PURE2000: a Rave for a Generation Bonded by the Purest Love of Music

On the night of November 14-15, 2020, in a park by the sea hidden in an industrial area of Kawasaki, about an hour from downtown Tokyo, a rave was held. It was organized by Speed (@xpeed5), a collective formed by several artists in their early twenties who had been self-releasing their music, videos, and organizing concerts in the capital of Japan for a year, establishing their very own style.

In announcing the rave, which was called PURE2000, Speed warned “even we can’t predict what will happen there” but also stated, “PURE2000 is sure to have something you really want with from the bottom of your heart.” With that doubt and with that statement, the organizers seemed to sense that what would take place that day was going to be, for some reason, momentous for whoever was there. It was.

A couple of months earlier, another rave, SLICK, had taken place for the first time in the same location. In a year marked by the restrictions of the coronavirus, this was for many —among them Speed members— the first outdoor event where to enjoy music as a group experience again. SLICK was characterized as a cross-generational rave united by a love for techno and electronic music. However, PURE2000 united a generation characterized by a cross-genre love of music.

Something emerged that night and was born at dawn the next day. PURE2000 reaffirmed and consolidated the existence in Japan of a scene of young people thirsty for music of all (or none) genres made by them. Mixing music styles, identities, aesthetics, nationalities, and probably ways of seeing life, the music made us part of the same.

I had moved to Tokyo a few months earlier. In a country where I knew no one and didn’t almost speak the language, music saved me. Shouting in front of a stage or dancing on the dance floor, music was the way with which I could communicate who I am and connect with others. In all of 2020, I didn’t feel this very much-needed connection as strongly and purely as I did at PURE2000.

I discovered that I had not been the only one to feel the same way. That day, we had all dressed up for a special night and were excited, we knew something new and important was happening. We danced together under the moon and were still dancing when the sun came up. We were cold but we were warm. We greeted each other again or for the first time. We were dancing surrounded by friends.

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Listening to the music of all kinds, together, non-stop between the sea and the factories, we realized that we were part of something, of a family that creates, enjoys, and shares music, in all its forms, as the purest expression of love.

A year after the celebration of PURE2000, I decided to ask organizers, artists, and attendees who are still part of this family what the PURE2000 Speed rave was like for them, and compile the photos taken there by photographers Toshimura (@toshimu_rar) and Yui Nogiwa (@yuinogiwa_), and some fashion snaps by Yuzuka Ota (@s._.uji).

SPEED (@xpeed5): This was the first event where we were able to put what we believed in into a form that we were satisfied with. We think it became a highly pure place.

Waater (@waater_): We love music. Everyone was connected by that feeling.

Psychoheads (@psychoheads_19): We got to see a little bit of what music and parties should be like. It was a lot of fun.

Yuzuha (@yuzzha_): It was nice to see everyone enjoying the music in such a genuine way.

Arow (@917arow): I really thank all of you who were involved in our rave party PURE2000 in any form, and I wish you are fine till the day we gather again. You know we are still at the beginning of this massive story.

Mt.Chori (@mt.chori): The beginning of the beginning. The moon and the sun. The day I was born after dying 9 times.

Lil Soft Tennis (@lil_soft_tennis): I gave it my all, as always. The timing was right, the air was fresh, everyone was enthusiastic and their energy was refreshing.

Tamanaramen (@tamanaramen – Hikam): PURE2000 was a beautiful rave with a young crowd, which is rare for an outdoor rave, and so was the fact that all the organizers also performed! I was a little worried about not being in a band when I started performing, but I was very impressed by the enthusiasm and the blurring of boundaries between genres that the younger generation expresses towards music.

Jubee (@jubee_cds): Both the performers and the audience were just enjoying the music with pure emotions, feeling it with their whole bodies. I had the impression that there were many borderless music lovers who were not bound by genres. The amount of heat was unbelievable, and the energy was so great that something could be born from it.

Mari Sakurai (@_marisakurai): It was like a dream come true!

Baby Loci (@yyiqpi): We went to our first winter rave together, it was amazing! I can see how its influence became part of us.

Miru Shinoda (@mirushinoda): When I was dancing at the SLICK rave, Arow told me “I want to do this too.” I was amazed at how quickly PURE2000 came together. Everything about PURE2000 was unfinished, and that’s why it was so beautiful.

sudden star (@5udden5): The lineup was amazing, I wanted to see everyone who was playing. I was interested in Speed from before when they had the MAX Speed party, and I was really happy that I got invited to play at PURE2000. I remember Yuzuha and Waater sets being really good. Also, the sofas were nice!

JACKSON kaki (@kakiaraara): PURE2000 was a really great rave. It was a DIY event, with bands, DJs, and rappers all creating their own worlds, and I feel that the fusion of these worlds created a new level of energy.

Ykah (@ykah___): It was a precious outdoor party where people of my generation gathered. I was impressed by the audience’s constant enthusiasm for the music.

EUREKA (@masahidekato): It was a party where I could feel the depth of the connection between music, freedom, and liberation, which I thought was completely different from the place where I work. It wasn’t about DJs and bands, but about individuals, their passion and expressiveness, and the respect for them, the audience, and the space. I’m really glad that I was able to witness a party like this!

