astraboy

It had been a long time since I had been to an Uproar. My last one was the almighty Collossus and I left with a feeling that a real event had taken place, not just another "Rave". So its doubly damning that in the following 4 months, for one reason or another I had not attended another event. That was all set to change once the latest event was announced.

Never ones to let things get stale, Uproar are continually setting new trends and pushing back the boundaries for their events. "Energise" was no exception. First up, the venue.

Its difficult to follow the Ice arena, but a return to familiar terratory in the form of the emporium for their previous event meant this was all the more impressive. I've never been the The Sanctuary in Birmingham before and as such I was well up for trying this new venue out. Even more so when I saw the lineup.

Three rooms instantly lept out at me, with the main arena providing all the Hardcore mainstays such as Sy, Scott Brown, Seduction and Dougal, as well as some interesting b2b sets in the form of CLSM and Robbie Long, as well as Marc Smith and Gammer. As well as that Joey Riot had been drafted in to play a well deserved 2am set. This was enough to see me making the journey, but the other two rooms only reinforced this.

Uproar HARD was hosting the ever popular techno room with the headlining DJ being none other than nosebleed specialist Akira. I have heard great things about him and I was not going to miss his set.

But the icing on the cake for me, the "must attend" finisher was the inclusion of the Hardcore Breakbeat room. For too long this genre has been limited to the occasional set. This was a chance to hear it all night long given the choice and as such I knew I would be spending considerable time in this room, especially with Robbie Long, Ramos and Wizbit all listed.

With an unintentionally imposed good nights sleep behind me, I was raring to go when the evening approached. The drive up was a quiet solitary event, with a CD of Hardcore being the only company I had till I arrived. I was a bit sketchy with regard to the location of the the venue, but I knew it was very near to Air, so I toured the one way system till I got a lock on and then waved off to ditch the motor before walking in.

After being greeted by the friendly laydees with clipboards and and even friendlier MC Rude and Friction, the first staple of Uproar events was thrust upon me, the free set timecard. As I was scanning it for who I wanted to see, Rude kindly informed me CLSM and Robbie Long was already in full effect in the Main Arena. Cue me excusing myself and making for the main arena with all speed.

I was up those stairs like a shot and in the main arena shortly after. Wow. Like I said, I've never been to The Birmingham Sanc before and I was SERIOUSLY impressed. The main dancefloor was the same size as the Oxygen arena at Air, but thats where the similarities ended. A huuuge ceiling stretched 40 feet above the ravers, happily accomodating the upper balcony area where yet more ravers were occupying. As well as that, the main stage was just as impressive, with the front stage being the preserve of the stacks, MC and stage dancers, while the upper area, namechecked by the biggest UPROAR banner I've ever seen, held the DJ stand, together with a relic from the venue's previous life, a huge old style cathedrel organ.

But that werent the best bit, no, the best bit was the way CLSM and Robbie Long were shaking the place up, with Wottsee and Smiley behind them every step of the way. The place was near as dammit full already and was getting busier by the minute. I cant say as I blame them either, with exactly the right tunes forthcoming to get me in the mood for the evenings exertations, such as "Wakey Wakey" and the remixes of "Timebomb" and "Such a feeling".

For such an impressive main arena I was sure out of there quick enough, However, a busy night lay ahead of me and I had to be elsewhere for the next set, the Hardcore breakbeat room to be precise.

I found it opposite the entrance to the main arena and to the left. A smaller room granted, but size was no indicator of musical quality in this event, especially when I went in just as Robbie Long was starting up. Together with another VERY welcome appearence from MC Nice and Easy, the two of them set me off on a breakbeat driven journey, calling at all ports in and around the musical subgenre that I just dont hear enough.

Throughout the set I was in my element. The discerning ravers, the ones with an ear for the music were all around me and the DJ was giving them everything they wanted and then some. As a result, the atmosphere within that room skyrocketed within no time at all.

Robbie was bang on it throughout. Showcasing all the experience that his time spent with the music has afforded, as well as playing out some top tunes. This is where my ID'ing skills let me down, so I apoliogise for dripping sweat on the records as they spun round, however it meant I could namecheck some of my favourites and as such I can tell you "Walking on the moon", "Sensory Vision", "Dont stop", "Transmission to Mars" and "Kinda Funky" were all dropped during his (awesome) set.

Once again, there was no time to lose. With Robbie playing out his final tune, I left the arena and made for the main room once again. Marc Smith and Gammer had just stepped up and Wottsee was making his second appearence before me in the space of two hours. He was just as welcome as the DJ's, I was looking forward to what they could offer.

