Pubdate: Tue, 25 Apr 2000
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2000 David Syme & Co Ltd
Contact:  250 Spencer Street, Melbourne, 3000, Australia
Website: http://www.theage.com.au/
Author: Manika Naidoo

DRUGS, DANCE, DEALERS: A RAVE REVIEW

More than 10,000 ravers flocked to Melbourne's Docklands this Easter for
revelation if not redemption.

Their chosen place of worship was a shed not a church and the purveyor of
truth the DJ - not God.

They were there for Gatecrasher - Global Sound System - a huge techno-dance
event that is in Melbourne as part of the Year Zero World Tour.

The gates opened at 10pm on Sunday, and by 2am yesterday most had arrived,
many dressed to impress in glittering costumes and carrying traditional rave
accessories including the glow stick, lollipops and baby dummies.

Rabbit ears also featured strongly.

But some were more inventive.

One girl walked past sucking a glow-in-the-dark fishing lure.

Another, seemingly oblivious to the chilly southern winds lifting off the
icy water, bared almost all in pink Spandex.

Security was tight - bags searched thoroughly at the gate and photo
identification demanded as proof of age to gain entry to the licensed event.

But even so, the crowd was young, with experienced ravers complaining about
the "school kids running around".

It was obvious many were high on drugs - ecstasy, speed, LSD and cocaine.

By dawn, police had arrested two men, suspected of possession and
trafficking ecstasy.

The dealers, while not immediately visible, were there, quietly plying their
trade at tables along the wharf's edge - away from the heat and thudding
techno beat of the dance sheds.

In Shed One, the headline act Binary Finary took to the turntable, provoking
a primal roar from thousands dancing in unison to the hypnotic beat.

Roving spot and strobe lights urged a more frenzied pace and the crowd
responded, as if on cue, jumping higher, moving faster.

By 3.30am Janine, dancing on raised seating along the sides of the shed,
said she was "peaking", an hour after taking a half each of two ecstasy
tablets - a "butterfly" and "blue love".

She planned to take the other halves later and save a "Versace" for the
official recovery party at the Salt Club, in South Yarra.

Dancing next to the beaming Janine were two male friends.

One, paranoid that people thought he and his friend were gay, was keen to
assert his heterosexuality, flexing his thigh muscle. "Feel that," he
offered.

He was on a cocktail of drugs - ecstasy, speed and a bit of coke, and
confessed to happily "going off".

But by 5.30am the drugs had begun to wear off. The dancing crowd thinned as
people headed outside to buy replenishing fresh fruit and find friends or
slowly make their way to the recovery party.

Lilly, 22, a clothing retailer and boyfriend Darren, 32, a marine biologist,
decided to head home after a drug-free night of fun.

As they slowly made their way from the wharf, past the steel and concrete
Colonial Stadium and along the pedestrian bridge, Lilly declared the night a
success while contemplating the rave scene.

"There is no stopping it really."
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