A few months back, Russ from Well Dressed Social – a semi-regular arts event that takes -place in different locations across Derbyshire – got in touch to ask whether I’d be willing to take part in an event he had planned. He was interested in my research into rural rave culture and wondered whether I’d be interested in doing a talk focused on the hidden histories of rural rave in the UK. Naturally, I said yes.

So this Friday (15^th August 2025), I’ll be at Quad in Derby – a community-focused cinema and arts space in the city’s Cathedral Quarter – delivering that talk. The event has a packed schedule, as following my talk, they will be screening, in sequence, KiF Productions superb ‘ambient road movie’, Still Out, and Aaron Trinder’s critically acclaimed documentary about UK free party culture in the 1980s and 90s, Free Party: A Folk History.

Aaron’s film, which I first saw at a private screening in Bristol in 2022 as part of the superb Free Party: A Retrospective exhibition and event series, does a terrific job in platforming the voices of new-travellers and free party people, tracing the origins, development and first peak of the movement. Naturally, it also includes plenty on the government crackdowns that followed, the impact they had on the community, and the court case against Spiral Tribe which was ultimately one of the costliest in UK history.

I’m on before the film, so I’ll be steering clear of these aspects. Instead, I’ll be looking at activity in parts of the country largely missing from the film, later events (for example since the late 1990s), and arguing that over time, raves and free parties have become culturally embedded within some rural regions of England and Wales – and therefore new contested rural traditions to rival those that were once commonplace (for example festivities tied into the agricultural calendar).

There will be information related to my ongoing East Anglia rave research, of course, but also information on the South-West of England, Mid-Wales, and Derbyshire and the Peak District. It’s an all-new talk, written specifically for this event, and I’d love it if you came down. Both of the films being screened are essential viewing, so it promises to be a fantastic night.

Tickets are available via the QUAD Derby website, which you can access by clicking this link.