Hello Trancentral fans,
Thanks for visiting our Trancentral shop blog. It’s hard to believe we only have two months of the year left. It’s been a wild year, an unprecedented moment in human history. COVID-19 took over our lives, forever changing how we live and connect with our fellow music lovers, but it did not and will not break our psytrance spirit. The parties and raves will go on…
Music unites us in these challenging times, we look to our Goa & psytrance community to see us through 2020 into 2021.
We decided to put together our favorite memes of this year, which sums up the highs and lows of 2020. If you were fortunate enough to make it out to a festival this year, count yourself lucky. Some of us had to get a bit more creative and learn how to bring the EDM raves and psytrance parties to us. We found new ways to connect and share our love of music. We will enter 2021 stronger, but before we do so, let’s take a moment to revisit 2020.
Somewhere over the psytrance rainbow...
We never imagined this meme from the reddit archives would take on an entirely different meaning in 2020 for music lovers and Goa & Psytrance fans everywhere. It seemed to sum up the strange new world we found ourselves waking up in everytime we watched the news or browsed our feed. Like Dorothy, we knew we weren’t in Kansas anymore. Don’t get us started on the food shortages or toilet paper wars. For a moment, the world had gone mad.
Oh, somewhere over the psytrance rainbow skies are blue
Clouds high over the rainbow, makes all your rave dreams come true, ooh
Someday I'll wish upon a star
Wake up where COVID-19 is far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney top
That's where you'll find me, in a psychedelic trance festival…
Yes, cash flow was surprisingly good, thanks to COVID-19, but you felt emptier than ever...
You checked the news. It was bad…
You checked your bank account. It was good.
It was the end of month and you didn’t even notice work paid you, not to mention all those vouchers you got from your canceled flights. You’re saving money, you should be happy, but there’s a nagging, empty feeling. The Peter Pan syndrome was in full swing. Rage, rage against the dying light of festivals. Existential crises were at their peak in May 2020, which brings us to...
And then it hit us, ROCK BOTTOM.
Our feelings about COVID-19 very much followed the cycles of grief. At first, we denied the gravity of the situation. We thought this madness would only last a few weeks. We watched the numbers of infections climb. When we realized this wasn’t the case, we became irate, angry you might say. We argued with roommates, lovers, partners and our kids that we had to homeschool. When that didn’t work, we started bargaining. We looked at every news outlet and re-read every government guidance, trying in vain to find a loophole. We confessed our vices and promised we would be good, if the powers to be would let us party just once more. Even if we managed to go to one of the drive-in raves or one of the few festivals that wasn’t canceled, it was bittersweet.
Suddenly, we found ourselves in a deep depression, realizing we might not see our psytrance friends outside a video call or group chat. We feared we might die not from COVID-19, but from a bad case of psytrance withdrawal. The worst comedown of them all summed up by this brilliant meme of us waiting for 2021.
Then a gradual, but remarkable shift happened in our psytrance consciousness.
When we finally realized there will be no festivals this summer, we reached a point of acceptance. We stopped raging. We stopped bargaining. We let the dust settle. In essence, we began to complete our own 12 steps of COVID-19.
- First, we admitted that we were powerless over COVID-19 that our quarantined lives had become unmanageable.
- By making a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves, we came to understand our love of psytrance was eternal. It was not about the events, but the music and people.
- Through meditation, self-reflection and ambling walks (pictured above), we came to a point of self-acceptance.
Slowly, we could start to see the humour in the situation.
We connected with online communities like It's r/aves on reddit and Goa & Psytrance groups. We found new ways to be happy from DIY projects to finding the irony in everyday situations. We learned to count our blessings and be happy with our lot.
Our friendships and closest relationships were tested and with some luck, we came out of 2020 stronger than ever. Some friendships, work relations and partnerships could not cope with the stress of the pandemic and broke down as a result. If this happened to you, know you are not alone. Some of us even lost loved ones, parents, grandparents, extended family members and friends.
With much thought, we take time to remember those who are not with us, but are always connected in memory. We think this pandemic has made us value human life, music and connection more than ever.
What did you learn in 2020?
Let’s take those lessons into 2021 and hopefully (with a little luck and careful planning) we’ll see you on the other side of the psytrance rainbow at your favorite festival or an event you’ve organized yourself.
While you’re at it, let’s make sure you dress for the occasion. Don’t forget to check out our latest festival clothing so you can party in style. Are you ready?
See you there,
Trancentral Shop