astraboy

I got very excited when this party was announced. The full spectrum of Hardcore is very rarely played out at most events. In fact, the only event to truly do it justice is Elation, but their raves are limited to every two months or so. Luckily, the promoters took the best of both elements and joined forces with the Elation crew to put on a 12th birthday party to end all parties. The DJs and MCs were notable by the fact that they were not picked to attract the most amount of ravers to the venue, It was a case of a personal invite to play out because they currently are or had at some point in time been involved with the Kniteforce records label. The calibre or the artists that have been involved with this label are notable by the fact that although they were not picked because they are crowd pullers, the majority of them are anyways. Brisk, Ham, Force and Styles are the most easily recognisable of the lot, but a fair amount of Djs were not as well known, not on these shores anyway. A small fortune must have been spent on air tickets to get DJs and MCs from around the globe to the party. Tyco and Scoots had been flown in from Toronto, Panacea had been shipped over from Germany and Dj Evil had come all the way from Japan. If that werent enough then Co-promoters Elation had been not only asked to help with the event, but also to play out on the night as well. This brought Ponder, HB, Tom U4EA and Caine onto the playlist. Of course Kniteforce stalwarts Luna-C, Deluxe and Kingsize were naturally there as well. If that werent good enough a list of MCs, both listed on the flyer and surprise guests added another dimension to an already polydimensional rave.
This had all the makings of a great party, both arenas of the Electrowerkz were being used and the lineup promised an unparralleled variety of music. Damn right I was going to be there. Damn right.
When I first arrived at the venue, I was confronted with a respectable queue of familiar and not so familiar faces. When I got the to front, security let us in two at a time and I handed over my entrance fee to John Travolta behind the desk and went inside.
This was another occasion where both floors of the Electrowerkz are used. A flight of steps led to another arena and bar, while the cloakroom was located halfways down the stairs. This also meant that I did a lot of wandering for the first few hours of the night. I actually spent a lot of time mingling with the party crew in the place, while the venue quickly filled up. No particular set of the early half of the night was stayed for any length of time, I stayed for a few tunes and then swapped arenas. Thats not to say that none of the DJs that played during this time were lacking in any department, far from it, some excellent tunes were dropped while I flitted between arena 1 & 2. Wonter from Poland playing "caught with a spliff", Djane Simone dropping "Journey" and Idealz caining the classic "You belong to me" set the tone of the night, diverse and awsome being the dominant themes.
The first DJ I caught in his entirity was Alk-E-D in arena 1. Accompanied by RizlaDizla and Chit Chat on the mic, he played an old skool set with a mixture of sublime styles to an appreciative crowd. I especially liked his fondness of the underplayed classics like "Pennywise" and "I Bring you the future", but it was the old skool jungle which really stole the show for me. Nothing special, just wall to wall party anthems like "No retreat, no Surrender", "Original Nutter", "Champion DJ" and "Fire" made the ravers in the arena quickly switch from a Hardcore stomp to an Jungle brock out in an instant. One of the earlier sets of the night, but also one of the most entertaining too. I really enjoyed it.
The rest of the night had been planned out for me with the next set being taken over by Canada's finest homegrown talent, Tyco and Scoots. Having seen these two at Hullaballo earlier this year and been more than entertained by their happy tune selection, I was well up for more of the same and so were the party crew on the dancefloor of arena 2. Rizla Dizla put in more time on the mic and took control of the lyrical side of things in his own minimalist style as the pair from across the Atlantic tore the place apart with a set crammed full of Rushy vocals and alarmingly high BPMs. I couldnt name any of the tunes, but I couldnt care less, I was having too much of a good time at this point. Dancing away like my life depended on it. A quick collar of the Duo after their set and I later found out that "I need You're Motion", "Partycrasher", "Revoloution" and "roof on fire" had all been dropped, but that was just for the sake of completeness. The main point was that they had flown 3500 miles to do one job and they had acheived exactly that. They rocked the joint.
