Rave review, Hardcore heaven, 14/02/2004
20 February 2004, 12:34 AM
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Rave review, Hardcore heaven, 14/02/2004
The first large scale event of the year in the Hardcore scene, Hardcore Heaven's Valentines day party was a long time coming after the traditional NYE hardcore blowout. When the lineup was released, there were several notable DJs that made this event special, primerily for the type of music that was promised. Outblast and King Matthew, promoters of MOH fame were booked, as was Slipmatt for one of his famous 95 sets. Another Techno DJ, Simon Underground was due to shake up the sweatbox and thanks to the power of the internet, Brisk had promised a highly anticipated bouncy techno set. Together with the usual headliners, I was going to this on the basis of the Bouncy and other various forms of techno and the 95 set that was promised. A few people I have talked to accused this event of having a weaker than usual lineup. I prefer to celebrate the positives rather than dwell on the negatives.
I have given up getting the train to Milton Keynes. Until the constant engineering works are finished (maybe when my pension comes in but they cant promise nothing) then its driving all the way for me. But it helps to fill up the car to spread the petrol costs, so I swung by Uxbridge on the way and from the sea of rudeboys found two young ladies from Harrow in need of a lift. Lauren and Tansy climbed in and we blasted up the M1.
I arrived in Milton Keynes after enduring an hour of Burping competitions, Mismatched song singing, and lager drinking that would put most football crowds to shame. Eventually we found the Sanctuary and the two girls got out while I waved off to find somewhere quiet to park. Eventually a quiet housing estate provided a space to ditch the motor which offered a 10 minute walk to the Sanc while I got stuck into a gallon or so of energy drinks.
There were about 400 ravers in the queue when I arrived. I found a space to slide in with the girls and LM Pheonix and waited for the bouncers to let us in. Shortly after we moved off and went through the queuing gates before handing over our tickets. A quick pat down for weapons later and no confrontation and we were in. The whole process had taken about 30 minutes. But there werent 8000 of us to deal with this time so draw your own conclusions.
Mark EG was finishing off the opening set to an appreciative crowd when I entered the sanctuary. When I got in I couldnt help but notice the decor. Big pink hearts were suspended from the lighting rigs and draping was coming down off the ceiling. Hardcore Heaven has had better decor in the past, but this was a valentines themed event and there is not much you can do after bunging some hearts up. Still the lighting rig looked respectable enough and as usual there were two lasers plonked on top of the main stacks.
I had arrived at the perfect time. Straight after Mark EG, was Hardcore legend, Slipmatt, doing what he has down to a tee, a 95 set. When I got to the front the Godfather of Hardcore had taken over the decks and started pumping out the tunes. There are several definitions of "95 set" and Slippers was taking the loosest one. Playing a full on cheese set with several highlights such as "Heart of Gold", "Steamtrain", "Here i am" and best of all, the classic "Toytown" This was a cracking set, abley assisted by MC smiley on the micand the best bit for me was halfway through toytown, Slipmatt took down the volume so the crowd could take over the tune. As the volume dropped all you could hear was a couple of thousand ravers singing "Duh!, duh!, du-duh!, du-duh!, duh!, duh, du-duh!" at the top of their voices. Cheesy as hell? well yes, but it was one of the best parts of the night for me. I've finally heard Toytown dropped in the main arena of the Sanctuary, cheers Slippers
Next up was meant to be Outblast and King Matthew. Unfortunatly, it seems somthing of a tradition for the majority of Dutch Gabba DJs who are booked to not turn up on the night. Tonight proved to be no different. Smiley offered his apologies and announced the replacement DJ. The one like the Uplift stepped up and took control of the night. In many respects this was a poor replacement for a pair of Dutch Gabba legends, however I felt it worked on the most important aspect of the night. Instead of a mish mash of styles, Uplift maintained and progressed the pace of the evening by playing an upfront set. This IMO made the evenings music more constistant, the fact that he played a blinder from start to finish nonwithstanding. How many other DJs would have the guts to drop "Picture of Devon" at HH? Respect, as they say is due.
When Uplift had finished, it was the turn of Hixxy to step up. However, due to personal circumstances he could not be there. Styles was the the replacement and although I stayed fo a bit, I remembered someone else was playing who I wanted to see. Time to fight my way out of the main arena.
I found myself in the sweatbox a little later, taking in D-Ice and Reality's set. Reality werent on the flyer, but it was good to see him where he belonged, going b2b with is usual partner. They were playing to a sizeable crowd and though their tune selection was nothing new, the party people were rocking to what the men from Bristol had to offer. D-ice and Reality played an upfront set which leant heavily on Stompy's work with tunes like "Time to Fly", "Can you hear me" and best of all "New beginning" being played, as well as a varied selection of their own material. Odyssey and Smiley were providing the lyrical backup to a highly enjoyable set.
