astraboy

With a free weekend upon me, a break was just what the doctor ordered. A week off from the rave scene is good to do every now and again, especially when the week before had seen a massive Helter Skelter rave and the following week promised a 15 hour rave to end all raves with Raindance. However, I am easily swayed and when a friend of mine suggest we go to an illegal rave I was well up for it.
"Where is it?" I asked,
"Dont know, near Cambridge" came the reply.
"What sort of music is it?" I asked,
"Dont know, I'll try and find out though"
Not helpful at all and third hand information with it, but I'd learnt a long time ago that the illegal party circuit is more than a question of where it is and what its playing. The fact its a "Less than legal" party is usually good enough for me, unless its garage on offer, but I've yet to see that happen.
So Saturday night came and I jumped in the car to get to where we were going. I didn't particularly like the idea of driving myself, but a pick up was out of the question as my friends were on the other side of the M25. A phone call later and we agreed to meet in Cambridge.
We met in the Light Bar where we were due to meet another couple of people who were armed with useful things like phone numbers and directions. However, after a few social drinks we decided to convoy it over to the party location, which had in the meantime changed to somewhere near Norwich
It werent too bad a drive, quite uneventful apart from getting caught by the police for relieving myself in a hedgerow of a house I had failed to see in the dark. It was bad luck more than anything else. I was dying for a pee after the two hour drive from Cambridge and we had not seen another car for 30 minutes. However just as I unzipped the blue tracers came on and I discovered I had my bayonet out less than 5 feet from a fully jammed up police car. A groveling apology later and I appeared to be off the hook. However his next question really foxed me,
"What are you doing out here?" A lot of quick thinking and deciding mentioning the rave was not a good idea, I played a bit of a gamble,
"To tell you the truth, I dont really know. I'm following the guy with the map in the lead car"
"Not going to a rave by any chance are you?" I covered quite well considering we'd just been rumbled,
"Rave? They still going are they?"
"So you aint going to one then?" he countered,
It was a tricky situation, I was dressed as a raver. Baggy combat trousers, hovercraft trainers and a white t-shirt with RAVIN' EYE (100%) written on it did not scream "respectable upright citizen", I decided to play it safe and plead ignorance,
"Well if we are, its the first I've heard of it"
I then begged his idulgence as I still had a pee to get rid of! I asked if I could get down to business at the layby up ahead and he let me go. I made sure my performance was suitably theatrical (not that it needed it) whilst keeping my eye on what they were questioning my friends for. They must have done a good enough job as they drove past me just as I was finishing up. It looks like we'd managed to give him the slip.
Unfortunatly a few miles down and the blue tracers were on again in the distance. I couldnt afford to get caught again, especially this close to the party and having pushed my luck to the limit. I had a text with the directions on it and a map so I ducked out of the convoy and navigated my way round the police roadblock and picked up the road about 500 yards onward from their location.
The final few turns were upon me and when I saw balloons tied to a roadsign, I knew I was on the right track. Soon enough I was stopped by a bloke with a torch and was asked the most loaded question I have ever been on the receiving end of,
"Alright mate, are you here for the private birthday party of Mr. XXXX XXXX?"
"Erm, Yes!"
"Nice one mate, head down that dirt track as far as you can an park in the field on the right"
I took off a rate of knots as I'd just seen the same copper arrive and get out of his car! He was like a turd that wont flush, but luckly he didnt follow me and finally I had made it to the rave. A short traffic queue to park later and I had managed to find a space to park and located my friends again. Together we made our way to the party.
The bassline told us all we need to know and we headed in its direction. It was a perfect night. Crisp and fresh, with not a cloud in the sky. We were so far in the sticks that the entire of the milky way was visible, that and the two monstrous big tops were the only remarkable thing about this place. We kept on walking. As we got to the rave field, the third tent, a marquee hoved into view, this held a food kitchen and a chill out area made from hay bales. The main arenas were in the big tops though.
A huge sound system was set up in each arena, with "Innerfield" taking one and "Turbo Unit" having the other. The only other structure was a bonfire being made and a portaloo which had been set up at the lower end of the field.
Inside the tops were not only the sound systems, but decor and production that would put a legitimate night to shame! Lighting rigs festooned the central pole of the big tops, with lighting and UV cannon making the party people glow in the night. Weird artworks showing strange visuals and namechecking the night were also present. The lasers were also a nice touch and added to the night as when they were switched on. Top production for an outdoor party, respect as they say, is due.
However, the music was what it was all about for me. I had a bit of a surprise when I was informed that I was listening to upfront breakbeat. It was very different from Hardcore breakbeats, the main one being the speed. Around 140bpm and very mellow by comparison, it has similar properties to dancing to House. However, one of its better qualities was its many layers. Over the course of the night, the unfamiliar breakbeat was overlaid with numerous samples, ranging from the Beastie Boys "Fight for your right to party" to rave vocals like " The big alert has been called off, it turns out the earlier reports were wrong". This mix of familiar and not so familiar had me dancing away in no time, the pulse of the music becoming very infectious and being very easy to dance to. However it was the cheeky samples that made me smile. As with previous parties, the tunes got harder as the night progressed with more rave riffs making appearences as the night wore on. "4am", "I wanna show you what I'm capable of" and "I'm gonna rush ya" were all played out to the appreciative crowd. Eventually when it was nearing 5am, the start of the Hard house herelded the arrival of the birthday boy himself, DJ Jude and the night got the kick in the pants from the raised BPMs and the crowd, as well as myself, got down to some serious partying. The breaks were left behind and the party kicked into high gear as the pace of the tunes became more hectic. I was loving it at this point. I was having trouble getting into the night at first, but the breaks got me dancing in the end as I got used to the downturn of pace. But when the Hard house came on, that was it, I was determined to have it hardcore, even if the tunes werent as hard as I have liked. After 4 hours of breaks, I was more than happy with what I was given. For an hour, everything was perfect. I was dancing away and having a good time, but at 6.30 the tunes got turned down for no apparant reason and the crowd lost interest. It might have been to do with the police turning up, but since there were only two of them, it might have been a little too prudent. It was a shame as I was getting into the night nicely by then, but at that point, volume was what i needed and I didnt have it. A switch to Drum and Bass shortly after didnt help and I decided to chat to my friends for a bit before making a move to start the long drive home.

