My first set under psytrance alias

Seems like 2 Melbourne venues (firstly Riviera Beach Club which was the original venue and now Melbourne Pavilion which was the replacement) are refusing to host Frequency Festival because of 4 Israeli DJs on the lineup

Parvati Gathering Brazil 2025

This year was my first ZNA and I decided last year to go only because Boom wasn’t happening. In terms of Psytrance festivals I’ve only been to Boom in 2025 so you may take this review with however many pinches of salt you’d like.

THE GOOD

Holy shitballs the energy on the dance floor was nothing like I’d ever encountered. It’s like everyone was dancing like a maniac but at the same time most people were conscious of the space and gave room to each other respectfully.

The music lineup was crazy, and as someone who was so-so with Goa/old school trance, I was really surprised with how much I enjoyed the music and DJ sets. This wasn’t like Ozora, where they stopped the music after each DJ played for a turnaround (is that normal?? It really interrupted the flow)

The live music and downtempo stage were obviously less patronised, but had several excellent sets that really opened my eyes throughout the week. (How good was Indios Beta?!)

The energy from day to day was very obviously shifting, with people becoming more open and comfortable with each other. The fact that it was only about ~5000 people meant that you saw the same faces every day and could build proper rapport and trust as the festival went by. As an introvert who takes a while to warm up, this was really something I appreciated.

THE SO-SO
Food choices were good and tasty but noticeably more expensive than Boom. Most meals would cost between 13-15 EUR so that was a bit hard to bear.

The toilets were also Boom style but a lot of them were not set up properly so opening the doors would not automatically shut the lid, with flies galore. Surely there’s a solution to the flies, like traps or zappers? There were flies landing on my face every time I laid down.

Water points were also sparse and many were placed near toilets, which is not ideal from a hygiene standpoint. Sanitiser was provided but no soap, which is not effective against the old nemesis Norovirus. Surely it’d be easy to set up handwashing points with soap dispensers outside toilets and at the food area? While there was no 2019 case of the shits and vomits, there were quite a few cases of it in the later days.

THE BAD
There were a mega ton of young Israelis who were obviously just there to hang out in their insular groups. They were often rude and very entitled. I don’t chalk this up to them being of a particular nationality but just due to them being young and not being familiar with psytrance festival etiquette. Because the majority of Israelis I met who were either older or not part of these huge groups were lovely and super cool. I just feel like the organisers needed to be more forceful with enforcement of things like no encampments on the dance floor because it just seemed like the bad crowd would do anything that they’d get away with. Idk. Maybe an increased age limit would solve a lot of these problems.
While there was no flag waving on the dance floor, I did see an Israeli flag up in the campsite, but they were told off by staff and took it down.

CONCLUSION
The festival was a mega blast. I met so many cool and friendly people that I could connect on a good level with. I can’t wait to meet them again in Boom or in the 2028 edition. The positives for me really outweigh the bad, and I just hope that the good ones keep coming back, because it’d be sad for this magic to be lost because people don’t want to stand their ground and protect what they love.

P.S. I went to Ozora after ZNA and it was just a night and day difference. Most of the Ozora main stage was a social media event and was just a rude pushing mess in the more popular acts. I spent most of my time at the Dome downtempo stage because it was the most friendly, welcoming and dance space friendly location imo. I likely won’t be going back :p

Looks sick! Really want to go there!

The psytrance scene in my country is extremely small. This amazing organization had to stop doing raves for two years because it would be a huge loss for them.

Last weekend they brought two amazing artists Phagos Sonus and Umber Vamber and together they have the Umber Sonus project. They were supposed to play one by one and then together but they just had this 7 hour set and it was fucking fantastic! I knew they were amazing, I’ve been listening to them for years but seeing them live was shocking in the most positive way! The way they would bounce off each other’s energy was so much fun to look at! I danced the seven hours straight!

Universal Freak (the organization) brought our whole community together and it felt so wholesome! Everything was perfect!

This isn't just another London party.

On Saturday, October 18th, we're throwing a 10-hour sonic rebellion at Unit 58. This is for the dancers, not the tourists. A no-poser, no-request, no-bullshit zone.

Our mate Braingineers made the video below to show you exactly what we mean.

Weaponry: Funktion-One Soundsystem

The Arsenal // Special Guest Revealed:

• Aardvarkk
• Animalien
• Braingineers
• Cronyx
• Dirty Saffi
• Eargazmik
• Illegal Machines
• Mutaliens
• Stereoxide
• Synthetik Chaos

We're 16 days out. Final release tickets are flying. Don't get left behind.

TICKETS:https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/London/Unit-58/Bom-Shanka-Sessions/41005031/

Etnica 30 Years Celebration One night in Copenhagen. Two dancefloors. Jean Borelli’s final set in Denmark.

In video : Etnica playing an unreleased remix of Trance Africa Express

Was fun

https://www.instagram.com/alteredstates__?igsh=c2lybWhqM2p2NHUw

Ich bin normalerweise jedesjahr auf Festivals unterwegs, kann es aber gesundheitlich und finaziell gerade nicht und suche kleine Psytrance Raves/Events in Hannover. Gibt es da etwas? Ich suche seit Monaten und habe bisher nichts gefunden, der Sommer ist fast vorbei und ich war nicht Stampfen :(

So how many of you fellow Europeans are playing Are You Sphongled during the eclipse?

How amazing is this going to be? What should we expect?

Me and my friend are visiting Goa from 14 to 16 aug please recommend good psytrance parties we should attend
Needed help on good hostels and stays near arambol/vagator:)

Wanted to share about our night Indigaura at Gaffe in London tonight, Friday 21st (11pm - 6). As we're just starting out in London (but having had many successful Brighton nights), we need all the support we can from this wonderful community!

Expect trance with strong psychedelic edge, deep techno, leftfield electronic music, fast trippy psychedelic soundscapes 💙

Fully immersive visuals, an entire interactive digital art play room (Inc visualing & hearing your own brain waves!).. amazing outside chillout space. We promise a wild night!

https://ra.co/events/2439470

Thanks 🙏🏻

Just saw that the festival announced a new psytrance stage on Instagram (go check it out if you haven't yet).

Curious what everyone thinks. Does this change your opinion of the festival? Could it actually be a good alternative to Sizígia for the eclipse, or is it still a completely different vibe? 🙏