astraboy

Every now and again, the urge to do something different overtakes me. When this happens I usually end up chasing an illegal rave in a field at 2am, map in one hand, phone in the other. On this occasion, I would not have to break any laws to do something different.

The Saturday just gone, I had one of two choices, Uproar or Tidy. Even though Uproar's last party had burned itself onto my eyeballs in terms of size, size and erm, size again, I knew there were other options, especially as I had been to the Emporium before.

However, I had not been to a Tidy before, well not for very long anyways. As well as that I had not been to Magna before and I had always heard good things about it, especially from the "Face of steel" room, which the flyer blurb promised was now hosting the Hardcore arena.

As well as that, there is always something special going on with regards to lineup, doubly so in this case. A distinct Next Generation influence, but no complaints from me at all, especially with the likes of Brisk, Ham, Marc Smith and a rare set from Robbie Long making an appearence. Looks like we have a winner, Tidy here we come.

Or at least we would have had a winner if we hadn't have got there so late. I forgot how far sheffield was away from my place so we pulled into the carpark at near 1am. Not to worry though cos at least we had arrived and the insistant pulsing of the bassline from inside the HUGE building in front of us told us where we needed to be inside.

Once we got in, we realised we had missed a good portion of the party, best to make ammends then. Finding the Hardcore arena was a bit of chore, but things took a distinct downturn when we got to the Face of Steel, especially on the BPM front.

The Face was playing trance. Not Hardcore, Trance. Something was seriously wrong. We left the Face and had a wander around, only to find a sign above a doorway saying "Hardcore Bubble". A little dissapointed, to say the least, we entered the Hardcore arena.

When it said Bubble, it really did mean just that. An inflatable half sphere, about the size of The Empire's dancefloor area held the complete Hardcore arena, with one 1/4 of it taken over by Dj stand, stage and huge stacks either side. All arena swapping dissapointments aside, this was a cool place to spend a night, especially with the b2b duos of Brisk and Scott Brown on the decks and Wotsee and Whizzkid on the mic.

This was what I came to Tidy for. Its not often Brisk and Scott go b2b and always a pleasure to rave while they get down to business on the musical front. This was no exception. Getting into the night was not a problem in the least with these guys in charge and as the tunes were busted out, I got progressively closer to the stacks, dancing harder the closer I edged.

Whizzkid and Wottsee were on peak form for this one too, making full use of the knowledge of their preffered b2b DJ partner's tune selection, they went back and forth with their mics, effortlessly hyping the crowd.

But it was the DJs that were really doing it for me. A tasteful mixture of Next Gen and Evo is never a bad thing and the blokes at the controls came up with the goods, dropping "I adore", "Angel eyes", "Rock ya softly" and "Crazy love" to an appreciative and sizeable crowd before the inevitable happened at the end of the set. Brisk and Scott are known for their love of Nu Style, but I didn't know whether they would go for it in front of a crowd not used to such vicious music. I shouldn't have doubted them. For the final 10 minutes, dark, murky and unknown Gabba ruled the bubble, before the set was terminated, Boomstick style.

Next up was another b2b pairing, but with a Freeform twist. Energy and Sharkey took to the decks with a welcome appearence from MC Casper on the mic. The only downside was it was not another 2 hour set, but I was happy to take what I was given. In this case it was breakneck Freeform Hardcore with no messing about.

It was fair to say the place did thin out a little during this set, but this was to be expected, Kev and Sharkz were going up against the Tidy Boys in the main arena, but I knew where I had to be. Right in front of the freshly tweaked stacks, dancing like a madman.

It was a set to be proud of. Not over the top, slightly comical hard like the Gabba that had preceeded it, but mature, minimalist and breakneck fast, just the way I liked it. Casper did the business on the mic, showing why he is the way forward when it comes to MCs hosting a night, rather than going on and on with clever lyrics, but still doing his job in a comfortable, confident and self assured manner, despite his left arm being in a sling.

The DJs, however, were immersed in their music. Once again, the majority of the set eluded me, but I managed to recognise "Waves of desire", "Laser Beam Addict" and "Check this out" during their hour.

Taking the 4-5 set were another well known b2b duo, with the RBC touching down in the place in the form of Breeze and Styles gracing the Bubble. Wottsee took over from Casper in a rare MC performance matched with these two. I stuck around to see what the three of them could come up with.

Rather than just ripping into their set with no regard for what had gone previously, Styles and Breeze managed to match their intro tune with the BPMs of the former set. Very subtly done too, with the differences of the subgenre's being blended damn near seamlessly, before making the switch to their chosen style of upfront UK Hardcore.

For sheer enjoyment this was one of my favourite sets. I am more than parital to a bit of a sing song when on the dancefloor and the Jocks near enough read my mind by cramming in a lot of my favourites in their set. Including, but not limited to: "Crack *****", "This is Extreme", a tune I dont think I've heard before which was called (I think) "Save me" and another showing of "You're my angel".

Wottsee was more than capable of matching that with his vocal talents. Freestyling like the professional he is throughout the set, he also included many of my favourite lyrics inlcuding "Satellite City" during "Crack *****" and "What you see is what you get" during "Save me".

For the last set of the night was another set I wanted to see. Stu Allen is not to be missed when he gets up and performs and I weren't going nowhere for the final hour. However the night still held surprises, despite the lateness of the hour, with the DJ ditching what I was expecting from him and changing tac.

I was well up for a set of classic Happy Hardcore from Stu Allen, but I was dissapointed. Stu went for an upfront set which tbh, I was less keen on. Primarily becuase we had been blasted by upfront Hardcore all night and it would have been nice to dance to some more familiar tunes. Dont get me wrong, the set was good, with lots of original tunes being played, most of which escaped me, but it was another example of me expecting one thing and getting another. A theme which had dominated this rave so far, so I should have realised he would be one step ahead of me.

That said, it was a good set that Stu Allen played. Together with Casper and Wottsee going b2b for the final hour, His tune selection was, as I said before, something special with lots of his set being completely unknown to me. Not a bad thing at any rate, but it defnitely puts a dampner on describing any of it.

The tunes I did recognise though were the ones that always get me moving on the dancefloor, with a seriously good remix of "Dominator" being a notable highlight drawing an impressive response from the crowd, despite 6am being just round the corner. As well as that, Stu also dropped "Slide away", a nice remix of "Gotta get up" and the aptly timed "Do we have to say goodbye" as his penultimate tune. Finally after a brief appearence from MC Brisk to thank the crowd for turning up, Stu Allen delivered the Coup De Grace as the party people raved it down to the upfront remix of "Fly away".

Things I liked:

Venue - Like I said, never been to Magna before, but christ it was impressive. MASSIVE main arena, nice industrial feel to the Face of Steel and a quirky inflatable Hardcore arena, the only place I didnt get to was the airship, but I think that was closed for the night. Would love to go back there.

Drinks prices - 1.60 for a bottle of water with free glasses of the stuff when you asked for it. A lot of people have accused Tidy of being a money making exercise, not with the essentials, it would seem.

Laydees - I'm not usually one to go to raves in this frame of mind, but its always nice to see a bunch of attractive girls in dayglo vests rocking it down to the Hardcore. Okay all three of them only had eyes for a certain DJ and MC, but thats not the point dammit!

Ravers - Really cool people populated the Hardcore arena throughout my time in there. Not one shred of attitude and lots of smiling faces. Nice and responsive on the dancefloor too with plenty of noise being generated and a chant for "One more" making itself known come the 6am shutdown. Nice one.

Bar Staff -Lent me a pen when mine ran out. Did with a smile on their face too. They made me promise to give it back to them and I did. At 6am

Scott Brown & Brisk - Two of my favourites? Going back to back? For two hours? I would have gone much further than London to Sheffield...

Things I liked less:

Room change - Best get this out of the way first off. Given the choice I would have preferred to have been in the Face of Steel room which was the advertised as the Hardcore arena on the flyer. However, when we get there we find Hardcore was back in the Bubble as usual. Dont get me wrong, the Bubble was cool, I was just looking forward to raving in an industrial setting rather than a quirky one. What a certain Hardcore DJ who will remain nameless felt about it was more abrupt, with notable highlights of a recent, yet brusk conversation including the words: "Annoyed", "Judge Jules", "Trance brigade", "*******", "Dumped on" and "Rage". For my own protest, I stood myself in the middle of the crowd in the Face of Steel and shouted "TRANCE!!!!!....TRANCE!!!!!!" several times. That aught to do it.

System - The system, although big, was not balanced well when we arrived. Later on it was sorted out, but for a while the vocals and midrange of the sound was not all it could be.

Arriving late - My own fault this one. I arrived late to see amongst others, Lee UHF, Marc Smith, Ham and Robbie Long all leaving. Going into the venue knowing it didnt contain four of the DJs I wanted to see was a downer, but I have no-one to blame but myself.

I had a great time at this event. Like I said, it is always nice to do something different and this evening was full of little differences which made the effort of going further afield and to an unknown event worth it. Best of all, the vast majority of the differences were all good.

The Promotors lineup selection was one, okay I didn't get to see half of it due to being slack, but the part I did see was top notch. As well as that the Massive venue was nice to explore, even to the point of needing a compass and a map to make it round the place. Not only that, but the ravers in the venue were all friendly and not at all up themselves. Top bunch of people to party with at Magna.

But, once again, it was the music that was the crux of the night, with a 2 hour set from Brisk and Scott Brown taking centre stage from a night which was the same, yet different. The DJs seemed to tailor their music to the crowd they were playing to and I reaped the rewards by stomping my guts out. As long as the promise of which arena its going to touch down is kept next time, I would happily go back to Magna again, Even though the organisers have said nothing is going to happen for the forseeable future, I hope to go back one day. I had a great time.
astraboy.


Shouts to: Ravegirl, Sammy P, Dave, Dave E-sential, DJ Altitude, MC Trev, Pikey, Marc Smith, Ham Jay Nixxy, Friction, Lee UHF, Sharkey, Scott Brown, Brisk, Kev Energy, Breeze, Styles, Whizzkid (drowning massive), Casper, Wottsee and Jonathan @ Most Wanted for sorting me right out. Cheers dude.

EXSCOOBY

big shouts going out to the julie andrews possee!!!!!!
i felt the rush front to back like a heart attack when mc mary poppins dropped the madlike chat:

Raindrops on roses,
And whiskers on kittens,
Bright copper kettles,
And warm woolen mittens,
Brown paper packages,
Tied up with strings,

Cream colored ponies,
An' crisp apple strudels,
Doorbells an' sleigh bells,
An' schnitzel with noodles,
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings,

Girls in white dresses,
With blue satin sashes,
Snow flakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,
Silver white winters,
That melt into springs,

astraboy

and you accuse me of taking naughty stuff.
Pill induced flashbacks when you're watching Sound of music is not good, get help!
astraboy.

EXSCOOBY

you do not ashtray
that people only read your rave nonsense to see the witty comebacks by me
scarey but true
now go get dressed for work
youve left your halfrauds baseball cap in the car i believe