Wonderland 2006

Every once in a while, different promoters and music afficianados put their collective heads together and work to bring a different type of party to the Seoul electronic music community. The result of this session's brainstorming was a party simply labelled 'Wonderland'. Wonderland was held on the outskirts of Seoul, offering a lush backdrop of natural scenery, open air, and plenty of space to be awesome. After speaking with a friend who was involved with the promotion for this particular event, I discovered that the location of this staggeringly excellent event was a pensioners' retirement facility. I can almost imagine the type of conversation that must have taken place to secure this domain:

Promotion Staff: Hey old timers, we want to commandeer your sleepy little community and install 4 story speakers, glowing murals, offer cheap beer, and generally increase the level of badassedness in the area by a factor of 800.
Old Timers: Only if we can come to the party.
Promotion Staff: Okay.

After riding the rails to the city's outskirts, we discovered that there was a shuttle bus waiting to take all those interested directly to the party. This bore a powerfully nostalgic similarity to the 'magical rave bus' from early days which would escort ravers to special or private parties. All save an' ri-ghteous on da rave-ah bus.

Wandering blithely around the area with only the intermittent pulses of glow sticks being waved around by party people to guide us, we found that there were children as young as 4 in attendance. Additionally, I spotted several partiers in excess of 40 years of age, meandering about and muttering to each other. Due to a lack of speed involving their progress, it was difficult to tell if they were dancing or merely shuffling slowly about, cursing the energetic youth of today.

Two seperate areas were set up; one featuring progressive/deep house, and the other supporting psytrance. Casually glancing at my watch (which read 8:40pm), I figured that intense, psychologically-altering electronica would be a beneficial aid to remaining awake until the shuttle buses return circa 5:30am. And there was Moosehead beer being served.

8 hours, myriad beers, 2 brief naps, and 9 or 10 scandalous dance sessions later, over a feast of ramyon and chicken, we decided that the night was coming to an end. Ensuring that I had captured the essence of the night on my camera, it was time to head back to the magical safety of da rave-ah bus. Hazily stumbling around my area after the bus and 2 lengthy subway rides later, I surmised that an appropriate end to the night would be a complete physical and psychological collaspe on the middle of Yangjae chon bridge. Boldy fighting this urge, I lurched into my apartment around 9am and fell asleep silently cursing the birds happily chirping outside like it was actually an appropriate time to be conscious. Clearly, these avian tricksters had not been to Wonderland.