astraboy

I had waited a long time for this. STS was by far and away the biggest eyeopener of 2003. My first Illegal rave and my first outdoor party as well. The combination of top notch music and class A atmosphere made me want to return.

Throughout 2003 and the start of 2004, I attended every party I could and never went away less than seriously impressed, not to mention totally exhausted from a non stop nights raving. However, the steadily increasing number of parties I attended was about to come to an abrupt halt.

For a long time, nothing was heard from the STS crew. Squatjuice was announcementless and their known associates were even less forthcoming with details. Even the partyline drew a blank, despite being helpful and providing alternatives, it didnt give me what I really wanted, I.E. the boys and girls back doing what they do best.

Therefore, when the rumour mill started suggesting a party in early 2005 I sat up and took notice. I didn't care when the date was announced that I was going on a daytrip to Sweden, neither did I care that there was another party I wanted to go to on the same night. STS were back and I was going to be there, end of chat.

In the end, I settled on returning to Sweden late Saturday, belting up to True Hardcore in Wisbech, then as soon as that kicked out, coming back down and finishing off the night at STS. This would give me the best combination of music, starting the night with the mainstream and finishing it with the underground.

Unfortunately I banked on being by my motor at 11.30 instead of what actually happening which was the plane touching the tarmac at 11.30. A combination of clearing controls and finding money to pay the carparking meant I actually got to the motor and was ready to go at about 12.15.

This presented a problem. According to the flyer, Club Mist closed its doors at 1am. I had 45 minutes to get from Stansted to Wisbech. Even with some very "Enthusiastic" driving I knew it was a challange, never mind the fact I had been up since 3.30 that morning and was covered in bruises from my 90 minute introduction to skiing ( Memo to self: Snow hurts!).

A group decision was made to kick True Hardcore in the head and go straight to STS. It was dissapointing, but the deal was sweetened when the partyline changed messages at midnight and gave us directions to the venue.

Just one junction up from Stansted is all you need to know, but it really wern't that hard to navigate to, but just to make sure, we pulled over to consult the map and see if the lane we turned down was the right one.

A car pulled up next to us without me noticing. When I did, I absolutely shat myself when I saw it was a burgandy Omega. Prime vehicle of choice for the Dayglo knights it may have been, but when the window came down and the beenie hatted ravers asked me if I was going to the party, I stopped sweating.

Eventually we worked out we were on the right track and set off again. Not 5 minutes later, we pulled into the venue and parked up round the back.

Tonight, the organisers had chosen a fire damaged warehouse for the venue. The fire damage was limited to one corner so once we had payed a well deserved donation to the people on the door, we were inside and saw the stack had been set up in the opposite corner.

A virtual replay of the January rave in Stevenage, the place had been taken over in STS's usual professional manner. The DJ was warming up the stack whilst gradually increasing the volume while the party crew waited patiently in front of the system. Above the system were just two lights and one projector, but together with STS's very own banners namechecking the event, it was more than enough.

Best of all, the fiirst set was what STS do best, full on underground Techno. Dont ask me to name any of the tunes, but the reaction of the crowd is all you need to know about how good it was. As the system got progressively louder, the more ravers stopped chatting and started dancing.

By the time the DJ's set finished the party was well and truly underway. Not only was the system more than loud enough, everybody in the area was enjoying the music, from the mayhem you'd expect to find in the mosh pit down the front, to the people out the back making full use of the reasonably priced bar. The end of the set was signalled by the DJ dropping "The Realm" to finish off his job of getting the rave started.

Next up was another Unknown DJ, this time making a genre hop to the Old Skool Jungle side of things. Previous parties have been ruined by Toerags turning up and giving their attitude out when the music suited them, but this was the exact opposite. Nobody but partypeople on the dancefloor and although its fair to say it did thin a bit from when the techno finished, the party crew disposed to likeing it were there in full force.

Musically the set was a real winner for me. I've always liked the early Jungle sound, but very rarely get to listen to it without having to put up with the attitude that goes with the crowd that listen to it. With likeminded people dominting the dancefloor though, I had no such problems. Once again most of the tunes were unknown to me, but the DJ kept the pace of the set up by dropping tunes that maintained the high BPM jungle breakbeat of his performance.

However unknown tunes went out the window when Mickey Finn's "Arsonist" came on! I love this tune and made a beeline for the mosh pit along with the rest of the rave. Together the partycrew went bezerk as the DJ threatened the structural integrity of the building with his chosen sound.

If that werent enough, his next tune was yet another classic! Moving away from the Jugle, he dropped Bob Marley's "Exodus" and once again the Mosh pit swelled and charged back and forth across the front of the stack. Top set this one, it was just a pity I didnt catch the DJs name.

