astraboy

For some reason I was not ready to stop raving when I stepped out of LIFE at the end of Skelter's NYE party. I even swung by the Sanc on the way home on the offchance there might have been an illegal rave to attend. No luck though.

In the absence of an illegal party to go to, I would have to go further afield to keep myself moving to the Hardcore. Fortunately, the promoters were one stap ahead of me and had already organised something.

The dubiously named Mashtonbury was my destination, which meant returning, once again to Air in Birmingham. Although Polysexual was promoting the rave itself, HTID had been brought in to host the "nitrogen" room upstairs. Hard House would dominate the main arena, but with a lineup consisting of numerous big name DJs, it was the Hardcore upstairs that I was going for.

The best part about this party was that it was an exercise in completeness for me. Although LIFE had been exceptionally varied, there were a few DJs and MCs who were missing from the Lineup. Mashtonbury would plug those gaps barely a day after the NYE rave.

Scott Brown, Storm and Whizzkid were all people who were missing from the NYE party and were all present at this one. As well as that, the chance to see Kev Energy, Styles, Sy and MC Odyssey again was too good to pass up. Best of all though, Hixxy was due to play a "Classic Hardcore Anthems" set. If thats not enough to get me out of bed and up the M1, nothing is.

The drive up there was good as for once, I werent driving This meant I could get something I could do with a lot more, I.E. Sleep! Together we managed to navigate our way to the venue and we arrived shortly after 6pm.

After sorting out a brief misunderstanding, the supercool door staff let us in and with no search forthcoming, we were in.

The down tempo BPMs of the main room spurred me on to climb the stairs with all speed. Luckily as soon as I got into the Nitrogen room the tunes were at the right speed. For me at least.

Inside, the room was just getting started and Strange Dave was doing the same on the decks. With a 12 hour event and only 8 Hardcore DJs it was safe to assume that Hardcore wouldnt be on right from the start. Luckily, he seemed to be just warming up when we got there.

Playing a solid startup set and keeping on the straight and narrow with an upfront set to kick off the evening. The place was a little empty at this point, but show me a club that gets packed at 6pm on new years day and I'll show a licence to print money. I was confident that the place would get fuller as the night progressed.

Dave, together with a minimalist performance from MC "Neil the stage manager" was in his element though. The crowd he had was entertained thoughout his set with tunes like "I adore", "Heartbeatz", "Turn up the music", "Total ecstasy" and my personal favourite of the set "Hold me tonight" all doing the business.

Next up were two of the people I had seen not 12 hours previously. Styles and Odyssey were up next and all of a sudden the place seemed a lot fuller. It would seem that quite a few ravers were saving their energy for the big name DJs, so it was a pretty solid dancefloor that saw Stylesy bring in his first tune.

Somewhat predictably, his first tune precipitated my first rush of the evening. I went all tingly as "Feel so real" came out the system. Thereafter, the DJ and the MC went for it as their chosen specialisms dictated. It werent just upfront UK Hardcore either. Even though this sound dominated, a cheeky tangent into the bouncy sound seemed to go down well with the dancefloor.

Thereafter, the rest of the set was composed of only the biggest tunes of the moment. "you're my angel", "Makin me wanna dance" and "I adore" all typifying the content of his set.

Next up was a DJ I had not heard of before, but I was more than happy to listen to him on the back of his credentials. Part of the Nu Energy collective, Mark Ashley took the next set and together with another hour from Odyssey, took the ravers on a voyage of discovery into the world of Freeform Hardcore.

Not the usual top end stomp-a-thon that you expect from most freeform jocks, the BPMs were quite sedate now that you mention it, but it was no less dancable, quite the opposite in fact. Loads of tunes I could name and dance to is never bad and Mark's set was exactly that. "Adagio", "I feel alive", "No one can compete", "John Peel is not enough" and best of all, Dan Desire's very own "The Machine" made for a set which I danced all the way through and thoroughly enjoyed.

If one freeform set werent enough, then two was even better. Handily, Kev Energy was up next and MC Odyssey gutted it out for another hour to MC for him too.

Kev immediately switched to his patented brand of Freeform, namely very, very fast Freeform. In no time at all, the BPMs were up to where he felt comfortable and convieniently, that was about where I liked it too.

Another of his trademarks is to keep it obscure and underground and boy did he stick to his guns for this set. The only tune I can name is "I feel alive" and thats only because he was repeating it from the previous set. The rest of his hour was a showcase of Freeform as it should be. Dark, Underground, Pacy and a pleasure to dance to. Mission accomplished then.

By this time it was nearing the clubs more usual opening hours and as such the crowds were making themselves known. The place was getting busier and busier and was very nearly full.

Just as well as the next set was one of the reasons I had made the journey for. I had missed Hixxy on NYE so it was just as well he was playing tonight as well. Even better, he had promised a "Classic Hardcore set" to keep the crowd, and me, entertained. to top it all off was the arrival of MC Storm in the venue.

