astraboy

Coming off the back of the best night of my life at Knitefever the night before, it was hard to fathom why I felt the urge to go out again. However, the drive to go to another rave, combined with an unusual amount of energy the night after the previous one meant I couldn't stay in twiddling my thumbs, especially as it was a saturday night.
I didnt want to go to another event up in London, and this probably led me to www.squatjuice.co.uk, the well known free party hub. Looking up and down for the popular events, I managed to secure an information line number for Stormsurge. After a little bit of searching I found the partyline and rang the number, which promptly told me to ring back at midnight for more information.
Eventually I went round Mupster and Nix's place to kill some time. They were also looking for something to do on the night and as I was there, I asked if he they had anything lined up. Mup told me about a free party in Reading that evening and if I wanted to go then it would be okay as he knew where it was. Eventually midnight came and I phoned the partyline with a view to getting directions and going to the one that was easier to get to. Turns out that the partyline gave me directions to exactly the same rave that Mup was suggesting, so that was one decision that was made for me.
It was 12.15 when we set off and we got to J11 of the M4 at about 12.40. From there on in it was relativly easy to find the rave as I had a vague idea where I was going from the directions and Mup was more than up on the party location. The only strange thing to happen was for a white Subaru WRX Wagon with gold wheels to blast past me on the A329(M) I thought about racing him, and even went after him for a bit, but unknown headlights behind me made me think better of it. I'll be having enough chances to take part in shady activities tonight, didn't want to push me luck.
When we found the improvised carpark that seems to go hand in hand with illegal raves, we parked up near a suspiciously familiar white WRX Wagon. The driver introduced himself to me and it turned out that we were on the same wavelength in more ways than one. As a group we squeezed through a gap between the fence partitions and the bassline told us all we needed to know about where to find the rave.
The scrum at the doorway was new to me, as was the three quid door charge. Every illegal rave I've been to beforehand was free entry, however three quid werent much, especially when it was reduced to 7 quid for the three of us. Once we had paid we had to have our hands marked by a bloke with a felt tip pen to get in, but it was a process that took only a few minutes from start to finish so it werent too bad. After we were past the scrum, we were in.
WOW!,the main arena was about the size of the main room at Bagleys, This had the advantage of a better sound system in the place though Add to that a couple of well placed lights, a hefty green laser and projector, and of course, a couple hundred ravers infront of the stack going for it already, it had all the makings of a great party. It was going so good that I quickly got into the music and was in no time raving away like a good un. The techno come out of the stack was a little on the slow side, but on the back of the previous parties I have attended, I knew it would be increased as the night wore on, in both the volume and BPM departments.
I was more than content to stay where I was for the rest of the night, but Mup and Nix had other ideas, they wanted a wander so I came along as well. Good job I did as well, as I was under the illusion I was at a single system party, but I couldnt be more wrong, At the back of the room was another stack in a side room.The Panik system was pumping out Drum and Bass at serious decibels. A quick trip round the corner and we found the Tribe of Munt arena, playing what I think was psy-trance at and equally obscene volume.
And so it went on. For the next 15 minutes, we went from room to room, finding more and more systems as we progessed. Every few minutes we found another system and the cry of "Theres another one!!!" went up and we set off to see what they were playing. Eventually we found a total of eight systems playing everything. Techno, Drum and Bass, Psytrance, Old Skool, chillout and I **** you not, one system was playing Bangra! You dont get that at legal raves, let me tell you.
Eventually we settled down in an arena which was playing old skool. A nice way to get into the party, the DJ was dropping some nice tunes which easily got me dancing. There werent much of ac crowd at the moment, but I didnt care. Classics like "Evapor8", "When the lion awakes", "The bouncer" and the awesome "Charly" are exactly the kind of tunes you want at an illegal party. Why? Cos you can forget about all the 21st century hassle and imagine you are back in 1992 again. Wicked 8)
Eventually, good as the old skool was, we found our way back into the main arena, The techno had, as predicted, moved up a gear and it was now pleasently dancable. About 1200 ravers were in the place and the atmosphere was through the roof. Speaking of which, one of the more "interesting" things I saw was the convolouted route one particular raver took to get to where he wanted to be on the dancefloor, in this case 20 feet above it. By crawling on the roof rafters he inched his way to the bubble roof at the top. Once he got there, he had a bit of a dance, then eased himself down until he was dangling from his arms above the dancefloor. He then dropped the 8 or so feet to the ground. Luckily he didnt do it again as I dont think my nerves would have stood it.
Later on, I felt the need for something different. Handily, i found myself in the Tribe of Munt room. Serious production had gone into this room with two lasers above each stack, UV lighting, strange backdrops and of course, monstrous sound system. I dont think I would have been able to handle it if I hand't been wearing earplugs as the bass was vibrating my chest cavity throughout my time in there. Thankfully it was bearable and in a manner I have come to expect from Psytrance, very dancable indeed. I spent a good few hours in this room,dancing away with the ravers already in the place. Occasionally he dropped a snippet of Oldskool junglel, but most of all it was the relentless kickdrum that kept me dancing, and then some.
Eventually I broke away from that room and went to find my friends, they were in the main room once again, but shortly after wewent for another roam around the building. Eventually we came across the "Bunch of ****s" soundsystem and to our surprise, it was playing Hardcore! Upfront Hardcore at that. Most of the crowd was in the main room, but I didnt care. Its not often you hear upfront Hardcore at a rave so I was going to make the most of it and dance myself silly. The Dj behind the decks was, to be honest, not very good at all. I'll save his blushes and not name him, but he does deserve a shout for being brave enough to buck the trend and drop some of the music I love. A nice mix of tunes as well, with a good selection of CLSM, Raverbaby, Next Gen and other labels all getting a play out. Me Mup and Nix all had a bit of a dance to his set, it was difficult to really get into it as the mixing was pretty dire, but the tunes were good enough to keep me moving till his set ended.
We were nearing the end of the night for us. The previous nights exertations were fast catching up,so we decided to make a move at 5am. Luckily, that was half an hour away, so we made the most of the remaining night and get ourselves into the main arena. The Techno had been replaced with Gabba when we got there, but I werent complaining, I needed a serious stompathon to finish off the night and if you can name a better genre to finish off with then you're more broadminded than me. The crowd in front of the stack were still going full tilt and although I never had the bottle to join them,I had a bit of a dance close to the front before the last tune of the night came on. Nice and bouncy, I can't name it, but the vocals went "Theres things I haven't told you, I dont know how to try..." This was still playing at 5am when we left. All we had to do was take the short drive home and crash out with the memory of a top night out behind us.

