Burke Dennings said:

And you’d make a lot of friends at parties.  You could accidentally bump into someone (happened all the time because of densely packed venues), and end up spending most of the night with them, friend groups intermingled.  If you had to wait in line for a while to get into the spot (not uncommon), you’d likely get to know everyone around you in line, and you’d possibly chill with them inside.  I remember once I was in line for a rave in Staten Island, and started talking to this one dude, he was pretty cool.  We had a while to chat and we hung out a bit in the party.  Then a couple weeks later I was at a rave in Philadelphia, and I randomly bumped into Staten Island Line Guy.  We were really excited to see each other and it was like a little reunion, haha.

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Yeah, that's the bit that takes me back. I'd bump into friends I'd made at raves at different raves all over. Bonding moments with total strangers were hella frequent. Also the making friends with everyone in your vicinity in the queue, and the electrifying excitement that accompanied that first stage of the night, as the bassline steadily came more and more distinguishable to ones senses. Man it gives me butterflies to bring it to mind.

I saw some fucking gnarly things at underground raves/squat parties where security is non-existent, and have been involved in a few unpleasant instances, but all in all I always felt I was with a good crowd. There's always gonna be a few dishonest/disrespectful humans anywhere you go.

But that's the thing; I have never known a sense of 'togetherness' as I did in that scence. I imagine Woodstock et al had a similar kind of vibe.

I think it was a kind of second wave of the summer of love,

Wouldn't know it now though. Young people these days seem to have no concept of making sure they don't intrude upon your dancing space. It kinda spoils things when you've got someone frequently bashing into you, no matter how hard you try and stay zen about it.

I haven't noticed the intermingling and talking with strangers occurring to the degree it did back in the glory days either.

This was my favourite venue ever. Finally closed in 2004, around the time of a lot of the greatest London venues. Just check the attire of the era: