Rave weekender Pt2! Hardcore Heaven 27/8/05
02 September 2005, 01:16 AM
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Rave weekender Pt2! Hardcore Heaven 27/8/05
One down, two to go. Even though I had not nearly enough rest from the night before, I was in no doubt I was going to make the next on the list of Bank holiday raves. I admit it dont take much to keep me awake on a mission like this, but I was especially excited about this one.
Why? well it was another Hardcore Heaven rave and thats always good enough for me, but on this occasion, it was coupled with the fact that it was held in a venue I'd never been before. The Carling academy was huge, but has never been blasted by Hardcore before, so I was expecting good things from this night.
But what was really doing it for me was the location. Bristol. It had been too long since I had been back in Bristol and its reputation preceeded it. Many of the locals proudly call it the rave capital of the UK and while I know a few would disagree with them on that, I know the combination of cool venues and a seriously up for it crowd mean its never a bad night when you trek down the M4 and chuck a left at the M32.
Finding the venue was a bit tricky, but eventually we did, as well as the conviently situated carpark right next to it! Walking back past the monstrous queue, we were fairly throughly searched by the thugs on the door, before being let in.
Once in, we made a beeline for the second arena. I knew the main arena was going to be impressive, but I had better things to do than the gwarp at a rapidly filling room. What arrested my attention was what was in the second arena.
"Project Underworld" had caught my eye on the flyer, partially as I have never seen them before, but mostly becuase of the way they were dressed. So when I saw two geezers with white hoodies and hockey masks behind the decks upstairs, I knew I was in for an interesting "Warm up" set, especially as they were not warming up in the slightest.
Only the finest and most popular gabba tunes were being pumped out meant I was more than happy to spend the next hour listening to their efforts. MC free throughout and all the better for it, the pair of them spent their time in control making sure the most recognisable filth got played out, not to mention a stomping astraboy in front of the stacks.
Whilst they were on, ""Raise your fist", "Under Control", "Sniper", "Payback" and "******* up the program" all got played out, while the crowd for their troubles, parked themselves in front of the DJ stand and got the evening off the an early start. A highly enjoyable first set from these guys, I hope to see them again, for no other reason than for the way the bar staff, more used to guitar music and the like, were staring open mouthed and shaking their heads at what they were hearing
No time to stand around though, with the main arena and the Nu energy Collective beckoning I left the upstairs arena and got myself onto the main dancefloor.
The main arena was big. I mean really big. A huge arena about 1 1/2 times the size of the Sanctuary main arena (but wider) and with balconys going all the way up on the far side of the main stage. Speaking of which, the stage had just been vacated by Smiley, D-ice and Reality and had been taken over by the NEC.
Together with the welcome addition of a gun toting Sallie on stage, the collective got on with what they do best, a live performance to be proud of. Fun though the Gabba upstairs was, this was the real start to my evening on a dancing tip. There is nothing I like better than to lose myself deep within Freeform Hardcore. Kev Energy, Pete K Komplex and Sharkey provided both the means and the motive.
Dont ask me what they played, because I aint got a clue, all I can tell you is I was soaked when they had finished with me and it all came to an end far too quickly. As the collective vacated the stage after a job well done, the next DJ and MCs came on to replace them.
by this time the place had filled up nicely, those who had been there for a while had been fired up by the Collective's work, the new arrivals were anxious to see what Styles and MCSquared could come up with.
A large proportion Style's set was turned over, same as in United Dance, to new material I haven't heard before. However, new material is often difficult to ID so you'll have to guess what he played cos I aint got a clue. The rest of his set was more recognisable though, starting with the first tune "Dark like Vader" It goes without saying that Storm was bang on it throughout this tune.
Not to be outdone though, Whizzkid raised the stake with some new lyrics. While "Sound without a name" got played out, Whizzkid cained "nightmare" to an appreicative crowd. Thereafter it was more of what the ravers have come to expect of MCSquared these days, namely top notch b2b lyricism as well as trademark reversal of lyrics that usually belong to their counterparts such as "Ateam" and "base, fire".
It was easy to lose track of the DJ whilst all this was happening, but I know I didn't. In terms of energy discharge, Styles has been on a steady increase, a trend reflected in the tracklisting which included "Slide away" and "heaven in my arms"
Next up was a reprise of a previous DJ in the night, not to mention my weekend. A second opportunity to see Kevin Energy in the mix is not to be sniffed at, especially when the NEC's set had shot by in a flash. Together with a welcome return for MC Smiley on the mic, it was another set to get dancing to.
Whilst Kev did what he is known best for, a high energy Freeform overload, Smiley worked the crowd in his own trademark way. One of the few MC's who can properly project their voice so even those (like me) with earplugs in can understand him, mumbling into the mic is not on the agenda when Smiley is in the area. rushy, euphoric lyrics such as "Ordinary people" and "Hardcore and Proud" are.
All of the above made a nice foil to Kev's set with another chance to immerse myself in the experimental. As usual, stomping dominated his set, but I managed to pick out "Time holds the key" and the awesome remix of "Power in the light" to finish off.
By this time I was fully warmed up and ready for more. Thankfully Brisk and Wottsee were up next in the main arena, making a nice continuation to Kev's hard work. Especially on the pace front.
The crowd were ramming out the main arena by this point, with it rapidly nearing capacity. Brisk went for it and no mistake, Wottsee was right by his side, making sure the mic based apsect of the set did not go wanting.
While Wottsee concentrated on freestyling at mach 2 like he is famous for, Brisk had the tunes up his sleeve to rock the crowd. A seriously enjoyable set with plenty of BPMs and pace was forthcoming from him, with the remix of "Fly like and angel", "Angel eyes" and "In your life" all getting played out.
After the Next Gen. crew had finished shaking the place up it was Quosh's turn to do the same. Sy's first appearence of the weekend for me, but it was none the less an appreciated sight, together with his long time power hour partner, MC Storm.
I knew exactly what was coming and I couldn't wait either. Sy, missing from the previous night, made up for his absence with a set to be proud of. It was a typical, no BS bouncy stomp-a-thon with the best in the business on the mic. Fantastic.
Tunes to get you moving were the order of the day and in no way did the DJ let the crowd down. From "Rock ya Hardcore", to the upfront remix of "Free your mind" and everything else in between, like "makin me wanna dance", and the remixes of "Let me be your fantasy", "Pacific sun" and "Peace deep in your soul".
Lastly, just to surprise the ravers a new tune was played out to finish off the set, with Storm coming to the end of yet another hour at the top end featuring lyrics like "All about beats, all about bass" & "You'll find out what I'm about", Sy dropped "On & on & on" (for want of its real title) to end his hour.
the 3am set was taken by Scott Brown and his usual MC partner these days, MC Whizzkid. Its fair to say I was lagging a little by this point, so I will admit to wimping out of the first 5 or so minutes while I got some free water from the bar (which was nice and cold) and filled up on that whilst cooling down a little.
However, its difficult to do that when Scott is beckoning you back onto the dancefloor. I finally cracked when "Bring me round to Love" was played. I can always rest next year, so I got back on the dancfloor and got on it again.
Whilst the first half of Scotts set was the reason I get back into the night, what kept me there was the second half. As usual, the DJ s snuck a few cheeky gabba tunes into the end of his set, naturally I made the most of them too. But with the late arrival of Hixxy for the final set, Scott had no choice to stick to his guns until he did. Oh dear
I totally lost it at this point. I can only name a couple of tunes during this time, mainly becuase I was getting busy with the one man mosh pit in the middle of the room. Why? Well, dark and obscure gabba being played out on a kicking system in a large arena took me straight back to MOH earlier on this year and I was loving every minute of it. Scott took full advantage of the extended settime, dropping "Pull it to the left" and "Boomstick" to finish with and I took full advantage by turning myself into a sweaty mess as quickly as possible.
When he finally turned up, Hixxy wasted no time in getting on the decks. With only 35 or so minutes to go and the preceeding filth a recent memory, its fair to say he and Storm had thier work cut out for them, but in their defence they rallied well and got the ravers moving without the aid of a distorted kickdrum and confrontational lyrics.
In no time at all the remaining ravers in the place were making the most of the final set. The place seemed just as busy as earlier on in the night, no-one seemed to want to leave and tbh, I couldn't blame them.
Hixxy was concentrating on what he has made a point of recently, concentrating on the tunes that make the ravers smile and dance, without troubling himself with how upfront he is. If its recognisable and the ravers love it, its in. Simple as.
