The days leading up to Robotech were full of excitement for me and my girl, Ariele. When the 14th finally rolled around excitement was at an all time high. We were stoked to be hearing our "older white Asian brother" BrianDizzy spinning that night, as well as quite a few other DJ's on the lineup. Adding to our excitement was the fact that a friend I had made online, Lindsay, a fellow raver from Texas, was in the area and we had made plans to take her with us that night and introduce her to the So. Cal. scene.

Yet, on our way back from picking her up we received a call from our beloved Brian, telling us that he would not be spinning that night, as the entire house lineup had been cut. We were a bit confused as to the "ceiling caved in" response we got from Brian when we asked why, until later that night at the party.

So, the group of us rolled up to Robotech at about ten o'clock and proceeded through the line no problem, courtesy of presale tickets. (Hello, why would we want to pay an evil door price at the Dome, you all know how they raise ticket prices every two seconds, when we could pay $5, no problem?)

The outside area was already crowded, with a big group of junglists circling the DJ setup, although no one was in the center of the circle, to my surprise. The tent they had setup for the trance area was nearly half full. Just seeing the turnout that early on had me sure that this was truly going to be the last awesome Dome party.

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About forty-five minutes after I arrived, I witnessed my first ever Dome fight. Four or five guys had another guy on the ground, and were repeatedly hitting and kicking him. Needless to say, that killed the good vibe I was having at that time. I quickly recovered the happy, PLUR-ish vibe that the party was giving off, and made my rounds through the small outdoor space. Good music was being spun in both areas, but I stuck with the trance area since trance keeps me dancing. I spent a good hour or so straight in the tent, laughing and repeatedly hugging a close friend of mine that had chosen to roll for the first time. I'm sure some of you who were in attendance at the party remember the strange little white boy that was running around saying hello and hugging everyone he saw (oh the good memories we all have of that first roll..).



 
Around midnight I was handed an issue of Ravers Digest, which I sat reading intently until interrupted by Mark (37), whom was surprised to actually see someone reading the thing. I then spent an hour, most likely more, discussing the sad matters that raves are now beginning to face, like bunk crackhouse laws down in Louisiana, and other subjects of the like. A "Save The Music" booth had appropriately been set up to inform ravers of the current situation raves are facing, and to ask for help and support. Then, our topic matter drifted over to the sad, but inevitable, closing of the Masterdome. Robotech proved to be a rather solemn event, although bright and bubbly as raves tend to be, all at once. We discussed how it was rather ironic that the Dome 'broke.' From all that I have been told, the roof of the Masterdome had caved in the previous night, Friday the 13th. That proved to be an interesting twist. However, I'm sure we all knew it was bound to happen because of that elusive ceiling drip. We ultimately decided that the Masterdome knew it was its time to end, and decided that it didn't even want to last another week or three parties.
Even with a broken, and closing Masterdome looming above partygoers heads, the good vibes could not be stopped. The good music kept pumping throughout the entire night. The hours at Robotech flew by, as time tends to do at most good parties. Before I knew it, the music had stopped and the crowd was shuffling out, while numerous amounts of flyers were being strewn in all directions. The end of Robotech was sad, yet inevitable, but I will say this: Robotech, you were an awesome party, and Masterdome, you will be missed.

robotech photos-sam8 words-melanie17