Towards the end of the set I made my way to the downstairs bar to get another drink. This involved going past arena 3 so I had a peek inside to see what was happening. One look told me all I needed to know, the place was rocking! Mozz was on the decks and he was doing hat he was there to do and then some. I literally caught his very last tune, but that doesnt matter, as it was a breakbeat remix of Captain Skullfuk's "Shooting Filth" I was dancing away to that one, let me tell you.
As soon as the filth shooting had stopped I was in the main arena and up the front like a shot. There was a clash of DJs up next, but I had made my decision and I seriously doubted I had made the wrong one. Brisk and his promised Bouncy techno set was up next and I werent going to miss a bit of it. Now I dont claim to know too many bouncy techno tunes, nor remember much of the ones that were played. In fact I can only remember and name his first tune, "Jeee haa!", but that is besides the point. With Wottsee taking charge of the mic, mere tune selection alone is no yardstick to how good this set was. The ravers quickly became as bouncy as the tunes with the whole arena coming alive for the most varied and diverse set of the night. Everywhere I looked there were smiling faces, nobody seemed to care the entire lighting rig had gone down, the tunes were too good for it to matter. I was getting just as carried away as everyone else, giving it everyting I had to was was easily the best set of the night. Top tunes, top accompanyment on the mic and worth every damn penny of the entrance fee.
After Brisk had finished off his set with some upfront Next Generation material, I must have been kidnapped by aliens or something. I cant remember anything till 4am when the raver was entering its final two hours. These were killed off in spectacular fashion with the arrival of Dougal, then Sy. As usual, it has dissapeared into the now familiar abyss of rave amnesia. The only tunes I can remember from both sets are Sy's efforts with the discovery channel tune and "Techno Harmony", the rest is a complete kickdrum driven blur interspersed with trips to fill up my waterbottle. The only thing I can tell you is I didnt stop dancing once and neither did the thousand of Hardcore ravers around me. I know I was having the time of my life staying right till the final tune with Storm taking us all the way to the finish on the mic and wishing us a safe journey home like he always does. They call it "The Power hour" for a reason. Top way to end a top night.
Hype list:
HH full to the brim again. It was a great party with an atmosphere that lasted all night.
Nice variety of tunes dropped by the various DJs , you just had to know where to look, thats all.
Security. Best I have ever seen them. No pointless hassling, just keeping themselves to themselves and throwing troublemaking Scallys out later on in the night. Nothing but good things to say about them after this party. And I managed to smuggle in my Caffiene tablets this time so ner!
DJ Uplift: This is the second Slammin event where he has convered for a no showing DJ. Not to mention his sets are blinding whenever he does play. IMO a booking is well overdue for this man.
Gripe list:
Scallys. It seemed they were trying to reclaim "Their" rave by misbehaving throughout the night. I know quite a few people, myself included who had trouble off them. Not on at all.
Sound. It was too quiet till Scott Brown came on and generally inconsistant throughout the night. Again.
Lighting. Just a minor gripe, not about it going off during Brisks set as it was no-ones fault, but about the laser. It was pretty, but ultimatly pointless way over at the side on top of the stack. Cant it be put above the DJ where it belongs?
The flyer. Not sure about the cover design at all. Much preffered the Previous flyers which were bright and vibrant, like the music.
(Continued in next post due to scoobynets gayness at not accepting more than 10000 characters per post, sort it out!
)
I have given up getting the train to Milton Keynes. Until the constant engineering works are finished (maybe when my pension comes in but they cant promise nothing) then its driving all the way for me. But it helps to fill up the car to spread the petrol costs, so I swung by Uxbridge on the way and from the sea of rudeboys found two young ladies from Harrow in need of a lift. Lauren and Tansy climbed in and we blasted up the M1.
I arrived in Milton Keynes after enduring an hour of Burping competitions, Mismatched song singing, and lager drinking that would put most football crowds to shame. Eventually we found the Sanctuary and the two girls got out while I waved off to find somewhere quiet to park. Eventually a quiet housing estate provided a space to ditch the motor which offered a 10 minute walk to the Sanc while I got stuck into a gallon or so of energy drinks.
