astraboy

Davespice and astraboy proudly present the return of the b2b rave review!!!!
Masters of Hardcore
Back at the start of January, I made the mistake of pledging to go to as many raves in different countries as possible. I wanted to see different rave cultures as the UK hardcore scene, while good, couldnt be the definitive way that people party to hard dance music. At the same time, there was a lot of chatter on USH about the forthcoming Masters of Hardcore event in Eindhoven, Holland. While I am not the greatest fan of Dutch Gabba, the figures for the rave were enough to get me interested. 10,000 people were meant to be showing up for this rave and whilst I have been to previous 10,000+ raves before, the last one I went to was an acid house event. I think you'll agree this one would be a little different! I'd be lying if I said I went to see certain DJs again, I was there purely for the experience. It was like going to my first ever rave all over again, I couldnt wait.
The downside to these expeditions is they tend to cost loads of money and take a great deal of planning, I dont posess either in great amounts. Luckily I was forced down a path which made me pay for the rave in installments, so to speak. Flights were booked in January while they were still cheap, tickets were bought in Febuary before they all sold out. After that, all that was left to so was save for the weekends debauchery which is, frankly, Compulsary when basecamp for the holiday is set up in central Amsterdam.
After Careful preperation for the rave which didnt involve going out for the two nights prior and getting totally wasted (honest), the night of the party was upon us. Thanks to the generosity of the Lichfield crew, we stashed our bags and changed into rave attire in their hotel rooms. Tickets in hand we made our way to the train station. Once aboard the correct train, we settled in for the journey south.
During the 1 1/2 hour journey, the train made several stops. At each one of these, more gabbas got onboard till they were outnumbering "normal" people 2-1. Eventually they noticed us and coversation was struck up. For 6 foot skinheads they were surprisingly friendly, proving that, with Dutch Gabbas at least, you cant tell a book by its cover. Or it might be the fact that they were blazing away on the train and had already made a start on the chemicals to pass the train journey!
Whatever the reason, they seemed impressed that we had made such a long trip to go to their rave and were having fun trying to spot "English" in the carriage. Another issue was cleared up when the conversation turned to "Why you crazy English dress as roadworker at a rave" I think it was at this point that Rhod decided to leave his dayglo in his pocket for the night
Eventually we made it Eindhoven. We had been told that the venue was right next to the trainstation and the monstrous warehouse to our left as we got outside definitely looked MOH worthy. We followed the trickle of gabbas heading in that direction and after a few underpasses, confronted the queue. Down a pedestrian walkway was a solid mass of Gabbas, we couldnt even see the entrance but there was a set of steps to the right that offered a better view.
On the steps were these guys wearing army boots with white laces, camouflage trousers and leather jackets. We didn't take any notice of them to start with and I actually walked right through them all to get a better view of the size of the crowd like, but it turned out they were neo *****!!!!
One of them pulled out a scarf that said 'White Power' on it and we were like, 'oh my god!!'. They pissed about for a few minutes till some more of them arrived and then they full on broke into this chanting, singing, **** salutes, stamping, waving of the Dutch flag... first time they did it we all laughed at them and thought 'what a bunch of *****' like, but it went on and on. They didn't stop and you could see the hatred on their faces, they really meant it!
At this point we were all feeling a bit disturbed, so we started asking around and found out that they were a minority of extremists. We also discovered that a very popular clothes label, (which absolutely bucket loads of the ravers had on) has a symbolic connection to nazism! This does trouble me a bit as I would estimate that around half of the ravers were wearing it. This label is about as popular in Holland as Burberry is over here. Anyway, I did a bit of research on the net quickly to see if I could find out what the score is.
If you are interested, then the links are here:
http://www.ainfos.ca/98/nov/ainfos00124.html
http://www.yadvashem.org/about_holoc...art1/doc1.html
Years ago in Germany, it was alleged that there was a connection between ones political alignment and the colour of your shoelaces! Nationalists wear white and those opposed to the government would wear red. Yellow was worn by cop killers!?
Those ***** we saw on the steps had white bootlaces on! You'll also find that a lot of the rave promotes over there have a policy to not let anyone in who is displaying any kind of political alignment with their clothes and that goes as far as bootlaces and even football shirts!
I still don't know how seriously everybody takes this though, I was a bit afraid to ask whilst I was out there to be honest. So many of them had it on, I didn't fancy my chances if they took offence! Anyway, sorry to side track like that!
After all that, combined with a near three hour crush queue to get to the entrance, confronting security was something of a welcome relief! When we finally got in I was given a quick pat down for weapons then he started talking to me in dutch! Hoever he quickly lighted up when I said "May we speak in English please?" I showed him my wallet and phone which he didnt even search. After that I was shepherded to another security guy who was meant to search me again, but the bloke I originally talked to waved me through saying "Its okay, he's cool" This was the attitude of all security throughout the night.Very professional and very nice indeed. After a brief wait for the others, we rounded the corner and entered the rave.
We walked into a room which could comfortably accomodate four Sanctuary arenas. Within it was a couple thousand Gabbas making an early start to the night. To the front was a huge island in the arena which housed the main stage. Either side of it was two scaffolding towers which offered a higher vantage point for ravers to view the scene below and dance on too. On the ceiling was the most complicated llighting rig I have ever seen and encircling the arena was a balcony which held the cloakroom, bars and hot food stands. Merely putting it into words is not enough to describe it, the whole was much more than the sum of its parts. Simply put, this was an awesome place to put on a rave. The MOH crew had enhanced the party by decorating it with a 1930s gangster theme. Two vintage cars were on the stage and the decor had a period theme. Six video screens showed the usual visual feast, as well as closeups of the DJs on the decks and numerous execution scenes from gangster films. Even the stage dancers were dressed like mob girls, for a while . It was an amazing specticle, whichever way you looked at it.
When we got in, the whole attitude of the party changed. The opression and intimidation of the queue had gone and the only people in the place were friendly party people who were up for a good time. Rhod got chatting to people and even got taught "The Gabba Handshake" while my efforts for international relations were confined to the queue for the cloakroom on the way out :wink:
For a long time, the differences of the rave knocked us a bit. We spent a lot of time at the back of the arena and neither of us can place much of the DJs and what tunes they played before 4am. Which was handy as the best part of the night was just about to start. Masters of Ceremony came on for their PA and not only was the novelty of Dutch MCs there to entertain us, but top notch tunes were in order too. Their first tune was the highly entertaining "Under Control" which had us, Paul Zykotik and the other 9997 ravers screaming "**** you I wont do what you tell me!" If that wasnt good enough, the next tune was the Immortal "Skull ****" and that saw all three of us in a circle screaming "One, two, three, AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" with big grins on our faces. The next tune couldnt be better and it wasnt cos neither of us could name it, but the rest of the crowd obiviously liked it as all around the arena, hundreds of lighters went up. The lighting techie was straight on the case, killing all the lights and plunging the arena into darkness, leaving us looking in awe as the flames danced above the ravers heads. It was the sort of thing that will stick in your memory for a long time.
After the Masters, it was the turn of the UK talent to step up. Producer and Hellfish took the stage and after a humourus introduction, ripped into a full on speedcore set. This didnt let up from the moment it came in right till the final tune and we were loving every minute. I cant usually dance to speedcore, but Dave was going for it so I thought it would be rude not to have a go. I got the hang of it in the end. Dont ask me what tunes were played, cos I dont know, more to the point, I dont care! I was having the time of my life when Producer and Hellfish were on and I even managed to keep up with the music for the first time ever.
The final set of the night was turned over to MOH residents, Bass D and King Matthew. We were long overdue a set from these people as they didnt turn up at a recent Hardcore Heaven and I wanted to see why their absence was so lamented. I werent dissapointed either. I can only remember a couple of tunes that they played, the excellent "Give me pain till I die" and the even better profanity littered "Attention", the rest has been lost in a blur of Gabba raving in the final hour of the night. The dancefloor had thinned out a little as some of the ravers departed early, but those that stayed made the most of the extra room by going crazy for the final set. During the last few tunes the entire UK raving expeditionmet up with Rhod and I on the dancefloor and we finished off the rave in the best possible way, Dancing till the last tune faded.
Things that I liked:

