Goan Raves

Goa is supposed to have a really good party scene, which everyone insists in calling “raves.” Most of them are in clubs, but a few happen on the beach as well. Unless trance music is all that distinguishes a “rave” from a “club party,” they’re just parties, with trance music. I’ve been to three, so far, and haven't been impressed; the only saving grace is that there is no cover charge so I don't feel guilty about leaving.

Admittedly, I likely don’t have the right contacts, or am maybe in the wrong locals. Like most Americans, I'm also am not all that into trance music, which tends to make me bored and impatient. It also seems like the Goa “rave scene” is older than I am--averaging in the age late 30’s, if I had to guess; there are a LOT of aging hippies running around Goa.

One of the more interesting “raves” I found just by following the music along the beach. People had built a bon-fire in a cove and rolled up with a turn-table and speakers in the flat-bed of a truck. A DJ was spinning the requisite trance music, and a guy was selling alcohol from the cab. It was novel for a while, but I had a hard time getting into it.
It was cool, though, to be at a party broken up by the rising tide rather than by the police.