Heated Rivalry Rave

Heated Rivalry Rave

Written by Olivia Flanz

Art by Lauren Mallett

If you’ve been on the internet for the past two months, you’ve probably heard of the Heated Rivalry Rave. I first noticed the phenomenon over winter break, when a video came up on my feed of a group of friends dancing under a massive screen broadcasting a TikTok edit of Ilya and Shane to the song “All The Things She Said” by t.A.T.u. I was intrigued to say the least.

I thought it was a one-off event, and then my suitemates started sending videos of the Heated Rivalry rave videos from New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, San Francisco, and more. Never had I ever seen a show so popular that a venue can dedicate a rave to it and know people would show up and buy tickets. It was ridiculous, and I knew I had to attend the moment they came to Boston.

So when the rave was happening in the Fenway area, we immediately bought tickets. Completely dismissing Boston’s overall bad reputation for nightlife, we were pretty much convinced that this night was going to be the best night of our lives. I mean, we are in Boston—a huge hockey city, the literal city that Ilya plays for in the show! We knew the night was bound to be fun.

And apparently, so did the hundreds of people who were lined up all the way down Lansdowne Street. This was us arriving early, too. Overall, it took around thirty minutes to get into the venue, but we weren’t deterred. A long line only meant a big crowd, which meant good vibes—at least that’s what I’d normally say. If it wasn’t for the fact that when I looked around, a fair number of people were just standing and watching the screen and recording with their phones. We’ve seen the show already. We aren’t seeing anything we haven’t seen before. And sure, the edits are good, but none of them are that good.

Cases like this are more proof that venues should have the no photos or video policy. The purpose of actually going out is to enjoy the place you are at, and while I love a fit check, that should be wrapped up during the pre-game, not when you are at the function. One of my favorite nights out was at a venue that forced everyone who came in to have their phone cameras taped, front and back. Not only did it relieve even the tiniest thought of taking any photos, it also made even touching my phone pointless.

Yet, there we were, in a sea of Bruins jerseys, sunglasses, and too many straight couples for my liking; a lot of people were stagnant. Thankfully, we got in line next to the right kind of people and, as a group, we were dancing and bringing the vibe. Eventually, we were able to get closer to the front, where more people had the right idea. A random person complimented my sunglasses, and I said I liked their sunglasses too, and suddenly, we were taking turns spinning each other. At some point, the DJ jumped off the stage and started crowdsurfing.

Some of the music was questionable to say the least: I had to blink twice to make sure I wasn’t in a frat basement from freshman year. Amid Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, and other dance music, Paramore’s “The Only Exception” and Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” was a bit of a whiplash. Of course, though, they played “All The Things She Said.”

The night overall was a good time. We got to dance, and Heatmy friend found Prada sunglasses on the floor (they ended up being fake, but a win is a win). Do I think the Heated Rivalry rave’s marketing strategy is genius: yes. But unfortunately, the majority of the crowd attending the rave did not get the memo that we were, in fact, at a rave, and neither did whoever came up with the music lineup. It’s not that the concept of a Heated Rivalry party doesn’t work, as there wouldn’t be popups of this across the country if people didn’t want it. The issue with internet-sensation-turned-reality parties is that the event will pretty much never live up to the actual media that it draws its inspiration from. There have been Euphoria-themed parties and Love Island watch parties, which people are drawn towards based on their love of the franchises, yet the events always seem to turn into a social media spectacle rather than an experience people are enjoying at the moment. Unfortunately, it seemed the rave fell into a similar boat, the buzz and passion that you would expect was lost on screens. A Heated Rivalry rave with no heat