Not that I can fault it cos if it makes me move after Scott Brown's filthy goodness then it has to be doing it, especially when he provides an equal proportion of upfront tunes such as "Elektrik" and "Feel so real", MC Showcases like "Free at last" (with live accompanyment by Whizzkid no less), remixes of well known classics like "Eyeopener" and "Let me be your fantasy" and solid upfront euphoria as supplied by "I adore" and best of all the fantastic remix of "24-7" Not even the downer of leaving 10 minutes earlier to distribute a certain rave publication took the shine off that one, let me tell you.
Things I liked:
Location - Bristol, aint been there in too long and it was a pleasure to return.
Venue - No messing about here, a fantastic venue to rave in.
Aircon - Never even got close to being hot.
Ravers - Bristol's finest in the place! 100% attitude free and up for a party. Wicked.
Sound - The main arena was seriously impressive sound wise. The only place it dipped was when you were right in the middle. Everywhere else it was crystal.
Decor - Big Hardcore Heaven Mobiles and a multicoloured laser. Sorted.
Scott Brown's set - Awesome. Particularly the last 35 minutes
Things I liked less:
Sound - The second arena system could have been a bit louder. Mind you the bohemoth in the third arena made up for it. Oh my word.
Bottle caps - "You cant have your bottlecap cos somebody threw a bottle at an artist on stage once and it knocked him out. without the cap the water comes out and that cant happen then" Cant remember the last Hardcore rave where a DJ has gotten knocked out by a water bottle...
Security - Tossers. Complete and total tossers. I did not appreciate being told to "**** off" when I asked one of them a question and as for throwing a collapsed raver out onto the pavement, well the least they could do was call an ambulance, but they didnt. Cos Compy did.
4am finish - If Lakota can have a 6 (or even a 7) am finish, why cant the academy?
Balconys - anyone else feel them flexing with the weight of the stomping ravers? Not sure if I liked it!
I had a good feeling about this party. Consistant promotion, top notch venue and even better location. Can it get any better? Apparantly not. The night was a complete sell out and the Bristol crew did themselves proud. Yet another rave where I've driven back up the M4 with the sun in my eyes and a smile on my face.
I will be back when it happens again. For no other reason than the fact I had a great time from the moment I arrived till the moment I left. I Hope its going to happen again soon too and if it does, perhaps the council would let us go for a more man sized finish than 4am. Not that it was a chore (far from it) but it saves trekking over to Lakota to finish the night off.
astraboy.
Why? well it was another Hardcore Heaven rave and thats always good enough for me, but on this occasion, it was coupled with the fact that it was held in a venue I'd never been before. The Carling academy was huge, but has never been blasted by Hardcore before, so I was expecting good things from this night.
But what was really doing it for me was the location. Bristol. It had been too long since I had been back in Bristol and its reputation preceeded it. Many of the locals proudly call it the rave capital of the UK and while I know a few would disagree with them on that, I know the combination of cool venues and a seriously up for it crowd mean its never a bad night when you trek down the M4 and chuck a left at the M32.
Finding the venue was a bit tricky, but eventually we did, as well as the conviently situated carpark right next to it! Walking back past the monstrous queue, we were fairly throughly searched by the thugs on the door, before being let in.
Once in, we made a beeline for the second arena. I knew the main arena was going to be impressive, but I had better things to do than the gwarp at a rapidly filling room. What arrested my attention was what was in the second arena.
"Project Underworld" had caught my eye on the flyer, partially as I have never seen them before, but mostly becuase of the way they were dressed. So when I saw two geezers with white hoodies and hockey masks behind the decks upstairs, I knew I was in for an interesting "Warm up" set, especially as they were not warming up in the slightest.
Only the finest and most popular gabba tunes were being pumped out meant I was more than happy to spend the next hour listening to their efforts. MC free throughout and all the better for it, the pair of them spent their time in control making sure the most recognisable filth got played out, not to mention a stomping astraboy in front of the stacks.
Whilst they were on, ""Raise your fist", "Under Control", "Sniper", "Payback" and "******* up the program" all got played out, while the crowd for their troubles, parked themselves in front of the DJ stand and got the evening off the an early start. A highly enjoyable first set from these guys, I hope to see them again, for no other reason than for the way the bar staff, more used to guitar music and the like, were staring open mouthed and shaking their heads at what they were hearing
No time to stand around though, with the main arena and the Nu energy Collective beckoning I left the upstairs arena and got myself onto the main dancefloor.