Specticle - I still cant wrap my head around how big this party was. Nothing like back in the UK even comes close in terms of scale, quality and attention to detail.

Soundsystem - Perfect is not good enough to describe it. Loud clear and consistant throughout the arena.

Production and decor - Especially the lasers. They were amazing and filled the entire arena.

The introductions - "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Masters Of Hardcore" This is what we got before each DJ played, plus a little introduction of what each artist was all about. Producer and Hellfish had the best "Would all pussies please leave the dancefloor"

The "Breaks" - Opening up those big shutters to cool the party down was both a sensible precaution and a great idea. I wouldnt mind seeing that over in the UK.

Things I liked Less:

Drinks tokens - I paid 22 euro for 10. Thats about 13 quid. A cup of water was one token. Thats 1.30 for a cup of water. The words "Rip" and "Off" spring to mind.

Toilet tokens - I dont mind paying for the toilets over there, its part of the culture, but having to go to one corner of the arena to buy a token and that token only limits you to four pisses, takes the **** (No pun intended).

Facists - Neo ***** protesting outside was not something I wanted to see. Luckily they didnt make it inside the rave itself.

The queue - It was getting dangerous by the time we got to the front. 10,000 people through four tiny doors. its a pity the rave wasnt as well organised outside as it was inside.

Despite its shortcomings (and this rave werent perfect by any stretch of the imagination) this was an amazing experience. The Gabbas we talked to said this werent the biggest party in the country and there were plenty bigger. Frankly, this was big enough for us though, simply because it was bloody huge. 10,000 raver dancing to the same tunes is a sight to behold and the attention to detail the promoters took in terms of sound quality, production and decor would make some UK promoters green with envy. The music, was mainstream enough to recognise tunes and mixed with underground sounds to make the night nicely balanced. This party was definitely good enough to justify three months of saving and expenditure to get there. We will be doing it again the next time the urge to rave on an international scale overtakes us.
astraboy & Davespice.
Shouts to: Paul Zykotic, Big Alf, Traffic Cone, Sawer, Mozz, Thumps, Oli G, Wiggi, Gazy J, Hiney, Lee UHF , John D-stroy, Kat and Lunar Sunrise.

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Nice report

Look forward to the next.

astraboy

A few pictures of the night....



and not forgetting...

enjoy,
astraboy.

StickyMicky

does look class, im getting to old for that lark tho, sumtimes i struggle to keep up to hard house lol