Seperately, Smithy and Gammer always come up with the goods, so I was expecting great things. They were one step ahead of me in the event, with a bag of tunes that could have been chosen myself personally. This included some choice remixes including "Just a feeling" and "You're my angel", as well as lots of original tunes, such as "Dropzone" and "Cry". However, it was the inclusion of the Pendulum remix of "Voodoo people" that catapulted the set to the forefront of the night.

Although I liked it, it was only expected to hear such a switch at a night like Bedlam or Elation, but at midnight? At a large rave? In the main arena? This was just too much for me and although I'm not a fan of guitar riffs at raves, I was totally lost in the music when this one came on. Inspired choice of music.

However this was only one half of their set! According to the set times, to see Akira I would have to split their set, so I reluctantly left and found the techno room. When I got in there I was told that Akira was on at 1 so I got myself back down to the main arena asap. What I found there was unbelieveable.

The first half of their set was, if I'm honest with you, more commercial that I would have expected, but the second half was the polar opposite. Dark, underground tuneage was dominating the latter half of Smith and Gammer's set and I was loving every minute of it. Wottsee was putting in a performance of a lifetime, matching the pace of the tunes with his lyrics, BPM for WPM. The whole thing more than justified the journey up there and I still had another 5 hours to go!.

Speaking of which, 1am ticked round and I repaired to the Techno room. The star of the show was about to start and I wanted to be there. When I arrived the moshing, sweating and stomping mass that inhabited the arena was as welcoming as it was intimitdating, but I got myself amongst them anyways and waited for the insanity to kick off.

Did I say insantity? Well you can scratch that for starters. Insanity doesnt even come close to what went on in that room between 1 and 2am that night. I'm not even sure how to describe it tbh, apart from one word. Fast!

Akira didn't just play Speedcore, he played speedcore that was so fast it was on the boundaries of what I would call music. Midways through his set he was pushing 300bpm and Tansy summed up my feelings by saying "Makes you wonder what he has for the end of his set doesnt it?" It was far more than I ever expected.

MC Ribbz, someone who normally takes extreme music in his stride was clearly as impressed as the ravers were. Well aware that some would have never heard this sort of music before, he reassured them by getting in the crowd and asking them "Do you trust me?". Thereafter, he guided them on the Journey Akira was taking us.

Endless switches and tangents were the staple of his set, with fuked up breakcore mingling with occasional oasis' of calm, such as when he randomly ground everything to a halt and dropped Snap's "The Power" towards the end. Speaking of which, he saved the best till last, with the BPM's reaching terminal velocity, not to mention at least 450bpm+ at this point and finally reaching meltdown as the set ended. Ribbz summed up the raver's feeling by saying "And I though I was Hardcore!" as the crowd applauded the DJ's efforts.

What more of a contrast could you get? To go from that to the Breakbeat room in one go was an interesting experience, but I knew Wizbit was on next and I knew he'd be able to take me from the extreme to the sublime in one fluid motion.

One of the better sets of the night, this one. Like I said I've waited long for a dedicated breakbeat room and now that I had it, I wasted no time. The place was nice and busy as Wizbit, with MC Energy alongside him, commenced his set.

And what a set it was. There are few who can match Whizbit for the Upfront breakbeat sound and I was proved right when in the early stages of his set he dropped an Awesome remix of Ev'oke's "Runaway", not to mention the CLSM remix of "New Zeland Story".

This was what I came here for. Upfront breakbeats, Easy on the DnB influences, heavy on the rushy, euphoric vocals. Wizbit moved though his set with calm, collected focus, with MC Nice and Easy replacing Energy on the way and making my enjoyment increase still further. I just didnt want it to end, but of course it did. I cant even remember the final tune now, but what I do remember is Matty C pulling me to one side at the end and telling me the set was "So refreshing". heh, you're preaching to the choir mate

Having been away for the previous two hours, it would have been rude not to return to the main arena for the next set. Even ruder because Scott Brown was up next and MC Rude was on the mic. I was thinking after speedcore and breakbeats, Scott would have a fair job on his hands to impress me, but I was pleasently surprised with the set that he came up with, that not only did it get me moving, but really going for it at regular intervals as well.

Starting off with his now trademark triple tune introduction, Scott quickly moved onto the guts of his set, MC Rude providing the lyrical ying to Scott's musical yang. This was proved early on with the melding of "Taking Drugs" to Rude's "Kick it" lyric and continuing with "Rock you Softly" and "What you raver's waiting for".