CEMETERY (@a.n.g.e.l.b.a.b.y2k): It was a party that made me feel that Tokyo is a wonderful place to be, as the morning sky was infinitely open.

loveliness FKA Chaos (@loveliness_______): PURE2000 was one of the great parties that appealed to the young people, including me, who are now in the midst of the rough times of this world.

Diva (@sexrifice): It felt like a year-end party to me. An end to something but also a beginning of new bigger things. I’m still friends with everyone I met back then.

Uzu (@s._.uji): 2020 was a shocking year, but I think the PURE 2000 definitely added new value. I can’t say it well, but it’s been a really wonderful day and I can’t forget it even after a year. We would also like to thank everyone who I captured in my snaps.

Toshimura (@toshimu_rar): PURE2000 was a one-night-only event for artists who make music that society has not yet given a certain genre and their friends. In the park where the event was being held, there were a lot of couches, I wondered where they would have gotten them from. As a photographer, I was too busy moving around to see how comfortable the couches were. If I could go back to that night for ten minutes… I would sit on the couch in the middle of the field, enjoy the sounds coming to my ears from the stage a short distance away, and watch the outline of the clouds as the lights illuminated the night.

Hana Watanabe (@hanargram): PURE2000 was a very fresh party! Both the performers and the audience were in their teens and twenties, which I think is a rare audience for an outdoor event. I have the impression that outdoor raves tend to attract a lot of middle-aged people who like raves because of the high entrance fees. It was so original, so new, so exciting all through the night and morning! I was recording the video as a photoshoot, and it was beautiful to see everyone still dancing in the wee hours of the morning, even when it was light out. PURE2000 was the best, and I love and respect everyone at Speed!

psi tallstar (@psi_t7): PURE2000 was the most fulfilling multi-genre event of my time in Tokyo. From the industrial bayside location to every kindred soul involved, it was a night I felt most at home. Dancing all through the visions and sounds provided by Speed.

Prius Missile (@prius_missile): I was just dancing as part of the audience, but I feel like my relationship with the players and club kids I’m friends with now started loosely after that time. I think it was a party that showed a generational sense where things like “rave-like outdoor party for rock bands with rappers and dubstep DJs” happened naturally rather than strategically!

RY0N4 (@ry0_n4): It was one of those events where I felt like I’d made a bunch of friends I could just naturally enjoy music with! I wanted then, and still want now, to make this feeling even bigger!

Shuohan Yuan (@oshitori_ball): I enjoyed PURE2000, it was like a secret camp for everyone. Tamanaramen’s live performance was so impressive…. And watching the sunrise that day with everyone was unforgettable!

Yui Tsuda (@fanfare_and): Spontaneous impulses and pleasures leaped out of their respective beds and coincidentally collided on the same level. We may have forgotten by now, as the powerful event and the meaning of the sound is and should be transitory, but the fact that the party was held in that moment is wonderful enough.

NordOst Matsushima (@no_nord_ost): It all started when I went to PURE2000, MORE BPM!!!

Luna Woelle (@wo11.e): Thinking back on PURE2000 I always get that warm, fuzzy feeling you get when thinking of loved ones —it was in many ways one of the best events I’ve ever been to. True to its name it felt pure, organized by the crowd for the crowd, full of creative and open-minded people.

Ichiro Tanimoto (@lchirotanimoto): It was a rave like no other, with a fusion of many different genres of music. The sunrise was nice!

aryy (@aryy1998): It was incredible!

Risa (@alien.melissa): It was a beautiful, genreless scene of people dancing around as they pleased, a space of another dimension created by those who love music!

Levolant (@_levolant): PURE2000 was a very exciting party! As someone who usually plays electronic music, mingling with the Speed band scene was an unusual experience.

Jumadiba (@jumadiba_assaji): It was a lot of fun! I especially remember the DJ set by JACKSON Kaki. I found the trash pickup a little difficult.

Amy Brereton (@amybrereton): One of my favorite parts about PURE2000 was the variety of artists and genres that were present, everything from rap to indie rock. The event displayed such a broad range of talent, including some of the best DJ sets I’ve ever experienced. The location as well was a highlight, being by the ocean and hidden away from the rest of the city simultaneously. It was the perfect location to be immersed in music, and surrounded by friends.

Bubble Caat (@bubble_caat): PURE2000 was like a dream that I never wanted to end.

Mangoushit (@mangoushit): I remember feeling that many of the people who in the future would be considered important in the “art scene” in Tokyo, whatever the discipline, were gathered there having a good time.

Miku Watanabe (@watanabemiku8): It felt new!

Mitsutaro (@os_mosan): I really liked the outdoor atmosphere of PURE2000. As for the performers, I was dancing in the front the whole time, including on the DJ sets. What a great party!

Leo (@leop_leop): Even though the small rave took place on a cold November night, the crowd and vibe felt young, fresh, and creative.

Rui (@lusiulo): The flow of Lil Soft Tenis’s band set live performance and JACKSON kaki’s hardcore DJ set made the strongest impact on me that day, and it still leave a strong impression!