Things I liked:

It was a free party. Well, technically it weren't as i had to pay three quid to get in, but anyone who argues with three quid when you get eight systems, no closing time and the maddest night out in a long time in return needs their head examined.

Sounds - All the stacks were going full tilt once the party had started. Especially the Panik and Tribe of Munt stacks. Those were very impressive indeed. Another advantage of no noise restrictions which go hand in hand with the lack of licencing laws, music and entertainment licences and other such obsticles.

Bars - Water was a quid a go. Beer was 2 quid a go. To be fair, I've seen cheaper at an illegal rave, but not by much it has to be said.

Party crew - Everyone who was there, bar none, was up for a party. Its what I like about these sort of events, you just cant get that sort of vibe from a sanctioned party.

Things I liked less:

Non ravers at the party - I'm not talking about the chavs and beerboys either (It was funny watching them try to dance to the techno whilst still trying to remain *bling*, so they had to be there for the comedy), no I'm talking about the bloke who brought his baby to the party. Newborn ears and monstrous soundsystems do not mix. If that werent bad enough, I saw him feeding it beer later on in the night. Not on at all.

I cant go to another one this weekend! Grr!

the coolest raver in the place: Well it had to go to the small rave dog that was running around all night. The only dogI have ever seen with its very own dayglo vest on. 8)
I thought I'd reached the pinnicle of rave atmosphere the night before at Knitefever, but I was wrong. This was different by so much thats its difficult to compare to a sanctioned rave as they are completely different animals. The sheer excitement of wandering around a venue you're not *supposed* to be in whilst looking for anymore soundsystems to add to the improbable amount you've already found just cant compare to a night you know you're gonna love because X,Y and Z DJs are going to be there.
To add to that, the enormous variety of the music on each of the systems meant the night was never going to get boring as in the unlikely event of you getting bored, you could just go for a wander and see what the rest of the rigs had to offer.
Quite simply the best night out I've had in ages. It was the reason I go to these sort of parties and I didnt go away dissapointed in the slightest. I will be phoning the Stormsurge number every weekend from now on to see where the next one is. As soon as I find one that is on, then whatever I have planned for that night will have a tough job competing, whether the promoters have decided to touch down in Reading or NorthWest Wales.
astraboy.
Shouts to: Mupster, Nix, Mr Rush (Nice bumping into you), all the promoters for a fantastic night out and all of the safe ravers in the place.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Excellent write up mate What way did you go with your dilema about who to write for in the end?

astraboy

Cheers mate
Yeah I sorted it all out in the end, the lure of money was too much for me in the end so I agreed to write under a different pen name and keep astraboy exclusive to the ravin eye.
Everybody was happy with this.
astraboy.