Silence is Golden
Filed under: Etc.
This past weekend, New Yorkers gathered in NYC's boho Union Square park for a SILENT rave.
WTF????
No, it wasn't a party for the E-popping hearing-impaired.
More than 1,000 people showed up, danced in place and grooved to the tunes coming out of their own iPod headphones.
How post-modern!
The "mastermind" behind the silent rave was Jonnie Wesson a British exchange student.
Silent raves are popular in Europe, especially London, where he grew up, Wesson told the NY Times. “The basic premise is that a hundred or a thousand or a few thousand people all turn up in a public place, turn on their own headphones and dance. It’s always fantastic and weird to see thousands of people dancing silently. It’s always in a public space, but it’s not meant to cause disruption, but only because it’s the last place you’d expect that sort of thing.”
One of the largest such silent raves occurred in London in 2006 at Paddington Station, when 3,500 people turned up at the height of rush hour, 7:18 p.m.
Perezcious reader, Amanda, was there and sent us the pic above. She reports, "Some notable moments of the rave were the conga-lines, mosh pits, people climbing on-top of the George Washington statue, the infamous Raveapple that showed up, and even a woman attended the rave wearing only paint to cover her entire body. Cops showed up, but nothing got out of hand and no arrests were made. Another Silent Rave is definitely going to happen though, but the exact dates arent set yet."
Sounds like fun. Hope we'll be in town when that happens again!
We need to go get pop our glock and do some breakdancing moves!
first
second
SEcond?
I'd rather go to a real Rave…
that sucks @!!! you need to feel the bass !!!
what a party
dude…I want to be there!
aweosme
so cool
yooo
cool. fun fun
2nd
Why the fuck would someone want to do that stupid shit??!! Imagine how dumb they all look. HAHA! Ummm… I think I'll stick to going to the club and dancing with others to the SAME song. I can stay home and fucking listen to my ipod and dance. How stupid!
Hey! Were doing this in Calgary in a couple of weeks!
WOOT! party!
I went to one here in Sydney last year, with my friend, it was great fun.
LOVE IT.
There was another big happening in New York this weekend too Perez,THE POPE. Geez.
weird
interesting….very interesting…
the tremalos right bathog
a bunch of people did the same thing in our student center last thursday!
wow congrats all that first crap is soooo annoying!
bonnaroo has a silent disco tent every year. no ipods but still awesome.
We had a silent rave here in Sydney, It was in front of town hall in the city CBD.
I went with my friend. It was great fun.
it's 'deaf' not 'hearing-impaired" geeez!
they do this at bonnaroo every year. Every one has headphones and they all listen to the dj through them. and everyone dances and sings along. it's pretty sweet.
when was it? seven?
silent disco's as we call them are hella fun!
different strokes and different folks brought together!
Mariah signed CDs for SIX HOURS!!! How many artists/singers do you know who have signed CDs for that long??!??! NONE. Mariah is the ONLY one who would sign CDs for yes, SIX HOURS!!! And this is the biggest lie I have EVER heard. If you preordered the CD, you got a wristband if you were one of the first 1000. ONLY 1000! Mariah signed EVERY PERSON'S CD with a WRIST BAND for SIX HOURS! Yes, she sat and signed over and over again to EVERY PERSON with a wristband. All these people are liars, they may have pre-ordered her CD, but she was only signing the first 1000 who pre-ordered. I have been around for awhile and I have NEVER IN MY LIFE heard of someone signing 1000 CDs. Most people sign like 100 at most. So, before you falsely bash Mariah, let's remember that she signed for 6 hours and signed all 1000 people's. Mariah is amazing and loves her fans more than any singer I know! Oh yeah and no one booed her. I was there. 6000 people showed up, she'd still be signing if she were to sign everyone's. I don't know why people are hating on her so much lately. I hate how false rumors get started and make someone who signed for over 6 hours to over 1000 people look bad.
WOW.
there is no news.
hahah there was a facebook group or event about this
Now this is time based art! And the cool thing is, it doesn't involve 'having miscarriages' like that freaky Yale student you reported on.
Rave On. Art should be fun! I hope there were at least rufies!