Together these guys took the rave by the scruff of the neck and gave them a proper workout. Hix started off exactly as he meant to go on with the upfront remix of "Set you free". He then followed it with the remixes of "Take me away" and "Eyeopener". I could see what he was doing. He was playing classic tunes, but keeping it upfront at the same time with their modern remixes. Clever.

I didnt care about the finer points though, I was too busy having a good time with the rest of the Hardcore ravers on the dancefloor. It was easily done with Storm on the mic. Like I said, I made the journey to see him (amongst others) and despite holding together Slammin the previous night, he seemed to have lost none of his energy.

It was getting a little testing by now. It was 11pm and I was pretty tired. I werent going to give up without a fight though, cos the next DJ was also one who was missing from my NYE party. Scott Brown stepped up and not only that, he paired up with Whizzkid, my personal favourite MC for this DJ.

Even though I was tired. I made a point of dancing to this set. Scott's sets usually follow the same structure with the Trance based UK stuff first, then the dutch gabba at the end. However, he bucked the trend on this occasion, but mixing in the vocals from "Boomstick" to kick off his hour. Thereafter, he settled down into his more well known structure.

Like I said, I made a point of dancing to his set, not only because I didnt see him NYE, but because I always enjoy the first half of his sets as much as the second halfs. On this occasion, it was especially good as he made a point of playing all my favourite tunes!

After the "boomstick" samples, He went for it and didnt look back, Dropping "This is how we do it", "Bring me round to love", "Back and Fourth" and my personal favourite "I became Hardcore". Thereafter, he moved onto his famous (or should that be infamous) Gabba sessions to finish off his set. I cannot recall anyone of his tunes which comprised the body of this second half. The only one I did clock was the tune that brought his set full circle. Once again the screams signalled that "Boomstick" had arrived and once more the crowd went nuts.

For the 12pm set, the one and only Sy was next. By this time the past 30 hours activities and the lack of sleep therin were having serious consequences. I was starting to doubt my ability to rave all the way through Sy's set. However, his preponderance for the bouncier side of hadrcore impelled me to pull my socks up and get on it for one last hour.

For the record, it was well worth it as well. I know I had danced to him pretty much the previous night, but these days I think I could listen to his sets on permanant loop and not get bored with them. Esp with Storm taking his place beside him to deliver the "Power hour" in its full glory.

Tune-wise it was as good as it always is. Once again, I utterly failed to get bored with the tune selection cos I was too busy having a good time! Once again, Sy returned to his favoured style of the bouncy selection and the party crew (which was wall to wall by this time) did the decent thing and bounced as hard as the tunes did. "Let the Bassline roll" and "put your hands up in the air" were two favourites of mine during this set, as well as tried and tested favourites such as the remixes of "Fee your mind" and "Discoland"

The combination of the tunes and the MC'in ensured I just about made it to the end of the set. But after that it was a non starter for the next DJ. Mark EG was just about to start but we decided to make a move. I was knackered, but more seriously, so was our driver!. For safety's sake we decided to dust early.

Things I liked:

Atmosphere - OK, everyone was knackered. Even the DJs and MCs were wasted from last nights exertations, but the collective atmosphere held us all together. The DJs kept spinning, the MCs kept vocalising, it was the least the ravers could do to keep dancing.

Music - I was there to keep dancing to the Hardcore. I didnt go away dissapointed either. Nice and varied with freeform mixing it up with upfront and bouncy, not to mention the classics that Hixxy dropped. Nice one.

MC Odyssey - IIRC he was on the mic for near on three hours before he had a rest. Gets my resepect, thats for sure.

Cold water - I've finally found a tap in Air that is running cold water. No more asking the bar staff for a glass of water then pouring it in my bottle

Door staff - These people were ace.

Message boards - For your normal text message rate, you could text a message which would appear on the plasma screens around the sides of the Hardcore room. And right in front of the DJ stand in the main room. I'm not sure who cast the first stone, but the insults between the Hardcore and Hardhouse room were soon flying. As soon as another one came up, it prompted a huddle of giggling ravers in the corner, all furiously texting. Great fun.

Things I liked less:

Mic Level - Way too loud compared to the music. Everytime the MC got on it it clipped the music, which then took a few seconds to return to normal volume.

Grown men wearing furry boots - Its wrong. Wrong I tell you!

Half after party, half rave, this was another one of those parties where I thought I would never willingly find myself. I takes a lot for me to say "I'm going to Polysexual", but if HTID are doing the business, then I have no problems with that at all. Even though it was a 2am finish, it was compensated by the excellent music and the even better atmosphere. Surrounded by my mates, all of whom are having a good time was worth the trip up there in itself as well. Even if everyone, including me, was totally knackered.

All in, I dont think this has made me a convert to Polysexual, but once again, the HTID arena led the way. It was an oasis of Hardcore in a sea of Hard House but I werent complaining at all. Hell, it had to be doing something right cos when I left, I worked out I had spent 19 out of a total of 31 hours over NYE at a rave. Most of that time was spent in an HTID arena as well. I'll be doing more of the same on the 28th of January too. I'll see you there.
astraboy.

Daz34

They are top door staff there. Very friendly & good humoured. The Nitrogen Room was rammed