Things I liked:

Atmosphere - You can't beat the atmosphere you get at an illegal party. You just can't.

Big tops - never seen an illegal party with big tops,but it was amazing to clap eyes on them when I arrived

Decor - Both big tops were fully decorated and had serious lighting rigs. Lasers too. This was a free party as well!

Portaloo - this didnt need to be done, but it was done anyways. Another example of the organisational skills of these people

Music - A whole nights breakbeat with a bit of Hardhouse and Jungle on the end. Not my usual cup of tea, but I was dancing as normal. My musical horizons were broadened again and in the best possible way.

Poi - Always a feature of free parties, people outside doing the poi were a joy to watch and were supercool with their control of such a difficult thing to do.

Food tent - I was close to spazzing out at one point, too much caffiene and not enough food took its toll. A very reasonable 2 quid got me a plate of noodles and stir fry and bread in the food marquee. a square meal inside me and I was raving again shortly after.

Norfolk's Finest - For not being too quick on the uptake and letting me go instead of sending me home. Cheers guys!


Things I liked less -

Volume - the rigs were a bit quiet at some points, it could have gone a lot louder.

Music - At one point all three of the arenas were playing breakbeat. a little more variety would have been appreciated.

This is what raving was all about. Everybody who was there had made superhuman efforts to get there and as such the atmosphere was sky high all night. The music, while not my first choice, was mind expanding in a most pleasent way and the big tops kept the party crew warm and in good spirits all night.
These sort of nights define how determined you are to have a good time. I wanted to go to a party, but to get there I had to prove myself. Driving 200 miles to an unknown destination, lying through my teeth to the police, navigating my way round a police roadblock in unknown terratory and on my own and finally my best Colin Mcrae impression down a single lane dirt track to get to the party before the police cottoned on to who I was and gave chase. A wise man once said "The harder you work for something, the more you appreciate it" I wholehertedly agree. I raved harder than I would at a sanctioned breakbeat party, thats for damn sure.
The night was spiced with a feeling of uncertainty that anyone whos been to a free party will be familiar with. As well as that, I made new friends and exchanged a few phone numbers with ravers promising to let me know when the next one is. However, the best part of the night was the tales of extraordinary sacrifice that were made to get to the party. "Mark", a random raver I got chatting to easily steals first place with the following tale.
"I live only two miles from here, thats how I found about this rave. I was getting a ******* from my bird, but the only thing I could think of was "I can hear a rave" So I phones up my mate and says to him "Have you found it yet?" He says he has, so I kick my bird out of bed, and then get him to pick me up!"
Top night had by all. Apart from Mark's bird that is
astraboy.
Shouts to: Cresta, Vanessa, Richard, and all the randoms I managed to get chatting to. And a massive shout to the Norfolk police for not shutting down the party. Respect.