90s Glasgow: Remembering the Prestwick Airport Raves of the 90s in 8 pictures

Glasgow in the 1990s was the heart of rave culture in Scotland - it really was a movement, people from all walks of life were all coming together in clubs across the country, but the biggest and best parties, all started in Glasgow.

In Glasgow we had UFO at Tin Pan Alley, Atlantis and Subculture at Sub Club and then, later, Pressure at The Arches but arguably, the biggest (or at least strangest) rave of the era was at Prestwick Airport terminal back in 1991.

Hosted by Streetrave, led by one promoter Ricky Magowan and his friend James McKay - the pair hosted a total of six raves from 1991 to 1993 at the (then closed) Prestwick Airport terminal, under the condition that money raised would go towards funding an airport rail link to Glasgow.

The last party at the Airport took place on New Year’s Eve in 1993, and was reportedly mental, with folks bouncing over and dancing on top of the check-in desks.

Ricky Magowan told the Scotsman: “Prestwick Airport was closed down at the time and they were needing money. This was before Glasgow Prestwick and EasyJet had happened. We did six parties in the end and the money we made them got the airport the rail link to Glasgow.

“When I walk into the terminal building, I still get the hairs on the back of my neck sticking up.

“With the drugs situation, well, ecstasy changed everything. One million per cent, if it wasn’t for ecstasy these events wouldn’t happen.

"All of a sudden, you had people in the same room, people from different schemes, football hooligans and they were all getting on having a great time. There was one reason for that, it was ecstasy.

"That was the upside, but of course there was the down side, the deaths. These were the down, down times. But we can’t gloss over the role ecstasy had to play.”

For more on the rave culture of Scotland in the 90s, read this article in The Scotsman: Nightclubbing: The age of 1990s rave that found a natural home in Scotland

Most of the images supplied below were thanks to Double Vision Camera Crew (DVTV) an archival service who shot videos from nearly every big rave in Scotland from 1991-1999 and host all of them on their website. You can see more videos from the biggest raves in Scotland and Glasgow by visiting their website here.