After a set like that Panacea was the last person I wanted to see. Everyone I told thought I was stupid for leaving and maybe they were right, but I needed more upfront Hardcore and Styles was on downstairs. When I got there a crowd of ravers were way ahead of me and were on the dancefloor already. Spenno was on the mic for this one and did a first class job of hyping the party people as Styles got to work providing the tunes. Upfront Hardcore by the bucketload. "I adore", "you're my angel" "Still the one", "Died Oh RIP" and best of all, "Shining down on me", all played out and the ravers in the place loved every minute of me. Extra rushy tunes were exactly what I needed as well. Frequently, I looked at my arms and they were all goosebumpy from the high end frequencys they were reacting off. Lovely
Next up was a personal highlight for me, Next Generation were taking over the enitre damn building for the next hour with Brisk upstairs and Ham on in the main arena. Always one to keep me guessing, you can never tell if this guy is going upfront of breakbeat until he gets started. Chit Chat took his place in front of the mic for this one and accompanied the set well as Ham dropped his first tune which set the tone of the set. "Kinda Funky". Respect 8). Ham couldnt get to work quickly enough for me. His breakbeat sets are always special, but this was especially good. Flitting from the Upfront with tunes like "Dont Stop" to the occasional well placed old skool tune like "Higher" and best of all "Most uplifting", his set was easily one of the best of the night. It made it all the more difficult to force me to leave the arena halfways through. I didnt want to, but I it was only fair I experience the flip side of the Next Gen coin. When I got upstairs, Brisk was hard at work with what he does best. High energy kick oriented tunes, designed to keep the crowd jumpin. Impolite not to join in then Rizla was putting in some serious Mic time tonight and he was in full effect all the way though Brisks set, letting rip and then hushing up when the time was right, he complimented the tune selection nicely. Bouncy tunes such as "Do it like they do" and the "We will rock you" rip eventually made way for a pleasent gabbs session to finish off the NG assault on the Electrowerkz.
As soon as the set finished, I was down the stairs like a shot. It was 5am and that meant the start of the promoter specials and Ponder and HB were the only ones I wanted to see. Due to sickness, MC Elmo couldn't make the night, so the one and only MC Strict filled his shoes. A rare Hardcore apprearence for him, he was more than capable and switched effortlessly from Oldskool to Hardcore with consumate ease. Ponder and HB were also in their element and graced the decks with their own brand of Hardcore. Mostly it was a showcase of new tunes which although unknown to me, were very dancable indeed. Tunes that I did recognise include a strange rip of "Something inside so strong", another outing for "Died oh RIP" and best of all The Jackanapes effort, the controversial "Picture of Devon".
by this time it was last set of the night. But I had more than one set to see. Luna-C was the only way to finish off the night, so that meant that 5-5.30 was spent in the company of Tom U4EA and Bedford Caine for a much awaited anthem set. Chit Chat once again graced the mic as Tom and Caine, took the **** for their hour. They had threatened to turn to freeform if the cheese wasn't working, but the smiling ravers on the dancefloor precluded such nonsence. From the sublime "Incognito" to the rediculous "Electric Dreams" rip, this was a set to have fun to and nothing else. Having said that, tight mixing, even to my untrained ear was evident as the boys worked through their set. Also of note were tunes like "Tears run cold" and the final tune of their set that I heard the rush fest that is "Break of dawn" made the trip down the stairs to see Luna-C one with a smile on my face.
This time there was no holding back. Last set of the night for real this time, and the man of the moment, Luna-C was at the helm. MC Crazy K was on the mic to accompany him and together these guys delivered the coup-de-grace as only they know how. The set was well underway when I arrived and it was, as usual, full to the brim of tunes that made me dance. Lots. Not so serious tunes like "Oh, Oh, play that sad walking away tune from the Incredible Hulk" mingled with no nonsence stompers like "Midnight Resistance" and Hardcore homages like "Turn me on, turn me out". Just the way I expected, Luna-C had given himself the final set, and saved the best till last while he was doing it. All too soon, the night came to an end. Luna-C took the mic and personally thanked all the ravers for coming to his label's birthday party. Dont know about anyone else, but the pleasure was all mine.