When the Junglist on the decks had finsihed, the next DJ, unfortunatly, another unknown to me, stepped up and went to work on progressing the party. This time it was the turn of the Hard Trance sound to get a well deserved airing and not only did he play a blinder to the appreciative crowd, he also put real work into his set, making an almost seemless progression from Hardtrance to Hardcore.

This was the main reason I come to STS. Not only does it kick **** in ALL departments, but the music policy is as openminded as the crowd who attend. Upfront UK Hardcore is what I usually go raving for and although the night leant heavily on the freeform aspect of the music, I was not complaining at all.

The DJ was hard at work behind the decks and I was going for it in front of the stack too. Even though I had been up for about 24 hours at this point I had no problem dancing to the music on offer, especially when it included the awesome "3000 cycles" and the CLSM remix of "Faces of Angels".

The Progression to Freeform had paved the way for the Next DJ to perform, namely Bedford Caine. A veteran of previous parties, I was looking forward to his set cos I knew he wouldn't show any mercy in the BPM or choice music departments.

I werent dissapointed either. I know it was good cos the place was going off, the Mosh pit never seemed to tire of charging back and forth and I couldnt stop raving even if I wanted to. Only the finest quality freeform Hardcore was on offer here with my personal favourite tune of the set being Skampy and Mayhem's Nu Energy effort "Extermanize" being a particular highlight.

It was also another example of the thought the DJs had put into the night. Extermanize's Harder elements had let the next DJ ease the crowd into his chosen style, that of full on Gabba for a solid hour.

I had totally lost it by this point, I have grown to love the fierce nature of Gabba and although the tunes were too underground to ID, it didn't matter. The DJ maintained the energy of the crowd without namechecking anthem after anthem. The crowd were clearly loving it that way too, with a seething mass of ravers being an ever present feature in front of the stack. Towards the end of the set I began to flake out due to lack of energy, but the DJ had other ideas when I considered taking a girly rest.

For his last tune, he made one concession to the mainstream by playing "****face". I had no choice but to summon up the energy to dance once more, not to mention scream my head off when the vocals did the same. Wicked set.

Next up was another DJ making a name for himself, Mr. Rush took over from Caine for a Hardstyle set. With the BPMs taking a noticable downturn, I had an opportunity to chill a little before making a move for home. This was prompted by the bad luck of technical problems at about 7.45 making the stack go silent. Helping hands were soon on the case to restore normal services, but for me it was a clear signal to leave. However as we drove away the stack was running normally again, presumably for people with the superhuman endurance I lacked.

Things I liked:

The Collective - The people that run this party are the dogs. Totally professional and 100% committed to what they are doing. It was good to see them back in business. I missed them more than I might want to let on if I'm honest.

Sound - Some people were saying the infamous stack was running at reduced power for the night. Well if "Reduced power" means I can get within 10 feet of the damn thing without the bass threatening to cave my head in then I dont have much to complain about!

Atmosphere - From the moment we arrived to the moment we left the place was buzzing. Not only that, everyone I talked to was on the same wavelength (Party hat: On ) and of course, the welcome return of the STS Mosh pit which is a reason to get yourself to these things in itself.

Music - Variety was the name of the game here and then some. While we were there we got Techno, Freeform, Gabba, Hardstyle, Hard Trance, Jungle and even a few Reggee tunes for our troubles.

The Illuminous Army - For limiting their involvement to a few drivebys during the night. Nice one.

The Bar - Unaffected by inflation or the need to jack the prices just because they had a closed market, once again beer was 1.50 and water 50p. Respect.

Things I liked less -

Frequency - If I could I would go to one of these dos on a weekly basis. I cant, but I could. Easily.

Losing one of the sideskirts on my motor. It either got knocked off or it was half inched. either way I went home without it.

They say that the longer you wait for something, the more you appreciate it when it arrives. I know what they mean too. STS's return was definitely long awaited and once I was there I knew exactly why. Atmosphere. Music. System. These are the three things that make good events great, but its safe to say that I'm not laying it on too thick when I say that all three were FULLY satisfied on saturday night and that this was a rave with few equals.

Its almost scary how the organisers pull consistant blinding parties out the bag, not to mention just how easy they make it all look as well. There is only one downside I can see from looking back at just how good this rave was.

The main problem is this. We are in week 4 of 2005 and I think I've already attended the party of the year . I think the only way I am going to go to a better one is to get myself to as many STS parties as possible. As you can tell, I dont have too much of a problem with that, I'll see you there.

astraboy.

Shouts to: Kaylene (X!) Caine, Mark HB, Mr. Rush and every last one of the organisational collective. Good to see you back.