Britain’s foremost rave raconteur Kirk Field brings his acclaimed ARIA Award-winning memoir ‘Rave New World: Confessions of a raving reporter’ to the stage to celebrate acid house culture in a truly unique, ground-breaking show.

Following appearances at various festivals, including Glastonbury, and a 13-night run at the Edinburgh Fringe, he will play 12 dates in UK theaters this autumn. Rave New World has been the UK’s best-selling dance music hardcover and audiobook since its release, receiving industry-wide endorsements from a powerful mix of top DJs and celebrities including Fatboy Slim, Carl Cox, Robbie Williams and Gok Wan MBE.

This autumn, the acid house culture is celebrated at the theater in a completely unique, ground-breaking performance. Rave New World: Acid House Cabaret offers a flashback to a simpler time, with stories of revolution, acid-house stories, socio-cultural commentary laced with humor, musical mischief, big screen acting, a different nightly guest ‘Agent of Unity’ who helped to shape the stage, and an exhibition of the rarest flyers in the foyer from the era’s leading flyer artists to commemorate the 35th anniversary of acid house hysteria in 1989. Discover the true identity of DJ Roofrack, play ‘Rave Family Fortunes’ and ‘Have I Got Acid House News for You?’, discover the real words to your favorite ’90s dance songs and spin the steel song wheel to choose the final choon of the night.

Kirk’s self-narrated audiobook won Silver at the 2024 ARIA Awards – beating Stephen Fry and Alan Partridge – and he has recently released ‘Rave New World: Confessions of a raving reporter – EXTENDED MIX’ which includes new content set in Goa, Ibiza and Germany and an updated epilogue covering the drug debate. The hardcover book and audiobook have been the UK’s best-selling dance music/club culture titles since release, spreading through word of mouth.

Rave has gone from a shadowy demonized cult to celebrated era-defining mainstream culture. 35 years after 1989’s Second Summer of Love, “greyvers” (the original rave generation of the 90s), find justification for their laser-lit awake youth in books, exhibitions and orchestras that recall a more innocent era before cell phones, Wi-Fi and endless pressure on social media, when their concern was finding the place, rather than the money for the next utility bill or mortgage payment.

As a humble bartender at the headline-making orbital raves of 1989, Kirk Field witnessed the moment acid house exploded. Inspired by the lies of the media to start writing the truth about what he saw unfolding, he became the “happy” reporter for the club’s “bible” Mixmag (’89-’94), covering the historic parties from the inside, before sending sweat-soaked dispatches from distant dance floors as the scene exploded across Europe and beyond. From dancing on an airfield in Suffolk to staring down the barrel of a gangster’s gun in Soviet-era Moscow. From selling cartons of Ribena for £1 to losing £150,000 at a rave in a Spanish bullring. From playing with The Prodigy in a sports hall in Cambridge, to waiting for a driver to ‘Top of The Pops’. Rave New World is the story of adventure and discovery as the turn of the millennium sped up.

Kirk donates a percentage of his income from the book to The loopThe UK’s first dedicated drug control charity, with years of experience delivering drug testing, education and harm reduction services. The Loop will deliver its pioneering ‘back of house’ drug testing during the festival period this year following the successful application and receipt of Home Office licenses to proceed.

To date, Kirk has performed at Glastonbury, Camp Bestival, Wilderness, Fatboy Slim’s ‘All Back to Minehead’, Snowbombing, ‘Louder Than Words’ and has toured to paid audiences. He will perform at more festivals this summer before embarking on a 12-date theater tour (Phil Mcintyre) this autumn – details below.

FESTIVAL DATES

13-26 August The Other Yin, Patter House, Gilded Balloon Edinburgh Fringe @ 7.30pm

October 19 Fear on the Pier Weston Super Nightmare

November 18 Shiiine On Minehead

October 16 Frog & Bucket Manchester

18 October Old Market Brighton

21 Oct Palace Theater Southend

22 October Glee Club Cardiff

23rd Oct City Varieties Leeds

24 October Memorial Hall Sheffield

29 October Playhouse Norwich

30 October Leicester Square Theater London

3rd Nov Glee Club Glasgow

November 5 Glee Club Birmingham

Nov 11 Comedy bath

12 November Northcott Theater Exeter

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