Things that I liked:

The whole thing: Best rave I've ever been to. End of chat. Oh, you want specifics? Alright then...

Music: Every interpretation of Hardcore rave music was played out at this party, bar none. It was all there from the Breakbeats, to the upfront, to the happy, to the Gabba. It all got a fair shot, plus it was mixed in with some of the best Drum & Bass sets I've heard for a long time. The amount of time I spent dancing was a reflection of how good the music was. It was also a reflection of how good the following plus point was.

Atmosphere: Second to none all night. Despite the second room which spread the ravers thinner than in a one room event, wherever I went the atmosphere was tip top all night long.

Sound - Very loud in both rooms all night. There was a slight crackle downstiars when the MC got on the mic, but that is the only real complaint I can possibly raise in an otherwise usual high standard of sound clarity.

MCs - The occasional crackle from the rig in no way detracted from the high quality of the MCs in the place. Spenno, RizlaDizla, Chit Chat and a surprise appearence from MC Strict meant the MC card was full of competent crowd hypers who you could tell were hungry for the mic and anxious to impress. Job done lads, and then some.

Production - The globug crew had brought along some extra large weird things to the party, but that werent the best thing about the production. The only person notable by his absence was Tony Res. A big green laser was there, but no Tony. At about 4-5am in he walks with a second laser over his shoulder. This was quickly linked up to the first and the party crew in the place were treated to a double helping of impressive laser madness.

Security - Ozzy and the boys did us proud again. Nuff said.

The promoters - Big cigars all round chaps. Consider that nail hit directly on the head.

Things I liked less:

Captain organised here couldn't get his act together and preorder a ticket online. No only did I lose 3 quid by paying on the door, but I also missed out on the free CD. *****!

As of yet there is no news on whether Kniteforce and Elation are going to team up again. Which is a shame as this would make a fantastic annual event.

This was something special alright, in fact I'd go as far as say that this was the sort of party I became a Hardcore raver to experience, but at the moment, I'm finding it hard to compare it to other raves which are also special to me. It is easily good enough to justify it going up along side previous memorable parties like Fantasy Island NYE, Future Dance 9 and Any STS party you care to mention, but at the same time it cannot as it stands totally apart from them in terms of atmosphere and the near limitless variety of the music that was on offer. Once again my musical tastes were more than satisfied within the confines of the Electrowerkz. But this time the extra dimension of being able to go elsewhere and see if the already high standard could be bettered made it all the more worth it.
When I actually think about it, The best accolade I can think of is easily covered by this party. That being I would happily pick this rave if I had to pick only one rave to go to ever again. And endless replay of every example of Hardcore played out under one roof, within a buzzing atmosphere and surrounded by all my friends? Not exactly a hard choice is it?
astraboy.
Shouts to: Slammin sam (good to see you again mate!) Hattrixx, Tenz, Grob Le Disco Stu and Roller drops, Paul Zykotik, Padz and Baby D, Rob Loony, Pumps and Raverhayley, Barticle, J Sainsbury, Ben-E, Androo an Mrs Androo, Alan M, Andy M, Doc-E and Hayley, Deddley, Jordan Lost soul, Delusion, Rob396376chatterjaw733696739, Charlie, James, Sweetstar, Coriolis, Crissy and Dan (shoulder holster and pavement pizza tank top crew), Venitian Baztard, James Coxall, Wizbit, Maxx Vinyl, Martin and Stu8, Dave Spanneredwalker, Jess, Uplift, Moonlight sparrow, CDjay, Nitechild, LordPeter, Sorcerer, Nuclearaver, Wildcard and Lauren, Caine, TomU4EA, HB, Ponder, Brisk, Ham, Tyco, Scoots, Spenno, Chitchat, Strict (respect!), Rizla Dizla, and anyone else I've forgotten.

Lum

Sounds like a superb night.
I was a little too young to get into rave events back in the early 90s when I was just starting to discover this music that I actually liked. Love the breakbeat stuff, especially the Acen tracks Window in the Sky and Trip II The Moon as well as the earlier Happy Hardcore. It's great to hear that people are still keeping this music alive and I wish I had known about the event.
Where is a good place to find out about these things before they happen?

astraboy

www.ush.net
Its a hardcore website that these reviews are originally for. I jut post em up here cos this is where I was told about the site. Go to the events section, I believe there is a Hardcore event on at Nation on the 6th if you're interested...
Regards,
astraboy.