The main arena was big. I mean really big. A huge arena about 1 1/2 times the size of the Sanctuary main arena (but wider) and with balconys going all the way up on the far side of the main stage. Speaking of which, the stage had just been vacated by Smiley, D-ice and Reality and had been taken over by the NEC.
Together with the welcome addition of a gun toting Sallie on stage, the collective got on with what they do best, a live performance to be proud of. Fun though the Gabba upstairs was, this was the real start to my evening on a dancing tip. There is nothing I like better than to lose myself deep within Freeform Hardcore. Kev Energy, Pete K Komplex and Sharkey provided both the means and the motive.
Dont ask me what they played, because I aint got a clue, all I can tell you is I was soaked when they had finished with me and it all came to an end far too quickly. As the collective vacated the stage after a job well done, the next DJ and MCs came on to replace them.
by this time the place had filled up nicely, those who had been there for a while had been fired up by the Collective's work, the new arrivals were anxious to see what Styles and MCSquared could come up with.
A large proportion Style's set was turned over, same as in United Dance, to new material I haven't heard before. However, new material is often difficult to ID so you'll have to guess what he played cos I aint got a clue. The rest of his set was more recognisable though, starting with the first tune "Dark like Vader" It goes without saying that Storm was bang on it throughout this tune.
Not to be outdone though, Whizzkid raised the stake with some new lyrics. While "Sound without a name" got played out, Whizzkid cained "nightmare" to an appreicative crowd. Thereafter it was more of what the ravers have come to expect of MCSquared these days, namely top notch b2b lyricism as well as trademark reversal of lyrics that usually belong to their counterparts such as "Ateam" and "base, fire".
It was easy to lose track of the DJ whilst all this was happening, but I know I didn't. In terms of energy discharge, Styles has been on a steady increase, a trend reflected in the tracklisting which included "Slide away" and "heaven in my arms"
Next up was a reprise of a previous DJ in the night, not to mention my weekend. A second opportunity to see Kevin Energy in the mix is not to be sniffed at, especially when the NEC's set had shot by in a flash. Together with a welcome return for MC Smiley on the mic, it was another set to get dancing to.
Whilst Kev did what he is known best for, a high energy Freeform overload, Smiley worked the crowd in his own trademark way. One of the few MC's who can properly project their voice so even those (like me) with earplugs in can understand him, mumbling into the mic is not on the agenda when Smiley is in the area. rushy, euphoric lyrics such as "Ordinary people" and "Hardcore and Proud" are.
All of the above made a nice foil to Kev's set with another chance to immerse myself in the experimental. As usual, stomping dominated his set, but I managed to pick out "Time holds the key" and the awesome remix of "Power in the light" to finish off.
By this time I was fully warmed up and ready for more. Thankfully Brisk and Wottsee were up next in the main arena, making a nice continuation to Kev's hard work. Especially on the pace front.
The crowd were ramming out the main arena by this point, with it rapidly nearing capacity. Brisk went for it and no mistake, Wottsee was right by his side, making sure the mic based apsect of the set did not go wanting.
While Wottsee concentrated on freestyling at mach 2 like he is famous for, Brisk had the tunes up his sleeve to rock the crowd. A seriously enjoyable set with plenty of BPMs and pace was forthcoming from him, with the remix of "Fly like and angel", "Angel eyes" and "In your life" all getting played out.
After the Next Gen. crew had finished shaking the place up it was Quosh's turn to do the same. Sy's first appearence of the weekend for me, but it was none the less an appreciated sight, together with his long time power hour partner, MC Storm.
I knew exactly what was coming and I couldn't wait either. Sy, missing from the previous night, made up for his absence with a set to be proud of. It was a typical, no BS bouncy stomp-a-thon with the best in the business on the mic. Fantastic.
Tunes to get you moving were the order of the day and in no way did the DJ let the crowd down. From "Rock ya Hardcore", to the upfront remix of "Free your mind" and everything else in between, like "makin me wanna dance", and the remixes of "Let me be your fantasy", "Pacific sun" and "Peace deep in your soul".
Lastly, just to surprise the ravers a new tune was played out to finish off the set, with Storm coming to the end of yet another hour at the top end featuring lyrics like "All about beats, all about bass" & "You'll find out what I'm about", Sy dropped "On & on & on" (for want of its real title) to end his hour.
the 3am set was taken by Scott Brown and his usual MC partner these days, MC Whizzkid. Its fair to say I was lagging a little by this point, so I will admit to wimping out of the first 5 or so minutes while I got some free water from the bar (which was nice and cold) and filled up on that whilst cooling down a little.
