You can think you know what something is going to be like. You’ve seen the tiny pictures on the back of the flyer and you’ve heard the stories, and so you think you know what to expect. Much like looking at a cream cake and asking someone to try it and tell you what it tastes like is the same as eating it.
Bagleys was a revelation.
From the moment I got in I knew it was special. Five concrete boxes filled with a hot thick atmosphere that you could taste in the air. Five different arenas playing the loudest, most disgustingly underground rave music I’d ever heard. The most smoke, the most lasers, more people than at all the other nights I’d been to put together. It was everything, all rolled into one no-rules, anything goes, night of ecstatic debauchery. I questioned how something like this was even legal, then realised for most of the people there it probably wasn’t.
Within minutes I was on a proper buzz, a manageable high to carry me through the night.
With a Smirnoff Ice in my hand, I became one of those little drops of water that rushes to become part of the collected pool. I was in the very place I was meant to be. We partied all night, going from room to room, passionate, wanting to experience everything we could. We threw shapes and hugged strangers, then in the morning when our brains had begun to smudge, we went outside to get some air. There’s never enough air in a room with sweat running down the walls.
The five of us sat on the roof terrace, shoulder to shoulder. Tamara rested her head on Warren’s lap and shut her tired eyes. In the distance, behind the skyline of the grey buildings of London, the sun began to rise.
“So what do you think of your first proper rave?” Natalie asked me, her skin glowing.
“Epic,” I replied. “Can’t wait for the next one.”
“Definitely gotta do this again,” Al added.
“Good, I’m glad you liked it. I didn’t know whether you would after how you started the night.”
“We were fucked,” Al said, “at one point in there I actually thought I was turning into a laser beam.” Natalie and I laughed. “You can’t have a bad night somewhere like this though, no fucking way.”
Natalie turned and kissed me on the cheek. “I bet that was a wicked buzz though for you two, there’s no way I could have handled that.”
“I don’t know if we did handle it,” Al said, “we just didn’t have a choice.”
“It’s all over now,” Natalie said. “You two are OK and that’s all that matters.”
“Very true,” I said.
Warren broke his silence, “Look at that sunrise, what an awesome way to end the night.”
“It is,” Al said. “You know what? Actually forget it.”
“No say it Al,” Warren said.
“It’s stupid.”
“Don’t worry,” Natalie said, “we’re not going to laugh.”
Al looked uncomfortable. “Alright, what I was going to say, but only because you want me to; is there’s a true beauty to this world, but some of us have to take drugs before we can see it.”
Natalie reached over my lap and rubbed Al on the knee. “Al. That’s the most perfect thing I’ve ever heard.”