The first thoughts that come to mind when I hear the word “rave” are girls in skimpy outfits with furry boots, crowded and sweaty dance floors and a whole lot of drugs. So naturally for my 21st birthday, I decided to go to a rave for the very first time.

A few coworkers, friends and I drove the four hours on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 21, completely hungover to Denver, where Kaskade and several other electric dance music (EDM) musicians were performing at Skylab: Neon Planet.

I’m not sure what I expected. For one, I had completely overestimated how slutty my outfit actually was. Compared to 90 percent of the girls there, my crop top, booty shorts and thigh-high leggings depicted me as a saint. There were females who literally came in their bras and underwear. And to this I have one thing to say: more power to you. I could never walk around thousands of people in my knickers, and even though the girls were dressed slutty, a good amount of the guys at the event were just as skimpy.

Now, as far as I know, nobody died at Skylab. But I know it happens all the time — someone gets too drunk, too high, takes too many pills and snorts too many lines all in practically the same sitting, and their bodies never forgive them again. I did see some scary stuff though. I saw a girl with white-colored contacts and her eyes rolling back swaying side to side trying to walk into the bathroom. It was freaky, and five minutes later another girl was being carried away on a stretcher flailing her arms around and being forced to stay still by the EMTs.

There was a separate room from the main stage where a smaller dance floor was established so people could take a breather from the immensely populated larger area and kick back or take a smoke break outside.

I can honestly say that I did not finish one beer that night, and it was the actual night of my birthday. My excuse is that my body would have been super pissed at me had I gotten drunk again after doing so much damage the night before. This just goes to show that you don’t need to be drunk, high or on any sort of crazy drug to experience a rave the way it’s meant to be — an amazing night of dancing and jamming hard to good music, however sweaty and gross the dance floor may be.

Apart from the drama and the sweatiness, Skylab was amazing. Kaskade performed for almost two hours and absolutely killed it the entire time, not to mention the venue was huge and decorated with gigantic “neon planets” with awesome light effects going on throughout the whole thing. Mostly everyone at the show was there to get a little weird, meet new people and have a damn good time. I would have to say that we were all successful.

arildefonso@mavs.coloradomesa.edu