Toronto's Underground Rave Renaissance

Since the end of the pandemic and the reopening of dance floors across Toronto, the city has seen a surge of underground-style raves that changed the way people experience music. Many people’s first raves now in Toronto are not like the old all-ages experiences seen in clubs by big promotional companies, but rather renegade raves, deep in the depths of Toronto’s underground held by different Rave Crews full of ravers themselves. Fueled by a burning passion and desire for the music to thrive these crews consistently push forward the scene as we know it. With this diverse roster of crews, the underground rave renaissance has pushed niche genres back to the forefront such as Hardcore, Breakbeats, and different styles of Drum & Bass.    

With an environment where there isn’t a hierarchy with VIP areas, lines, and how much you’re spending. This creates a new atmosphere amongst ravers where communicating with each other is more focused on the music and the connection amongst one another. The underground raves have connected the community in ways unimaginable. After two hard years of COVID-19 related quarantines, the people were clearly ready to dance and be together again as some underground raves have reached upwards of 700+ attendees. With hundreds of people showing up to various different raves regularly, every single weekend of the summer. Multiple rave crews host underground raves in a variety of dance genres from Techno to Drum and Bass and Hardcore. Underground raves come in different forms, some bringing in exquisite art installations, lasers, and lights, some as simple as a table and DJ decks - all that’s needed to start a party is music and listeners willing to dance!