There were about 400 ravers in the queue when I arrived. I found a space to slide in with the girls and LM Pheonix and waited for the bouncers to let us in. Shortly after we moved off and went through the queuing gates before handing over our tickets. A quick pat down for weapons later and no confrontation and we were in. The whole process had taken about 30 minutes. But there werent 8000 of us to deal with this time so draw your own conclusions.
Mark EG was finishing off the opening set to an appreciative crowd when I entered the sanctuary. When I got in I couldnt help but notice the decor. Big pink hearts were suspended from the lighting rigs and draping was coming down off the ceiling. Hardcore Heaven has had better decor in the past, but this was a valentines themed event and there is not much you can do after bunging some hearts up. Still the lighting rig looked respectable enough and as usual there were two lasers plonked on top of the main stacks.
I had arrived at the perfect time. Straight after Mark EG, was Hardcore legend, Slipmatt, doing what he has down to a tee, a 95 set. When I got to the front the Godfather of Hardcore had taken over the decks and started pumping out the tunes. There are several definitions of "95 set" and Slippers was taking the loosest one. Playing a full on cheese set with several highlights such as "Heart of Gold", "Steamtrain", "Here i am" and best of all, the classic "Toytown" This was a cracking set, abley assisted by MC smiley on the micand the best bit for me was halfway through toytown, Slipmatt took down the volume so the crowd could take over the tune. As the volume dropped all you could hear was a couple of thousand ravers singing "Duh!, duh!, du-duh!, du-duh!, duh!, duh, du-duh!" at the top of their voices. Cheesy as hell? well yes, but it was one of the best parts of the night for me. I've finally heard Toytown dropped in the main arena of the Sanctuary, cheers Slippers
Next up was meant to be Outblast and King Matthew. Unfortunatly, it seems somthing of a tradition for the majority of Dutch Gabba DJs who are booked to not turn up on the night. Tonight proved to be no different. Smiley offered his apologies and announced the replacement DJ. The one like the Uplift stepped up and took control of the night. In many respects this was a poor replacement for a pair of Dutch Gabba legends, however I felt it worked on the most important aspect of the night. Instead of a mish mash of styles, Uplift maintained and progressed the pace of the evening by playing an upfront set. This IMO made the evenings music more constistant, the fact that he played a blinder from start to finish nonwithstanding. How many other DJs would have the guts to drop "Picture of Devon" at HH? Respect, as they say is due.
When Uplift had finished, it was the turn of Hixxy to step up. However, due to personal circumstances he could not be there. Styles was the the replacement and although I stayed fo a bit, I remembered someone else was playing who I wanted to see. Time to fight my way out of the main arena.
I found myself in the sweatbox a little later, taking in D-Ice and Reality's set. Reality werent on the flyer, but it was good to see him where he belonged, going b2b with is usual partner. They were playing to a sizeable crowd and though their tune selection was nothing new, the party people were rocking to what the men from Bristol had to offer. D-ice and Reality played an upfront set which leant heavily on Stompy's work with tunes like "Time to Fly", "Can you hear me" and best of all "New beginning" being played, as well as a varied selection of their own material. Odyssey and Smiley were providing the lyrical backup to a highly enjoyable set.
Towards the end of the set I made my way to the downstairs bar to get another drink. This involved going past arena 3 so I had a peek inside to see what was happening. One look told me all I needed to know, the place was rocking! Mozz was on the decks and he was doing hat he was there to do and then some. I literally caught his very last tune, but that doesnt matter, as it was a breakbeat remix of Captain Skullfuk's "Shooting Filth" I was dancing away to that one, let me tell you.
As soon as the filth shooting had stopped I was in the main arena and up the front like a shot. There was a clash of DJs up next, but I had made my decision and I seriously doubted I had made the wrong one. Brisk and his promised Bouncy techno set was up next and I werent going to miss a bit of it. Now I dont claim to know too many bouncy techno tunes, nor remember much of the ones that were played. In fact I can only remember and name his first tune, "Jeee haa!", but that is besides the point. With Wottsee taking charge of the mic, mere tune selection alone is no yardstick to how good this set was. The ravers quickly became as bouncy as the tunes with the whole arena coming alive for the most varied and diverse set of the night. Everywhere I looked there were smiling faces, nobody seemed to care the entire lighting rig had gone down, the tunes were too good for it to matter. I was getting just as carried away as everyone else, giving it everyting I had to was was easily the best set of the night. Top tunes, top accompanyment on the mic and worth every damn penny of the entrance fee.
