage. There was a DJ playing some slow, chill out music, so we were like “Oh okay, this must be like the chill spot.”
We find a spot and my friend takes out his pipe, we were a bit nervous about smoking because we were kinda the only ones (this changes immensely later on.) But we get over it and do it anyway.

Successfully baked, we got closer to the stage and the music starts to take over. Unfortunately, we were still kinda nervous about dancing still so we went back to 1st stage.
We bought some beer, hoping it would help shake the nervous feeling and I chug mine down. Feeling the alcohol buzz mixing in with my high. Now, dancing was the only thing on my mind. The brown girl was just finishing up her set and some guy took he spot. He was keeping the slow, heavy bass vibe so we went back to the 2nd stage.
By now they switched DJs too. And this guy was playing some house music. The dance floor was immediately packed with girls and dudes alike and shit was starting to get real.
“I have to dance.” I yelled over the music, my friend nodded, so we went into the center of the dance floor.
(PAUSE: Track change:
)
I could feel the energy of everyone dancing around me, influencing my instinct to dance. So we listened.
First came the typical head bobbing and knee bouncing to match up with the beat. Then once I got bored of that, my arms came into play.
Soon after, I was jumping around, waving my arms, shaking my head and all that jazz, like everyone else.
I glanced over my shoulder to check up on my friend, and saw he was dancing in his own little world, so I knew he was golden.
This guy saw us dancing and came over to high-five us, then left. And we started to dance with the people around us. A girl I bumped into a few times turned and faced me. “ON DANSE! ON DANSE!” She yelled in French. I was too in the zone to answer, and so we started dancing together.
That’s the best part, finding someone to dance with. It’s not like at a house party were “finding someone to dance with” is basically grinding. This time we were just facing each other, doing our own thing so there was no pressure (plus, the girl was like 10 years older than me lol.)

The house music just pounding through my chest, giving me the energy to dance even more. After a few songs, the girl hugged me and waved goodbye. So I just returned to dancing alone.

Then I felt a tap on my shoulder, I spun around and saw my friend with 2 beers, handing one to me.
“I fucking love you.” I took a looong sip of my drink. It was EXACTLY what I needed right now.

We eventually decided to go back to the 1st stage, where some slow, almost Mt Eden-like dubstep (think
) was playing, and there were a lot more people dancing now.

I swear, walking to that stage was the most beautiful thing ever. Every kick and snare hit, everyone was bounced, so it was just a sea of people bouncing at the same time. But it didn’t look plain because like I said, people do their own thing, so people were still grinding or waving their hands in the air or whatever.
We joined them and started dancing.

After a few songs, the DJ changed the tempo and the beat started to speed up. The crowd went nuts man, this is where the typical knee bounce turned into stomping or jumping and head bobbing turned into head shaking.
Things just evolved to the next level.
(think:

I was dancing with my friend when this group of people came. It was maybe about 4 girls and 2 guys. This girl yelled something to me in French. But I had no idea what, couldn’t hear over the music.
Then she motioned us to join her circle. So we danced over there.
She was drenched in sweat and going hard on the dance floor, so I felt almost obligated to keep up with her.
She was basically skipping in place and moving her arms in a almost “pushing something down” motion.
So, I started skipping in place too, mimicking her dance moves. Her friends soon followed and soon we were all just skipping in place, yelling and waving our hands in the air.
One of the guys who was with her group high fived us and yelled “ALLEZ!” and pumped us up even more.
Then they started RECRUITING other people who were dancing to come join them.
Like there was this girl who was dancing to my side, but out of the circle (the only English girl I talked to that day.) When the French girl just yelled at her and motioned her to join. So she did. In minutes we were just this HUGE circle of maybe 10-15 people all jumping up and down going crazy.
This went on for maybe an hour and a half. And we were drenched in sweat and it was hot like a fucking desert in
our area.

We became the staple of the dance floor, people came over from nearby areas just to dance with us.
I started dancing with the English girl.
“You’re a good dancer!” She yelled over the music.
“Thanks! You too!” I yelled back.
“Some people come here, and don’t know how to dance.”
“Just feel the beat!” We both smiled and nodded and resumed dancing.

And we all danced it up for another 2 hours or so.

My friend and I left a little while after at around 8:30pm. Totally tired out, but still in the mood to party. These people were handing out energy drinks and we each got one. Shame we got it when we were leaving, but whatever.

I parted ways with my friend after we got off the metro and sat down by my bus stop.
Once on the bus, someone tapped my shoulder.
This guy, maybe 30 years old smiled and showed me his bracelet. “Fucking insane party eh?” He asked.
“Definitely, that was intense.” I replied.
We talked for most of the bus ride, mostly about how awesome it was.
Then we both got off at the same stop. “Well, party on my friend.” He shook my hand and then ran across the street.

Something tells me I’m gonna see that guy REAL soon….

~Nass

Here’s a pic of the 2nd stage. This is when the dancfloor was kicking up. If you have me on Facebook, you can see the rest of the photos I took, but Vutales only gets one 🙂

k fine you get 2: