Rave review, Planet Hardcore last night (and somewhere else after!)
13 April 2003, 02:37 PM
#1
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2000
Posts: 9,368
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Christ where do I start?
ESP promotions, better known for their legendary Dreamscape parties, has been a name which has seen better days. After a failed attempt to be turned into (another) Drum & Bass event at the tail end of 2000, the event was bought by Gill, who, with a few friends, has been working tirelessly ever since to restore Dreamscape to its former glory. Last night saw a huge step forward in that direction.
With a lineup that was that little bit different and the flyer promising an event "Run by ravers for ravers", it saw me and Davespice setting off in the Hardcore 4x4 (borrowed from my sister, cheers sis
) to meet up with Paul Compulsion and MC RizlaDizla at Toddington services. We were that little bit early, so we killed time by wasting a few quid on a long awaited remake of the 80s classic, Gauntlet. After the boys and girls had arrived, we set off to Northampton to get to the club. After marvelling at the wonders of Northhampton's inner ring road and Sean's steadfast refusal to use his indicators, we found the club, The Lounge. A 3 room club which looked average size from the outside, but was huge on the inside. Gill and the boys had done a good job as well with the first floor covered with draping all over the ceiling and a proper effort with mobiles and backdrops in the main arena.
we were just about the first people there, but with good reason, Rizla, Compy and his brother Sketchy were on first. 9pm came around and they did a tidy job of the warm up set, playing tunes like "Get Fu##ed" and "Madworld" whilst the place started to fill up nicely.
Next up was Scottie, I'm afraid my memory is a little hazy on tune selection, but the place kicked off when MC Whizzkid got on the mic. By the time these boys had finished the place was getting VERY full. The Northampton ravers had turned out in force for this one, It was good to see that not all of them were Diehard hardcore ravers either, with a varied selection of people ranging from the fluffy boot massive to the Ben Sherman and loafer crew turning up.
I was still having trouble getting into the night though, I remidied this by downing all four of me Caffiene tablets at once and washing them down with a redbull. 20 minutes later, the problem of not getting into the night, was no longer a problem
PEP Caffiene tablets, Available in Superdrug only. I really cant recommend them enough.
The 12-1 set was Dougal's and Co-organiser's MC Smiley's. Apart from being a really safe bloke, Smiley has really come on in recent times. From an MC who had accusations of having more friends in the right places than talent, to someone who knows how to hype a crowd with innovative lyrics which he has made his own. He complimented Dougal's Raverbaby oriented set with both old and new lyrics which went down well. It was about this point that the atmosphere went through the roof.
The best thing about last nights event was undoubatably the 110% hardcore to the bone atmosphere. Everyone in the (heaving) crowd was there for the music and nothing else. No attitude, just pure, up for it hardcore ravers. I've been to massive events which had just 10% of the atmosphere that last night had. It made the night what it was.
After Dougal saw Kaos and Ethos step up for the 12-1 set. He played by far the hardest set of the night which I really enjoyed. The only downside was the lack of vocal based stuff, but the tail end of the set made up for it with Jon playing that "I need to have you with me..." tune, the name of which escapes me, and of course, the tune that launched a thousand rushes, Madworld Nice one mate, Nice one.
After Kaos's set, I went for a wander around the club I couldnt dance anymore for a bit, I was too knackered! I was coming out of the toilets when I got chatting to one of the barstaff. I was interested in her viewpoint of the night, too my surprise, she was not totally against hardcore as a rule, she, in her own words, "Just didnt get it". Cue a 20 minute spannered conversation between myself and her about how hardcore will solve all the worlds problems 
Not sure if I made sense or not (I tend to be a bit, odd, when I'm up on caffiene) but I must have done something right as she gave me her email address cos I said I would send her the ravers manifesto which explains it better than I ever could. One down, another 55,99,999 to go 
After a brief rest, it was back to the main arena for Breeze's set. Another one of the Raverbaby crew, he played an absolute blinder. He started with a new tune which had the most profound lyrics I've heard. It was someone (apparently Hixxy's publisher but I'm not sure) basically ripping into the mainstream dance media for trying to kill hardcore and saying that its backfired cos the scene has come back stonger than ever without their help. I've never rushed from hearing spoken words with no music behind them before. I did last night I just wish I could remember what he said. The only thing I remember is the last four words "HARDCORE WILL NEVER DIE!!!!!" totally and utterly cool as ****. Wizzkid returned with Smiley and went back to back for the rest of Breezes raverbaby led set. Once again, tune selection is little fuzzy, but what I do remember is that I was loving the night at this point, with the music and atmosphere providing rush after rush.
The final set of the night was The Sy and Storm show. Never ones to dissapoint, these two finished the event off in style. Wicked tunes, up for it crowd and the best MC in the business was the perfect end to Planet Hardcore. The funniest bit was Storm telling this garage raver to stop going "whoop whoop" cos it was a hardcore night
This event was the nuts. If I absolutely had to pick holes in it then the only downsides were the crackly soundsystem and the layout of the club (Not a fan of raised dancefloors as it cuts off half the crowd) But the crowd were so up for it it that none of it really mattered.
I'm really glad I got to experience it cos I always wanted to go to a proper ESP/Dreamscape night and last night I did. I will defintely be going back to the next one.
astraboy.
Shouts to: Davespice, Rizladizla, Paul Compulsion, Sketchy, Scottie, Kat, Ezzle, Gill, Jerome, Smiley, Smithers, Smither's bro, Voltage, Mootlight Raver, Floyd, Kinky Kat, Sykee (never has one man been so twatted), Storm, and the girl I see everywhere but STILL cant remember her name sorry!. there are loads more, but I cant remember at the moment.
ESP promotions, better known for their legendary Dreamscape parties, has been a name which has seen better days. After a failed attempt to be turned into (another) Drum & Bass event at the tail end of 2000, the event was bought by Gill, who, with a few friends, has been working tirelessly ever since to restore Dreamscape to its former glory. Last night saw a huge step forward in that direction.
With a lineup that was that little bit different and the flyer promising an event "Run by ravers for ravers", it saw me and Davespice setting off in the Hardcore 4x4 (borrowed from my sister, cheers sis
) to meet up with Paul Compulsion and MC RizlaDizla at Toddington services. We were that little bit early, so we killed time by wasting a few quid on a long awaited remake of the 80s classic, Gauntlet. After the boys and girls had arrived, we set off to Northampton to get to the club. After marvelling at the wonders of Northhampton's inner ring road and Sean's steadfast refusal to use his indicators, we found the club, The Lounge. A 3 room club which looked average size from the outside, but was huge on the inside. Gill and the boys had done a good job as well with the first floor covered with draping all over the ceiling and a proper effort with mobiles and backdrops in the main arena. we were just about the first people there, but with good reason, Rizla, Compy and his brother Sketchy were on first. 9pm came around and they did a tidy job of the warm up set, playing tunes like "Get Fu##ed" and "Madworld" whilst the place started to fill up nicely.
Next up was Scottie, I'm afraid my memory is a little hazy on tune selection, but the place kicked off when MC Whizzkid got on the mic. By the time these boys had finished the place was getting VERY full. The Northampton ravers had turned out in force for this one, It was good to see that not all of them were Diehard hardcore ravers either, with a varied selection of people ranging from the fluffy boot massive to the Ben Sherman and loafer crew turning up.
I was still having trouble getting into the night though, I remidied this by downing all four of me Caffiene tablets at once and washing them down with a redbull. 20 minutes later, the problem of not getting into the night, was no longer a problem
PEP Caffiene tablets, Available in Superdrug only. I really cant recommend them enough
.The 12-1 set was Dougal's and Co-organiser's MC Smiley's. Apart from being a really safe bloke, Smiley has really come on in recent times. From an MC who had accusations of having more friends in the right places than talent, to someone who knows how to hype a crowd with innovative lyrics which he has made his own. He complimented Dougal's Raverbaby oriented set with both old and new lyrics which went down well. It was about this point that the atmosphere went through the roof.
The best thing about last nights event was undoubatably the 110% hardcore to the bone atmosphere. Everyone in the (heaving) crowd was there for the music and nothing else. No attitude, just pure, up for it hardcore ravers. I've been to massive events which had just 10% of the atmosphere that last night had. It made the night what it was.
After Dougal saw Kaos and Ethos step up for the 12-1 set. He played by far the hardest set of the night which I really enjoyed. The only downside was the lack of vocal based stuff, but the tail end of the set made up for it with Jon playing that "I need to have you with me..." tune, the name of which escapes me, and of course, the tune that launched a thousand rushes, Madworld
Nice one mate, Nice one.After Kaos's set, I went for a wander around the club I couldnt dance anymore for a bit, I was too knackered!
I was coming out of the toilets when I got chatting to one of the barstaff. I was interested in her viewpoint of the night, too my surprise, she was not totally against hardcore as a rule, she, in her own words, "Just didnt get it". Cue a 20 minute spannered conversation between myself and her about how hardcore will solve all the worlds problems Not sure if I made sense or not (I tend to be a bit, odd, when I'm up on caffiene) but I must have done something right as she gave me her email address cos I said I would send her the ravers manifesto which explains it better than I ever could. One down, another 55,99,999 to go After a brief rest, it was back to the main arena for Breeze's set. Another one of the Raverbaby crew, he played an absolute blinder. He started with a new tune which had the most profound lyrics I've heard. It was someone (apparently Hixxy's publisher but I'm not sure) basically ripping into the mainstream dance media for trying to kill hardcore and saying that its backfired cos the scene has come back stonger than ever without their help. I've never rushed from hearing spoken words with no music behind them before. I did last night
I just wish I could remember what he said. The only thing I remember is the last four words "HARDCORE WILL NEVER DIE!!!!!" totally and utterly cool as ****. Wizzkid returned with Smiley and went back to back for the rest of Breezes raverbaby led set. Once again, tune selection is little fuzzy, but what I do remember is that I was loving the night at this point, with the music and atmosphere providing rush after rush.The final set of the night was The Sy and Storm show. Never ones to dissapoint, these two finished the event off in style. Wicked tunes, up for it crowd and the best MC in the business was the perfect end to Planet Hardcore. The funniest bit was Storm telling this garage raver to stop going "whoop whoop" cos it was a hardcore night
This event was the nuts. If I absolutely had to pick holes in it then the only downsides were the crackly soundsystem and the layout of the club (Not a fan of raised dancefloors as it cuts off half the crowd) But the crowd were so up for it it that none of it really mattered.
I'm really glad I got to experience it cos I always wanted to go to a proper ESP/Dreamscape night and last night I did. I will defintely be going back to the next one.
astraboy.
Shouts to: Davespice, Rizladizla, Paul Compulsion, Sketchy, Scottie, Kat, Ezzle, Gill, Jerome, Smiley, Smithers, Smither's bro, Voltage, Mootlight Raver, Floyd, Kinky Kat, Sykee (never has one man been so twatted), Storm, and the girl I see everywhere but STILL cant remember her name sorry!. there are loads more, but I cant remember at the moment.
13 April 2003, 03:02 PM
#2
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2000
Posts: 9,368
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
However, with the end of the club night, it left us 3 good hours to kill before 6am and the night was really over. As me and dave got back in the hardcore 4x4, I placed a call. The pre-recorded message gave me the directions we needed and we set off.
Junction 13 of the M1 is as far as I'm prepared to go. All I will say is we were WELL into UFO sighting/Blair Witch terratory when we saw a load of cars parked up on the side of the road. We got out and we heard the gentle thumping of the hardcore bassline coming from the middle of the forest. We followed the noise till we got to the epicentre.
OH, MY, GOD. What we saw blew us totally away. The DJ stand, was in one corner, the Lighting rig was next to it. The MONSTROUS System stack was pumping out the hardcore tune PSA. Around the stack was around 400 ravers going for it as if their lives depended on it. Opposite all this was a VW camper van with UV lighting strobes and a laser which was bouncing off the trees.
The whole place was rocking and it werent long before me and Dave had joined in.
Its difficult to put into words what happened next, but it the closest it can be described is as an awakening within me. Planet Hardcore was good, no doubt about it, but this was 10 times better. Everyone was there for the same reason, as such everyone was on the same wavelength. they werent in it for the money, a bottle of water from a friendly bloke in back of a van, was a mere 50p. The combination of seeing all the people dancing with a raw passion as well as dancing under the stars to hardcore rave music gave me a feeling which I cannot put into words. It was, amazing.
We left at 6am, following the most profound 2 hours of my life. Without the aid of any artifical stimulants, I learned, despite no-one telling me, that everything is, alright. Everything was, gonna be okay. I left the event with an inner peace which will stay with me for a long time.
The only funny thing was I had to go to forest in the middle of no-where and meet with a bunch of dreadlocked crusties to find that feeling.
I'm so glad I did.
astraboy.
Junction 13 of the M1 is as far as I'm prepared to go. All I will say is we were WELL into UFO sighting/Blair Witch terratory when we saw a load of cars parked up on the side of the road. We got out and we heard the gentle thumping of the hardcore bassline coming from the middle of the forest. We followed the noise till we got to the epicentre.
OH, MY, GOD. What we saw blew us totally away. The DJ stand, was in one corner, the Lighting rig was next to it. The MONSTROUS System stack was pumping out the hardcore tune PSA. Around the stack was around 400 ravers going for it as if their lives depended on it. Opposite all this was a VW camper van with UV lighting strobes and a laser which was bouncing off the trees.
The whole place was rocking and it werent long before me and Dave had joined in.
Its difficult to put into words what happened next, but it the closest it can be described is as an awakening within me. Planet Hardcore was good, no doubt about it, but this was 10 times better. Everyone was there for the same reason, as such everyone was on the same wavelength. they werent in it for the money, a bottle of water from a friendly bloke in back of a van, was a mere 50p. The combination of seeing all the people dancing with a raw passion as well as dancing under the stars to hardcore rave music gave me a feeling which I cannot put into words. It was, amazing.
We left at 6am, following the most profound 2 hours of my life. Without the aid of any artifical stimulants, I learned, despite no-one telling me, that everything is, alright. Everything was, gonna be okay. I left the event with an inner peace which will stay with me for a long time.
The only funny thing was I had to go to forest in the middle of no-where and meet with a bunch of dreadlocked crusties to find that feeling.
I'm so glad I did.
astraboy.
13 April 2003, 11:29 PM
#5
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Sodding Chipbury
Posts: 2,702
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I've some great memories of Dreamscape events from a few years back
Funnily enough usually followed by attendance at some open air parties after, the best of which was still going on the following weekend
Funnily enough usually followed by attendance at some open air parties after, the best of which was still going on the following weekend
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
alcazar
Non Scooby Related
25
11 September 2015 08:45 PM