Where’s the fire? | Scene Through the Lens

I talk here a lot about taking pictures of the same things over and over. And over again.

So it was a thrill for me to photograph - and learn - something new on my last day working in the just-passed year.

I was in a coffee/bakery spot next to the Pennsylvania Convention Center editing pictures I’d just made inside of the Fancy Brigades prepping for Philadelphia’s 2023 Mummers Parade.

Outside the window I started to see bunches of young people, all dressed in not-the-usual-clothing-for-a-December-night, and all heading in the same direction. When a group came into the restaurant I set aside any pretence that I knew everything about what was going on my my city and asked, “where’s everyone going?”

“To the rave,” was the replay I got.

Of course I’d heard of raves before. They’ve been around a while now, but I associated them with the clandestine dance music pop-ups held in empty warehouses, in secret locations. Not the same mainstream building that hosts the Mummers, a president, lifesize dinosaurs (and lets not forget the FEMA’s first mass vaccination clinic in Philadelphia and the city’s 2020 presidential vote count).

So I googled it. I had no idea the rave scene moved to large venues with ticket prices (almost) approaching those paid during the Phillies World Series. Or for Taylor Swift’s botched Ticketmaster Eras Tour.

It’s become a New Year’s Eve tradition in Philadelphia with dubstep and future bass heavy-hitters as headliners, but I didn’t find any other “mainstream news” coverage of it.

Maybe I’ll photograph it from the inside next year.

Since 1998, a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:

» SEE MORE: Archived columns and Twenty years of a photo column