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Flash Mob 'Silent Rave' Shuts Down London Train Station

by Tim Stevens on February 9, 2009 at 11:45 AM


In the U.K., T-Mobile is running a popular commercial that shows people at a London train station engaging in a seemingly random -- yet thoroughly choreographed -- dance session. Using Facebook to spread the word, a fan decided to recreate this with a flash mob silent rave of the type we saw in New York City last spring. However, the recreation (check out the video) was ultimately far more successful than the original, resulting in thousands of fans filling the station shoulder-to-shoulder, effectively shutting the place down.

A flash mob is a random gathering of people planned online or via text message in which one person invites his or her friends, and they, in turn, invite their's. This was also a silent rave, which consists of people rocking out and dancing to whatever's on their MP3 players. In this case, though, things weren't so silent, as upwards of 14,000 people flocked to Liverpool Station and screamed with delight. No arrests were made and people quickly cleared out after about 15 minutes, so ultimately it was a good-natured event. Despite the lack of trouble, you can be sure there will be an increased police presence for the next one, scheduled again for the same station this Friday. [From: CNN]

Five Wild Flash Mobs

    The first successful flash mob happened way back in the early aughts. In June of 2003, the mob of over 100, organized via e-mail by the senior editor of Harper's Magazine, gathered in the rug section of a Manhattan Macy's. They inquired about a "love rug" for their "suburban commune."

    These flash mobbers coordinated via e-mail in San Francisco on August 20, 2003. The 'mob' showed up at the Westin St. Francis hotel, and pretended to take a nap in the lobby.

    Late last spring, thousands of flash mobbers, organized on Facebook, appeared in New York's Union Square and staged a silent rave.

    Worldwide Pillow Fight Day, the world's largest flash mob to date, happened worldwide on March 22, 2008 in 25 cities across the globe.

    Wikipedia.org

    Set up by NY jokesters Improv Everywhere, No Pants 2k9 took place this year on Saturday, January 10th. This yearly (since 2002) Web-organized event involves, oddly enough, going pantless on the subway. Initially a New York City-only event, it's spread as far as Salt Lake City and Adelaide, Australia.

    http://improveverywhere.com/

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Tags: flash mob, FlashMob, liverpool station, LiverpoolStation, london, silent rave, SilentRave, t-mobile, top

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