‘You can let your inner freak out!’: welcome to Pixelate and the growing craze for internet-culture raves

At Pixelate, the music is as garish as the meme-referencing costumes. Is it internet ‘brainrot’ come to life – or a much-needed offline community? ‘It’s time to get … crazy!” DJ Compulsive Leia is yelling at us from the stage. Around me, clubbers in cat ears wave LED glow sticks and squeal in anticipation. Suddenly, an all too familiar sound: Crazy Frog’s much maligned version of Axel F, albeit remixed at an even giddier pitch and speed. “Ding, ding!” Tonight, Vauxhall Arches in London is a hyperactive fever dream for Pixelate, a rave currently touring the UK and celebrating the 00s era of “internet cringe”. This edition is cat-themed, and a person in a giant bobble-headed Hello Kitty costume is dancing frantically on stage, soundtracked by high-octane versions of 00s memes, video games, cartoons and dancefloor hits. Huge screens behind the stage and dotted around the venue are flashing with internet-culture ephemera that is instantly recognisable to the crowd of young millennials and gen Z who grew up online: Club Penguin. Happy Tree Friends. Salad Fingers. Nearly everyone is dressed in cosplay or emo-era scene fashion, and stacks of kandi bracelets jangle