As a relatively straight-edge person, I enjoyed my first and only actual rave, but I really felt like I had to convince myself I was enjoying it compared to the

As a relatively straight-edge person, I enjoyed my first and only actual rave, but I really felt like I had to convince myself I was enjoying it compared to the people that were obviously on MDMA or whatever, especially after a few hours of basically similar tempos. Ironically, they also all burned out at a certain point and it got even less engaging as they sat on the floor and I wandered around as though I didn't get the memo. I've been to more recent Hardstyle shows since then at less sketchy venues and that's been fun, but something maybe about the repetitiveness of non-progressive trance or whatever at the time was quite boring. Some part of me wonders what that music feels like after taking something, but I spend enough time around people over 30 who regularly take mdma, coke, K, (I know they're quite different) that it continues seeming like something I'd prefer not to introduce into my life; it seems like they kind of need it. Incidentally, I'm definitely the exception in almost any group, having not engaged in anything but weed+alcohol recreationally, and occasionally drop those for periods of time. People are generally surprised that I haven't tried psychedelics yet.