As well as that, the set was also notable for a VERY nice vocal based remix of "Elysium" which I dont think I've heard before, as well as the inclusion of "You're my angel", "Turn up the music" and "I adore"

The final part of Scotts set was notable for a number of reasons. One being the inevitable gabba tunes to finish with, but as well as that Birthday wishes from the ravers for not only MC Rude, but also Ribbz as well! The ravers were warm and generous with thier reports as the names of the birthday boys were called out, also marking the termination of Scott's set.

For once, Sy and Storm made themselves known to the ravers and it werent the last set of the night! it was still 4am as the DJ and MC took their relevent positions and awaited the crowd to fall silent before they commenced their work.

This weren't no Old Skool set. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Sy kept it cutting edge for the first 15 or so minutes with some nice vocal based tunes that I hadn't heard before, thereafter going for it down a more familiar tip with the remix of "Just a feeling" and "See the light" getting dropped.

Storm was well into it by this point as well, hyping the ravers like the professional he is and motivating them to dance in the only way he knows how, dropping the lyrics he has made his own such as "Dark like Vader" and "Hardcore, we want more"

But it was the showcase of his new tune, in conjunction with Gammer "21st century rush" that was his real centrepiece. I'm really liking this tune atm, with an excess of energy and lots of infectious riffs that really get me dancing. But thats hardly a rare event for a Sy and Storm set. Speaking of which, the rest of Sy's set saw me going for it as hard as I could with "Rock Ya Hardcore" and the remix of "Pacific Sun" finishing off proceedings.

For the final set of the night, it was actually my first RBC set of the evening. Breeze, Styles and MCSquared were finishing off the night and the remaining ravers and myself went for it from the word go. I knew I was on borrowed time for this one, with a certain rave publication to distribute, I only had a limited amount of time to enjoy myself and I knew it.

Their set may have been short, but it was in no way worse off, with "Angel Eyes", "What I am" and "I got a feeling" all getting played out before I reluctantly left them too it and went out into the cold.
Things I liked:

Uproar - It was great to be back. One of my favourite events and in no way did it let me down.

Venue - Never been there before, want to go back there again though. A little run down and dirty, but bags of atmosphere and genuine "Big room" Vibes in the main arena.

System - Have to mention this bad boy. Quite possibly the loudest I have ever listened to Hardcore at was at this venue. The bass shook me to the core and towards the end of the evening actually caused physical pain!

Lineup - Seriously impressed with the lineup at this rave. All the mainstream you could handle AS WELL AS all the diversity you could want too. Whatever your tastes you were more than catered for. More raves should be like this.

Breakbeats - A focus on breakbeats is long overdue at Hardcore raves. I cant remember the last time breakbeat Hardcore got its own room, but I didnt care, I was just happy to spend as much time as possible in there with the coolest people in the building around me.

Aircon - At most raves you expect to get hot. Whether it was the high ceiling or the aircon, the fact remains I was nice and chilled at this rave. Nice one.

Akira - Christ on a bike. The man needs help.

Things I liked less:

My stomach - For aching non stop from midnight onwards. I soldiered on though, the night was too good for mere pain to slow me down.

Not a lot else as it goes.

It was great to be back at Uproar. It was too long since my last one and I had a feeling as I walked in that this night was going to be something special. The combination of a new venue to explore, well thought out lineup, lots and lots of seriously up for it ravers and musical diversity to die for makes "Something special" seem like massive understatement.

I had such a good time at this party I'm having trouble putting it into words. For a long time now HTID has been (in my eyes at least) the "Flagship" Hardcore event. If you want bring someone to a Hardcore rave, then thats the one to take em to to show them what its all about. However, Uproar, with one event have calmly tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to re-consider my position on the subject of "Flagship" events.

As such, Uproar and HTID are now neck and neck. So close you cant get a *** paper between them. Best of all, they are doing so in such a way that I cannot compare them to one and other in the slightest. It says a lot when two events compete for your affections with such ferocity and yet come from such different persepectives that it renders comparison redundant.

In this respect Uproar stands unique. In a few short years it has gone from brand new event to a comfortable, yet enviable position in my personal league table of top three large scale events in the country. The only way to find out who will outdo each other is with more research. As such I am gutted beyond belief that I cant attend the next Uproar, but going on how good this one was, I will be back at the one after and it will blow me away with alarming ease by taking me on a searing journey through the many facets of the Hardcore sound. Just like this one did.
astraboy.

astraboy

I know how much you like the shoutlists, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait till tomorrow.
I have a rave to go to.
astraboy.

Gwai Low

People still Rave? How quaint. It's a bit yesterday though isn't it. Are you trying to hold on in vain to your "yoof"?

Daft Lad

astraboy

Damn, busted.
astraboy.