However, its difficult to do that when Scott is beckoning you back onto the dancefloor. I finally cracked when "Bring me round to Love" was played. I can always rest next year, so I got back on the dancfloor and got on it again.
Whilst the first half of Scotts set was the reason I get back into the night, what kept me there was the second half. As usual, the DJ s snuck a few cheeky gabba tunes into the end of his set, naturally I made the most of them too. But with the late arrival of Hixxy for the final set, Scott had no choice to stick to his guns until he did. Oh dear
I totally lost it at this point. I can only name a couple of tunes during this time, mainly becuase I was getting busy with the one man mosh pit in the middle of the room. Why? Well, dark and obscure gabba being played out on a kicking system in a large arena took me straight back to MOH earlier on this year and I was loving every minute of it. Scott took full advantage of the extended settime, dropping "Pull it to the left" and "Boomstick" to finish with and I took full advantage by turning myself into a sweaty mess as quickly as possible.
When he finally turned up, Hixxy wasted no time in getting on the decks. With only 35 or so minutes to go and the preceeding filth a recent memory, its fair to say he and Storm had thier work cut out for them, but in their defence they rallied well and got the ravers moving without the aid of a distorted kickdrum and confrontational lyrics.
In no time at all the remaining ravers in the place were making the most of the final set. The place seemed just as busy as earlier on in the night, no-one seemed to want to leave and tbh, I couldn't blame them.
Hixxy was concentrating on what he has made a point of recently, concentrating on the tunes that make the ravers smile and dance, without troubling himself with how upfront he is. If its recognisable and the ravers love it, its in. Simple as.
Not that I can fault it cos if it makes me move after Scott Brown's filthy goodness then it has to be doing it, especially when he provides an equal proportion of upfront tunes such as "Elektrik" and "Feel so real", MC Showcases like "Free at last" (with live accompanyment by Whizzkid no less), remixes of well known classics like "Eyeopener" and "Let me be your fantasy" and solid upfront euphoria as supplied by "I adore" and best of all the fantastic remix of "24-7" Not even the downer of leaving 10 minutes earlier to distribute a certain rave publication took the shine off that one, let me tell you.
Things I liked:
Location - Bristol, aint been there in too long and it was a pleasure to return.
Venue - No messing about here, a fantastic venue to rave in.
Aircon - Never even got close to being hot.
Ravers - Bristol's finest in the place! 100% attitude free and up for a party. Wicked.
Sound - The main arena was seriously impressive sound wise. The only place it dipped was when you were right in the middle. Everywhere else it was crystal.
Decor - Big Hardcore Heaven Mobiles and a multicoloured laser. Sorted.
Scott Brown's set - Awesome. Particularly the last 35 minutes
Things I liked less:
Sound - The second arena system could have been a bit louder. Mind you the bohemoth in the third arena made up for it. Oh my word.
Bottle caps - "You cant have your bottlecap cos somebody threw a bottle at an artist on stage once and it knocked him out. without the cap the water comes out and that cant happen then" Cant remember the last Hardcore rave where a DJ has gotten knocked out by a water bottle...
Security - Tossers. Complete and total tossers. I did not appreciate being told to "**** off" when I asked one of them a question and as for throwing a collapsed raver out onto the pavement, well the least they could do was call an ambulance, but they didnt. Cos Compy did.
4am finish - If Lakota can have a 6 (or even a 7) am finish, why cant the academy?
Balconys - anyone else feel them flexing with the weight of the stomping ravers? Not sure if I liked it!
I had a good feeling about this party. Consistant promotion, top notch venue and even better location. Can it get any better? Apparantly not. The night was a complete sell out and the Bristol crew did themselves proud. Yet another rave where I've driven back up the M4 with the sun in my eyes and a smile on my face.
I will be back when it happens again. For no other reason than the fact I had a great time from the moment I arrived till the moment I left. I Hope its going to happen again soon too and if it does, perhaps the council would let us go for a more man sized finish than 4am. Not that it was a chore (far from it) but it saves trekking over to Lakota to finish the night off.
astraboy.
02 September 2005, 10:01 AM
#4
Originally Posted by Hanley
Do you reckon people actually read all that tosh
But I don't actually read it as they don't play much Aerosmith at raves!
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