Did everyone in NYC that owns an ipod take a stupid pill?
i see one right over there doing the "thriller" moves…
go and youtube and search - flash mob - its the latest thing in the UK - a group of people (normally students) meet up and do something strange. One held in manchester included people standing in the town centre brushing their teeth and another involved standing still like a statue in the middle of a big supermarket. very funny
I hate this shit- flash mobs, silent discos- they're all the same, just a bunch of students thinking that they're so cool. Newsflash: you're a twat!
They have been doing this at Bonnaroo for years! It is awesome!
What a sorry pic of a bunch of lemmings.
i was there and it was AWESOME!! a lot of college kids..and some without any ipods at all, just dancing around like crazy. and there was a SERIOUS breakdance battle! i love nyc.
say what
I'm sorry but I feel the need to express that you using the term "hearing-impaired" is incredibly offensive to hard-of-hearing individuals such as myself and the deaf community. We no longer use that term and you can now feel free to say deaf or hard-of-hearing people or even "people who can't hear so good!" Thanks for your understanding.
Sounds like a ton of fun! I'd totally participate if they held one in the MIA…
I need to get a new ipod
www.makeyourownshirt.com
I can do that at home and not have to be around all those people. In fact, I'm doing it right now. First thing I thought is how DUMB this must look to passersby. Things like this make me miss the 70s, the 80s, and the 90s. Never thought I would say that…
This is one of the most dumb and boring things I've heard of in the last 30 minutes!
Unusual, but if that is what they like?!? My problem is taking over the whole park-you are shuting down normal traffic and at paddington station during rush hour?? You are just going to get alot of people mad at you after a long day of work, nevermind the safety factors when you have 3500+ at a train station when communters are trying to get home. Do it in a LARGE space like Central Park where you don't upset the normal flow of people who will just hate you and perpetuate the generation gap.
perez, where do you think "boho nyc" is? soho stands for south of houston. noho stands for north of houston. boho was a fashion statement attributed to mary kate and ashley, among others, a few years ago and union square is, well, just union square..
http://skeeville.myminicity.com/
this definitely is the works of improveverywhere.com haha… they always do things like this and i'm pretty sure they've done a "mission" involving ipods and headphones before lol
BRING IT TO
CHICAGO!!!!!
CHI TOWN!!!!!
THE CITY OF BIG SHOULDERS!!!!!!
THE WINDY CITY!!!!!
THE CITY IN A GARDEN!!!!!
hah, I know Jonnie!
That's stupid.
i bet it's Improv Everywhere…they always do crazy stuff like that to get a reaction…we'll have to see if they post a video of it on their blog soon…
www.improveverywhere.com
^^they have some pretty funny stuff as it is…
This is a rip off of the silent disco and flash mob.
Pop and Glock??? WTF IS THAT??
I would hardly call an area as commercial as Union Square "Boho". It's a Square which is comprised of stores such as Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, Forever 21, and other "mall stores". How is that Boho? Get your facts straight and don't pretend to know NYC if you don't! Any true New Yorker knows that Union Square is anything but "boho"!!!
I was there, and it was a lot of fun. A little insane though how many people are talking about it now…
"How post-modern!" haha
sounds like a fun idea!
PS improve everywhere had nothing to do with this,
I like dancing; I like music; I'm not sure if I get why you would think this is cool but who am I to judge? Seriously though, are we that hung up on pleasure (and lack of it) that no one can throw a good party?
wrong use of the theory post modern. dumb fuck.
WTF?? THATS RETARDED IF I WANT TO DO THAT I WOULD JUST STAY HOME AND LISTEN TO MY IPOD!!
I was with Jonnie Wesson at the silent rave on the forecourt of St. Paul's Cathedral in London and it's very good to see he's taking London style stateside.
VIVA LONDON!
I've done them…. In london its part of Flashmobbing
This was so much fun. I was there on Friday night and I'm in the picture.
:)
Some people got a little bit too crazy, but all in all it was fun.
That kid Wesson,he's bangin.
And a pretty slick dancer, but I thought he was going to fall of the statue the whole time.
I LOVE music.
I love dancig.
And open spaces.
But if everyone is listening to their own music with i-pods there's no connection.
Not even that beautifull connection that happens when you dance with someone (o a lot of someones) to the same beat.
I don't dig this.
Maybe they're mostly on drugs?
At a music festival called "A Campingflight to Lowlands" in The Netherlands the silent disco has been a returning item for I think about 5 or 6 years now..
