astraboy

With its recent return to active promotion, Fusion, the notorious South coast promotion has been doing the business at its new home of the South parade pier in portsmouth with good reports with regard to the effort made with Sound, production and lineup.

With that in mind, as well as the need to go somewhere guaranteed to get me in the party mood for the weekend, it was the logical place to go when they announced their latest party, on the weekend of the 22nd. Quite apart from that, the lineup looked the nuts.

With distinctive leanings toward Upfront Hardcore (with Styles, Breeze Kevin Energy and Sharkey), Old Skool Happy Hardcore (Force, Vibes and Livelee covering this one), Breakbeat Hardcore (Ramos, Supreme and Druid. b2b2b as well!) and Techno (Scorpio, Proudcer, nuff said) on a night that finished at 2am, it defintely warranted a closer look, especially as it was at a venue I have been to before and liked, not to mention an opportunity to finally get myself to a Fusion. I was there, damn right I was.

With the distance between my place and the venue being taken care of by Mupster and a Hire car that did NOT know what it was in for when it was given to the driver, we tanked down the M3 and chucked a left at the M27. Shortly after the venue hoved into view.

We parked a little way off and returned to the venue. Therafter a short circumnavigation of the pier to find the entrance, we made our way in.

The search was handled by the security on the door who had a firm but fair look at my stuff and a reasonable pat down, then let us in to the main venue.

When we got inside, I grabbed a few copies of the ravin eye of the table and went into the main arena.

Getting in was a difficult occupation, mainly cos the bass was pushing us back out the door again! The massive stacks were in full operation and **** on me they were loud. The early party crew were in the place as well, making full use of the tunes supplied by the first DJs I came to see, Energy and Sharkey.

Never ones to let an early start time bother them, Sharkey and Energy were carefully tailoring their set to ensure the ravers didnt peak too early. Starting out on a distinct Hard Dance based tip, they then carefully upped the pace till they were at more familiar terratory (for me anyways) at the end of their set.

This was also evident by the top notch tunes that were forthcoming towards the end of their time, including "Adagio" but best of all, Gammer's amazing remix of "Get ****ed". It was this latter half that got me in the raving mode and set the pace for the rest of the evening, but it was Gammer's tune that was the main catalyst. I have instantly fallen in love with this tune. I suggest you listen to it asap as well.

Next up was a welcome return to Upfront UK Hardcore. I realised when Breeze and Styles came on that it had been a while since I had seen them go b2b, I was looking forward to some rushy euphoric tunage.

The RBC boys didnt let me down either, with a truck load of their finest tunes being unloaded in the main arena for the crowds raving enjoyment. I was feeling it every step of the way too.

Even better, they saw fit to make occassional deviations, including a welcome diversion into the bouncy sound with "Makin me wanna dance" and the darker sound with "Crazy Love" before immersing the party crew in tunes tailor made to raise hairs on backs of necks.

It was even easier to achive this state with the one like MC Marley on the mic. This understated and minimalist MC shys away from non stop breakneack chats and concentrates on the "less is more" approach. His easygoing and preposessing delivery is definitely something to write home about as well. I was well happy to see him taking control of proceedings for this set, especially when they were dropping top tunes throughout for him to MC over.

"Getting Better", "Angel eyes", "24-7" (tuuuune!), "Feel so real" and "Slide away" were all dropped to an appreciative (Not to mention noticably larger) crowd. As well as very nice remix of "Feelin fine" which was apt as it was exactly what I was feeling at the time. Finally, they finished off the set with the unmistakable "You're my angel" and a cheer went up from the crowd for a job well done.

For the final set of the night, a special treat was in store. Ramos, Supreme and Druid went back to back for a glorious 90 minutes, along with Marley and Casper on the mic.

I knew exactly what to expect and I couldnt wait. Never hear a bad set from any of these gents and I always end up raving as hard as I can to the best old skool sets in the business.

This was another of those occassions. I knew I was in for something special when the started off with an enjoyable rip of the early 90's tune "Just be good to me". But nothing could prepare me for what they had in store for the rest of the set.

As soon a "Journey" was dropped I was overtaken by an almighty rush which just didnt want to stop. but this was just the beginning of the set of the night and I knew it, the best was yet to come and I was ready for it.

And boy did the RSR give it to me with both barrels. "Rainbow high in the sky", "6 days", "Take me away", all of them were left alone, with the DJs letting the tunes play out right till the end for the crowds appreciation, but it was the next tune which capped the night for me.

"Incognito", no-one really seems to play it out except these guys, not that I'm complaining mind, cos I know where I can find it and thats the reason can usually be found in the crowd when they are playing out. This time is was especially good as MC Livelee had taken the executive decision to get on the mic one last time before the night finished. He was on peak form too and complimented the old skool tunes well with his classic, crowd hyping chats.

Finally then evening was brought to a close with another of the era's signature tunes "Broken wings". The DJs and MCs were cheered by the crowd for a job well done as the lights came up and I turned and walked away with a smile on my face.

Things I liked:

Lineup - For a 2am, two room finish, it was a varied lineup with something for everyone. I have seen allnighters with less variation.

Sound - 50K of sound in the main room meant earplugs were a necessity rather than a luxury. The stack was seriously, seriously loud and sounded good too.

Production - Hefty lighting rig, UV Cannon, silk flames, Rez laser, lots of inflatables, smoke machine, stage dancers and thats just the stuff I can remember. Someone had spent some money on the production, that much was certain.

Last hour and a half - The whole night was good, but Druid b2b with the RSR crew is always something special and this occasion was no exception.

Location - Have to say, I am loving the south coast party vibe at the moment. Cant wait to go back there. Top bunch of people to rave with.

Set times - I liked the way the DJs were given an hour and a half in return for a b2b set. Allowed a lot more experimentation, Sharkey and Kev Energy's set was a prime example.

Things I liked less

2am finish - On this ocassion it was just what I needed (had a big day on saturday), but this night is crying out for a later finish. It was safe to say I didnt want it to stop when it did.

MC on for most of the night in the main arena - I didnt catch his name, so I'll call him MC Hmmm. As for his talent, well, Hmmm covers it quite well as it goes. Especially when you had REAL talant like Marley, Casper and the almighty Livelee standing idle.

For a 2am finish this was a seriously good rave. It could have gone on for so much longer, but as I had to be places the next day it suited me down to the ground. It was the only thing @ less than 100% about this party though. EVERYTHING else had been totally sorted out and taken care of.

Production, Lineup, sound, it was all more than capable of taking the night till a more realistic finish time. Not to mention the honourable turnout which accompanied the night, also making sure the atmosphere was tip top right till the finish too. It has to be something special when all I heard was three sets yet I was more than happy with what I had got when I walked out.

All in a top night out. Another rave on the south coast and it was business as usual with nothing but good memories as I walked away from it. All that needs to be sorted is a respectable finish time and you'll get more people making the journey to see what Fusion has to offer. I'll be there for the next one, thats for sure, I had a great time.
astraboy.

Shouts to : Mupster (never has one fiesta been caned so hard by one man), Jenny, Androo, Alan_M, Carly, The Xtreme beatz crew, Lindsay and Emma (very drunk crew), Dave the rave (lifetime membership crew!) Tony Res, Ramos, Supreme, Druid, Marley, Casper, Livelee (thank you) Force (Thank you), Slam (thank you), Energy, Sharkey and all those I may have forgotten. Sorry, but its been a long weekend.