<\/p>\n
LAGOS<\/strong> \u2013 On a recent Friday night, thousands of mostly young people trooped into a large auditorium in Lekki, an upscale part of Lagos.<\/p>\n Inside, it was hard to discern the faces of people just meters away. The whole hall was dark, lit only by flashing green strobe lights from the stage. Those gathered had come together for therapy.<\/p>\n But this was Group Therapy, a popular rave in Lagos, where revelers come seeking a different party scene they wouldn’t find anywhere in Nigeria’s commercial heart of Lagos.<\/p>\n Lagos\u2019 nightlife scene had, for decades, been dominated by table culture, a club experience that prioritizes how much people spend on drinks and prime seating. The party environment encourages a competitive atmosphere that young people who live in Nigeria, Africa\u2019s most populous country, say has shut them out amid skyrocketing inflation.<\/p>\n At Group Therapy, there are no tables. Revelers in Lekki danced shoulder to shoulder. There was only one small bar, selling drinks for much less than the typical Lagos nightclub.<\/p>\n \u201cAt raves, the dance floor is present. You go to a usual Lagos party, and there is no dance floor,\u201d DJ Aniko, the founder of Group Therapy, told The Associated Press. \u201cWe barely have spaces to just dance, spaces you can just go to literally have a nice time. Most places you have to make a reservation, or book a table, it is a lot more complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n A Lagos party without tables <\/p>\n Yetunde Onikoyi, 28, started going to raves last year.<\/p>\n \u201cEver since then, I have been hooked by the neck; it is like a chokehold. I always want to be here,\u201d Onikoyi said. <\/p>\n The nightclub culture has been determined by a table culture where partying is often a rat race of who buys the most drinks at the most expensive prices, and seats are reserved in a multitier system, including VVIP, VIP and the regulars. <\/p>\n A bottle of a drink can cost anywhere between 100,000 naria ($72.34) to nearly a million naira, thereby pricing out most of the young residents navigating a tough economic terrain. A parade of bartenders hoisting drinks with an LED board naming the table for some of the highest spenders of the night. A ticket for Group Therapy only costs 21,000 naira ($15.19), without the pressure to purchase drinks.<\/p>\n Experts say raves have grown in response to the table culture at clubs.<\/p>\n \u201cRaves are more democratic,\u201d said Oluwamayowa Idowu, founder of Culture Custodian, a leading culture publication in Lagos. \u201cWhat this says is that people don\u2019t have the purchasing power to sustain a club lifestyle. Clubs are still open and busy, but just generally in today\u2019s climate, there is more of a focus on you enjoying yourself as opposed to you performing enjoying yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n Aniko told the AP that several patrons have reached out to create separate seats, requests which they have declined on several occasions.<\/p>\n \u201cFinding a place that still focuses on the human aspects of things, as against the materialism or need to amass as much as possible, is always a blessing,\u201d said Dayo Williams, a consultant who had come to the party.<\/p>\n ‘House music evokes feelings’<\/p>\n Each DJ worked their decks from the late night to early morning, blaring out an endless loop of high-tempo beats that electrically charged the hall, rising to a pulsating crescendo before dovetailing into another loop. The sea of heads bopped rhythmically and bodies swayed wildly.<\/p>\n Since around 2022 after the post-pandemic crossover of South African music genres, DJs have infused African sonic elements into house music, a subgenre of electronic dance music that has been a choice for raves in Lagos. The raves, deemed more inclusive than clubs, have become prominent among the younger generation, who have railed against Nigeria\u2019s conservative society.<\/p>\n House music \u201cevokes feelings,\u201d said Zia Yusuf, a content writer and creator who attended. \u201cYou just connect to the music, and you connect to the music with other people who connect to the music with you.\u201d<\/p>\n