The best place in the world to dance apart from on Kilroy's (hopefully forthcoming) grave

I'm young and I've not been to many clubs outside Dublin, but the best night I've had was probably Darren Emerson here in the Red Box in January. Really pumping sort of prog-house set, he kept looping la mouche by Cassius over and over and over and back into the mix all night, he played La La Land and lots of other songs I like which I now forget, aswell as stuff I didn't know that was amazing. The club was packed completely and the atmosphere was great.

He ended the set with Praise You by Fatboy which I tired of ages ago, but at the time it was fantastic. A whole dancefloor completely stuck together singing it. Cringey to relate I guess, but when you were there it was fantastic.

Ronan, you've completely hit on two things I forgot to mention which can be pretty essential to a classic club night: (a) the mystery song (s) which blow your mind apart, and (b) those songs/styles you wouldn't give an ear to outside a club, but which sound amazing in the right context. Had the latter kind of moment in NY when I went to the Body and Soul night: the Djs played tons of Paradise Garage stuff, which isn't usually my bag, but in the situation it sounded sublime. And I wasn't drinking or otherwise indulging. One more thing: has anyone else had the good fortune to hear 'Unfinished Sympathy' on a massive club soundsystem? The beat on it is simply the most awesome thing I have ever heard - twice as classic as at low volume on a crappy stereo.

I had some really killer nights at Squeezebox at Don Hill's.

the best place I have ever been dancing was the Packard Automotive Plant in Detroit during the mid 90's. It was the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world when it was built. This was back when Detroit arguably had the best rave scene in the US. The place just was just utterly drenched in this post-industrial-dystopic vibe, but strangely it felt really vital and important. There was something special about dancing in the wreckage. The best pop culture reference I can think of is the abandoned Steel Mill scenes in Robocop, it had a very similiar vibe(although those scenes were actually shot in Pittsburg Steel Mills, because even though Hollywood will make a movie about how Detroit is the worst place on Earth, they will not actually shoot any of the film here. That is another rant...)

When Rave died in Detroit, everything went clubby and things were different. I have been some great club nights like Red #5 in Chicago and Sona in Montreal comes to mind as good places. There have been some brilliant clubs in Detroit.

When Motor was in its prime in 98-99 is was on. I can remember seeing things like Time:Space live and looking around and noticing that Mike Banks from UR was standing next to me. Things like that, just seeing Detroit talent on the homefront, and thinking to myself that if I had the choice to be anywhere, doing anything on the planet at that moment, there is nowhere else I would want to be. Seeing Rolando, D- Wynn, Bone, Random Noise Generation live, Derrick May, Rob Hood, Dave Clarke, Thomas Brinkman, Kit Clayton, Funkstorung...I have serveral cherished memories from that place.

As good as the club scene was, there was still something about those early raves that the club scene just lacked. Clubs are just to regulated and convienient. They are places that are designed for consuption and pleasure, they are contrived. There is something dangerous and exciting about walking through the buildings that were the backbone of the entire mechanized world and that essentially kept the Axis powers from winning the Second World War. 50 years after the war ended and the rest of the world turned it's back on Detroit, the buildings are still there and people are reclaiming them, even if for a single night.

If you are interested in these buildings, there is a GRATE website dedicated to these old buildings and Detroit in general.

Detroityes.com

Number of answers.

The coolest answer: a loft party I went to in chicago in spring '95. It was about 90% gay, Derrick Carter played and some other guy who played wall-to-wall Relief and Dance Mania stuff, which I was just starting to get into at the time. I really wanted to go and ask what the records were, but didn't want to stop dancing. It was so good that I didn't mind all these chicago weirdos sticking their hands down my trousers (I was 17 at the time, and if that had happened in England I'd have run a mile, at the time it just seemed polite not to object...) Was good in terms of atmosphere (total dedication to dancing) and music (stuff I've never heard before or since).

The Risky answer:
Rezerection rave, outside Edinburgh, 1996. Just at the tail end of happy hardcore. And for some reason they'd got loads of detroit luminaries down to play in a techno tent. You could go from the insanity of 5,000 scots in white kappa shellsuits jumping up and down in sync to Lenny Dee to Blake Baxter playing to five people in a cavernous tent. Both were brilliant. DJ Rap let me kiss her. Dye Witness played a live set. With strippers. We all got pissed in the airport bar afterwards. Wins on account of being utter insanity and extremely unlikely ever to be replicated.

the tourist answer: Trade, London, 1997 (?). Because it's like another planet where everyone has muscles and no-one talks to straight boys. I hardly danced, but stayed 8 hours just to soak up the strangeness. Like clubbing if clubbing was a job instead of recreation.

The predictable answer: Twilo, New York, 1996. 10 hour set from Tenaglia. "Thriller" playing at 8am. The best sound system I've ever heard. Every song revealed layers of nuance never experienced on shitty british PAs. Main good points simply that it went on really really late, one DJ played the whole time and really felt the crowd and that sound system. Which was incredible.

ha! i've heard the rezerrection stories. scary. did dye witness do observing the earth? that shit is loopy

orbit, morley late 92-94, from the end of the rave scene with grooverider, dj sy, simon 'bassline' smith, through to the beginnings of trance when it wasn't anodyne, believe it or not marco zaffarano kicked that shit. this would be alternated with the coolest from the other side of the atlantic so youl'd get sven vath next to damon wild and joey beltram next to dave angel.

weird to think now, but youl;d get, like, red planets star dancer next to 4 voice's catching the scent of mystery (namlook!!!) next to jeff mills step to enchantment next to sven's l'esperenza. didn't seem to be any distinctions

that place was brilliant though, youl'd look round and see everyone rocking, hanging off the balconies. lazer worshippers dude

I looked up rezerection just to see if there was any realted features, i went to my first rez when i was 16 and it wasw the event 2 , going to them all tiil it ended,i just have to say that out of all the rezzes i went to was THE NIGHTMARE.......thats all , Chris Jolly.......................A big fuckin hello to all who went to rez and all the crazy people i met there......shame it's finished ............CHRIS JOLLY...............