Are strobe lights and lasers banned in clubs now or...?

Captain_Danger

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When I was a teen (well over a decade ago now) all the clubs had strobe lights and lasers / smoke machines etc. I still go clubbing every now and again, however it struck me recently that none of these modern venues have these things any more it would seem...? Is it just the case that these things are old fashioned, or too expensive or are they banned now etc?

Cheers,

Ben.
 
I think clubs just don't bother with them, the glitter ball is out of fashion now.
 
Decent lasers are certainly expensive to hire and seem to get reserved for specialist events, its not cost effective to have one for a regular club but still see them at dance events and concerts.

Strobes may be avoided due to triggering fits.

Smoke machines still get used I expect or the stupid bubble machines that turn the floor slippery.
 
Are you frigging kidding me? I was blindly constantly last time. Plenty of smoke, not very decent lasers though. Way too much strobe though. That was painful.
 
Aah nothing better than standing muntered on the dancefloor blinded by smoke with a laser shooting across your head and the strobe bashing your brain, those were the days :D
 
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I'd say probably less in standard clubs but at proper dance clubs in don't think so.
 
Ah nothing better than standing muntered on the dancefloor blinded by smoke with a laser shooting across your head and the strobe bashing your brain, those were the days :D

Not forgetting bass you would swear you could almost see :D
 
hutch said:
Aah nothing better than standing muntered on the dancefloor blinded by smoke with a laser shooting across your head and the strobe bashing your brain, those were the days :D

Ah those were those days, when you could still smoke in a club and your clothes really stank the following day :) lasers, strobes and a good natural Dutch spliff, perfect combination :p
 
When I was a teen/early 20'er I didn't bother with all that nightclub nonsense (only went once, with people I didn't like, hated it) but the only place I've been to that had smoke, lasers and strobes was Quasar, or Laser Tag - at least you got a bit of exercise running around with a laser gun and defending your base, rather than aimlessly dancing around to utter rubbish crap so-called music.

That was at least 15 years ago, I don't think I've been to a Quasar game since - besides, I wouldn't be able to go with anyone, and you need teams to participate.
 
I'm guessing they don't have lava lamps anymore then?
 
When I did lighting at uni you had to have a licensed operator to use lasers so undoubtedly the requirements have only gotten more strict over the years?

Smoke and strobes - I've got not idea. Smoke is used to make the lights/lasers visible so you don't want to use too much. Normally you have to blast it in at the start of the night but then as a venue fills up you need less of it. Strobes are something people will want to over use too. I preferred to save them for the right moment rather than just let them rip all the time. At the time the Martin Atomic 3000s were the strobes of choice, multi-channel control letting you adjust brightness, frequency and even special effects eg. lightning strikes.

I always wanted to put a ring of strobes going round the club that could be programmed to fire in sequence so you could get the strobing moving round the room. Alas and alack I didn't have enough units to make it so...
 
I'd say probably less in standard clubs but at proper dance clubs in don't think so.

This. Go somewhere like Ministry of Sound or any club that plays electronic music or holds raves and you'll know about lasers, smoke and strobes!
 
the glitter ball is out of fashion now.

Always liked a bit of a light show in my clubbing days, but nothing could take away the greatness of a good glitter ball. :smashin:

Have a Home cinema "den" room and kitting it out was fun but wasn't complete till I got me a rotating glitter ball and spot! Possibly the happiest I have been (and also the sadest) sat in a dark room on my own with a glitter ball on.:D
 
Not forgetting bass you would swear you could almost see :D

When I was totally wasted I would often head towards the large speakers and stand right next to them, feeling my body get pounded, strange feeling, sure it did my ears no good... I recall one night and I could only hear ringing for 3 days after :(
 
One of mates was well known as the guy asleep leaning against the speaker with his head bouncing with the bass.

Used to love the laser and smoke combo.

The best lasers I saw were at bowlers Manchester for helterskelter vs compulsion. Blue, red and green awesome!

Helterskelter knew how to entertain.
 
Maybe lasers were banned in nightclubs for the same reason that even the most innocuous laser pointers are now routinely used by yobs to dazzle police helicopter pilots?

Then again, I wonder that, with all of these criminals being caught by police helicopter surveillance and infra-red cameras, that some particularly ruthless criminals haven't yet used a rocket launcher to bring down such a helicopter? Just a thought, don't sue me.
 
Foebane72 said:
Maybe lasers were banned in nightclubs for the same reason that even the most innocuous laser pointers are now routinely used by yobs to dazzle police helicopter pilots?

Then again, I wonder that, with all of these criminals being caught by police helicopter surveillance and infra-red cameras, that some particularly ruthless criminals haven't yet used a rocket launcher to bring down such a helicopter? Just a thought, don't sue me.

Because so many criminals have rocket launchers lying around...
 
Helterskelter knew how to entertain.
You knows it! I used to regularly go down to the Sanctuary in Milton Keynes for HelterSkelter when I was about 20 ish, had many a crazy weekend down there :cool:
 
hutch said:
You knows it! I used to regularly go down to the Sanctuary in Milton Keynes for HelterSkelter when I was about 20 ish, had many a crazy weekend down there :cool:

Shame it shut down ages ago after a few stabbings etc. Got a few Helter Skelter and Dreamscape tape packs from there. By the time I was old enough to go it shut down :(
 
Yeah was a shame in the end was always a cracking night and we never saw much trouble at all there, was there for the last night was a real shame :(
 
I remember going to a particular free rave near Winchester in about "92. All they seemed to have was strobes. Nothing else. With the state we were all in at the time it was doing our eyes in so we left to dance around my mate's 1.1 Nova instead. In the end we had about 50 people all doing the same at our Nova mini rave. Police roadblock 20 yards away. Those really were the days...good god, 20 years ago!

As mentioned above though, pretty much every decent dance club still has them. Anyone ever been to a Chemical Brothers gig? Certainly lasers and strobes in abundance.
 

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