Baby Raves: Youth, Adulthood and Ageing in Contemporary British EDM Culture

Abstract

This article begins with a reconsideration of the parameters of age in translocal EDM sound system and (super)club culture through the conceptualisation of a fluid multigenerationality in which attendees at EDM-events encompass a spectrum of ages from 0–75 years. Since the 1980s, it remains the case that the culture is fuelled through a constant influx of newcomers who are predominantly emerging youth, yet there are post-youth members in middle adulthood and later life that are also a growing body that continues to attend EDM-events. In this context, the baby rave initiative (2004–present) has capitalised on a gap in the family entertainment market and created a new chapter in (super)club and festival culture. I argue that the event is a catalyst for live heritage in which the accompanying children (aged from 0–12 years) temporarily become the beneficiaries of their parent’s attendee heritage and performance of an unauthored heritage.