Absurd Productions, staging GOA/psychedelic trance, never drew more than three hundred man; the Extravaganza, staging regular house, was always sold out on a steady thousand to several thousand depending on the venue.
Goa is weird music. It developed independent of most major music genres in Goa, India, where hippies were experimenting with music and drugs. Most hippies there were often German, getting rid of some PTSS war trauma, or Israeli, getting rid of several thousand years of war trauma.
Goa was/is very popular in Israel. One major reason being that young Israeli often plan post-army trips to Goa, and while getting rid of having lost friends or having shot other people, immerse themself in day-long party frenzies. Some people believe that the Mossad was actively involved in supplying the region which clean drugs such that their youth would return in a state of bless instead of depression. (I had a fling with an Israeli girl in a similar state of mind; it ain't nice.)
Goa boasts a scene of all ages, it is not uncommon to find children as well as very old people on the bigger parties; often, you'll find a lot of different nationalities since the parties are often frequented, or partly organized, by travelling hippies. On the right party you'll find a gathering of misfits, juveniles, but also well-off partying adults who are just into something different once in a while.
Most parties are organized out-doors and you'll find a lot of black-lights (acid origin), Chai (thee of Indian origin), mandalas (hippie/Buddhist origin), and silly stuff relating to mushrooms and other bullshit.
A good Goa party lasts at least a day, often several days, where, often, people in-the-scene will wait till four o'clock at night until the regular beer-drinking crowd leaves. High-point of most parties are just before dawn up to midday, when most people are sufficiently mellowed down. A good party is an experience, with a Burning-Man like crowd; sometimes smaller parties end up with just the wrong average-Yoe crowd, and sometimes bigger parties end up being too commercial.
Old Goa has its roots in ambient music and psychedelic rock lifted with a stomping beat often with ethnic references. Old full-on trance has, believe it or not, a lot of screaming guitars in it. In years, it has progressed from a psychedelic/humoristic full-on sound to commercial Israeli trends, more minimalistic techno Northern European, or punky Finnish/!!Japanese!! sounds. And, of course, the Australians make fun of it all. (Videos are not really representative, the scene changes every few years or so. I don't see any Sanyassins anymore, so it's mostly rave-culture now.)
I've seen enough of it, but, yeah, if you want to go to the the mother of all parties, go to an open-air medium sized one in the summer. These people live to party, sometimes even for several generations.
Oh, and whatever you do, don't take it seriously.
(That is, unless you want to grow your hair, have several children, and travel the world in a van while DJ-ing, selling Chai and other substances, meanwhile blubbering about Peace, Love, Unity and Respect, worshipping the sun in the morning, and jump around like a troll on what-other-people-regard-as pretty foolish music.)
