Still happening, except they wouldn't last 2 hours like OP's story. I took an american colleague to a rave (in dublin) about a year ago and he was freaking out at the fact that you had to meet someone somewhere then get passed off to a few more people before you got there. "Its like the movies man!"

Then we raved until 9 in the morning to some deep techno. There were no official photographers.

I honestly thought NY would have a majorly active underground party scene.