The only difference is that when entering the disco dancefloor you're handed a pair of headphones.. it's really funny trying to figure out who is listening to the same music as you are.. Dunno how many different songs are playing at once, though..
Silent disco…. pretty much fun…
thats why we have ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL ppl!!!!!
:)
wrong wrong wrong
where's the UNITY?
is this what the NYC scene has come to? safety in numbers?
RIP soundlab parties - where we actually danced outside, midday to LIVE TALENT
Pretty cool concept, actually.
WTF?
If anyone reading this comment knows any of the morons… who attended will you please take them to peoplescourtraw com Raves were the shit in the 90's…
i really don't think you understand what post-modern is perez
fyi….this was done last year at bonnaroo in tennessee so that girl wasn't too original.
they have "silent discos" at bonnaroo every year.. which is a bunch of E popping kids dancing to headphones
um, this happens in austin all the time. mainly at the capitol building. it's nothing new.
they've done these for YEARS down at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in TN! they are so awesome, silent discos bring thousands of people together to dance in perfect silent harmony! the only difference with the Bonnaroo silent disco is that they have everyone wearing headphones and have guest djs (DJ Shadow, Sasha & Digweed, ect) play surprise sets directly into your ears. B-a-d-a-s-s!
This was not an original idea. In the book You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem, one of the main characters puts on a silent dance party and tells all the people coming to bring their iPods and dance to their own music. He was a post-modern artist and thought it would be very dramatic.
Glad to see plagiarism is still alive and well in the art community!!
This is ben happening foe ages already, PEREZ where were you?
Flash mobs and silent raves even in Houston we had….
more people than an avril concert!!
I was there. AMAZING! For all you haters, get over it, get off your lazy butt and go party at a silent rave. Can't wait for the next one… June?
I've been to a few but there's always been a DJ. You get headphones on the way in and they are tuned into the DJs frequency. Ipods would be a bit stupid as everyone would be listening to diferent music! All in all though silent raves are brilliant!
This is old - headphione discos/raves have been done SO many times at festivals. It doesn't make it revolutionary just ’cause people use iPods…
hello, it's called flashmob! Old Story… it happens all the time!!
ohh my sister was there.
hey, dip-shit
"post-modern" is one word and you are using it out of context. fuckin' tard
Er, you should find out what post-modern means before using it to inaccurately describe things.
hmm, sounds like a fun idea, id give it a go, then ill decide whether if its worth goin back to.
LOVE silent raves, glad its spread to your side of the pond and hopefully further. Lots of festivals over here in the UK do them aswell, like Glastonbury and Reading & Leeds festival, with a few different DJ's playing and you all get headphones and choose which one you like.
Perez, you may know LA. You may even know London (although it's debatable). But you OBVIOUSLY know NOTHING about New York. Union Square is about the farthest thing from "boho" imaginable. Presence of weirdo ravers does not equal boho. Come on, now.
Re: rachk –
Hearing Impaired is STILL a common used terminology. Go take your deaf power antics elsewhere. I'm hard of hearing myself and use whatever terminology I wish. You deaf militants need to realize that there's more to life than being Deaf or deaf.
Grow up.
mad people at my high school do this all the time
its supposed to be really fun
looks like a lot of clueless people that aren't even dancing.
i went to a silent disco in edinburgh last year
fucking crazy
its hilarious when youre drunk
How fukkin stupid. These people are probably rejects. GAY GAY GAY
I expect Toronto to rip this off pretty soon
I was thereeeee, It was FUCKING awesome.
Best time I had since the PillowFight!
yep….that's us…the "rejects" as liz t says… it was simply amazing! there are no words… except for apparently "rejects"…at least we all know how to have a good time! and it started at 6:17 but went on for hours. and as for people not being able to make a connection because they aren't listening to the same music…FALSE. it was amazing to witness how connected people can really get through motion rather than noise; once you took off your headphones and heard how quiet it was, hearing only the patter of dancing feet, you could really understand how awesome it is to be in your own world listening to your favorite music with people you don't know and how liberating that can really be.
FUN!
AWKWAAAAAARD!!!! FUCKING RETARD PIECES OF SHIT, I'LL EXECUTE EVERY MOTHER FUCKING ONE OF YOU!
GROUPTHINK!