After Brisk had finished off his set with some upfront Next Generation material, I must have been kidnapped by aliens or something. I cant remember anything till 4am when the raver was entering its final two hours. These were killed off in spectacular fashion with the arrival of Dougal, then Sy. As usual, it has dissapeared into the now familiar abyss of rave amnesia. The only tunes I can remember from both sets are Sy's efforts with the discovery channel tune and "Techno Harmony", the rest is a complete kickdrum driven blur interspersed with trips to fill up my waterbottle. The only thing I can tell you is I didnt stop dancing once and neither did the thousand of Hardcore ravers around me. I know I was having the time of my life staying right till the final tune with Storm taking us all the way to the finish on the mic and wishing us a safe journey home like he always does. They call it "The Power hour" for a reason. Top way to end a top night.
Hype list:
HH full to the brim again. It was a great party with an atmosphere that lasted all night.
Nice variety of tunes dropped by the various DJs , you just had to know where to look, thats all.
Security. Best I have ever seen them. No pointless hassling, just keeping themselves to themselves and throwing troublemaking Scallys out later on in the night. Nothing but good things to say about them after this party. And I managed to smuggle in my Caffiene tablets this time so ner!
DJ Uplift: This is the second Slammin event where he has convered for a no showing DJ. Not to mention his sets are blinding whenever he does play. IMO a booking is well overdue for this man.
Gripe list:
Scallys. It seemed they were trying to reclaim "Their" rave by misbehaving throughout the night. I know quite a few people, myself included who had trouble off them. Not on at all.
Sound. It was too quiet till Scott Brown came on and generally inconsistant throughout the night. Again.
Lighting. Just a minor gripe, not about it going off during Brisks set as it was no-ones fault, but about the laser. It was pretty, but ultimatly pointless way over at the side on top of the stack. Cant it be put above the DJ where it belongs?
The flyer. Not sure about the cover design at all. Much preffered the Previous flyers which were bright and vibrant, like the music.
(Continued in next post due to scoobynets gayness at not accepting more than 10000 characters per post, sort it out!
)
20 February 2004, 12:35 AM
#2
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The Bad list is longer than the good list, but that dont do justice to this party at all. It was great to be back at Hardcore Heaven as they have never let me down at any of their previous events and this one didnt break that mould either. From the DJs playing the crowd pleasing sets to the DJs pestered into playing stuff that the ravers had asked for, through to the explosion of talent in arena three, whatever you wanted, there was something for you. It deffo had everything I wanted with the possible exception of some breakbeats, but there was so much going on I didnt really notice their absence.
This was another really good party from the HH boys. I enjoyed it immensely. I will be back when the next one is announced, provided the flyer design is as hardcore as the event is
astraboy.
Shouts to:
Lauren, Tansy, LM Pheonix, Padz, Wildcard, Andy M, Mark HB & Sweetstar, Hektic, skampy, Sorcerer, Ponder, James n' Charlie, Uplift, Shauny C and Abyence, Mayhem, Sammy P, Josh Emmtion, Gill Dreamscape, Hiney, Carly, Doc-e, Hayley, Lady Angelic, baby D, Fish Geffo, Martin, Stu8, Sykee and his laydee, STS Dave, Rob 184-03720948 and the rest of the Choons.net crew, Mozz, Thumps, Sawyerbean, Eccy and Gaz (Saaafe!), Platinum, Curly, Matsui, Cocktail stick, Whizzkid, DJ Storm, Wottsee, Compulsion, Jon Doe, Gammer (sticker massive), Spinback and the people who I've inevitably forgotten. you know who you are. Lastly thanks to MC Storm and Sara for not driving too quick and for showing us the way out of MK. 8)
This was another really good party from the HH boys. I enjoyed it immensely. I will be back when the next one is announced, provided the flyer design is as hardcore as the event is
astraboy.
Shouts to:
Lauren, Tansy, LM Pheonix, Padz, Wildcard, Andy M, Mark HB & Sweetstar, Hektic, skampy, Sorcerer, Ponder, James n' Charlie, Uplift, Shauny C and Abyence, Mayhem, Sammy P, Josh Emmtion, Gill Dreamscape, Hiney, Carly, Doc-e, Hayley, Lady Angelic, baby D, Fish Geffo, Martin, Stu8, Sykee and his laydee, STS Dave, Rob 184-03720948 and the rest of the Choons.net crew, Mozz, Thumps, Sawyerbean, Eccy and Gaz (Saaafe!), Platinum, Curly, Matsui, Cocktail stick, Whizzkid, DJ Storm, Wottsee, Compulsion, Jon Doe, Gammer (sticker massive), Spinback and the people who I've inevitably forgotten. you know who you are. Lastly thanks to MC Storm and Sara for not driving too quick and for showing us the way out of MK. 8)
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