Britain’s most famous sober raver, Bradley Gunn, is coming to Hectors tonight

He once raved for 38 hours straight completely sober


Renowned raver, Bradley Gunn, who has Asperger’s syndrome, is making his first trip to Scotland today to spend a night at Cab Vol’s Hector’s House.

The 21-year-old spends his weekdays working as a software developer and his weekends sober raving across the country, inspiring a Facebook page with 41,000 likes and even a BBC 3 documentary.

The Bristolian has made a name for himself across the country for his love of music. Known as the ‘sober raver’, Bradley loves to dance for hours on end purely for the enjoyment of the music and the way it makes him feel.

Gunn fuels his raving with water alone and despite some pre-conceptions about the rave culture he wants to encourage more people to dance and to be themselves.

At a typical rave, Bradley will cover the equivalent of a marathon and a half, around 60,000 steps. The furthest he has raved is 42 miles and he hopes to beat his record soon.

Asperger’s is a form of autism, which affects one in 100 people in the UK. The condition can leave many people feeling socially isolated, however, Gunn attributes raving to increasing his self-confidence: “Raving gave me the ability to do my own thing. Before I was very bad at social situations, but once I started raving that all changed.”

Commenting ahead of his Scotland debut, Bradley said: “I’m really looking forward to my first time in Scotland and to experience their rave scene.”

Talking to The Tab Bristol earlier this year, Gunn spoke about his longest rave: “That would have been New Year’s 2014/2015. I did four raves – back to back. I planned it so when one ended the next had already begun so it was bang, bang, bang. That was 38 hours – I don’t do that very often though, like a big blow out.

“Usually it’s sort of a 12 hour thing on a weekend one night. Sometimes you can do a day rave – bank holidays are always quite intense. In 10 hours, I did 65,630 steps or 43.2 miles at Eastern Electrics.”

Luke Anderson, the Newcastle-born but Edinburgh-based promoter who is bringing Bradley to the Scottish capital, said: “We pride ourselves on originality and have secured a number of Scotland and Edinburgh debut performances from various DJs and artists over the past 5 years, but this is arguably our most unique feat to date!

“We’re excited to welcome Bradley north of the border for the first time and to show him what goes down on Blair Street each and every Tuesday.”

Bradley Gunn Raver will be at Hectors this Tuesday (24th October) at Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh. Doors open at 11pm and entry is free on the guestlist until 11.30pm. 

Photo credits: Bradley Gunn Raver Facebook page