astraboy

Raindance is a name synomimous with good times for me. From my very first excursion purely for the Hardcore way back in 2001 to right now, some of the best and worst raving memories of my time as a raver are associated with that event. The best way to sum up Raindance is with the word intense, you don't forget what you get up to when you take a trip down there, thats for sure.
As well as that, the multifaceted musical arenas, with everything from Hardcore, to 88-89 house, as well as Old Skool, Hard House, Breakbeat and DnB means you can hop from room to room when the mood suits you, comprehensively eliminting the possibility of getting bored.
However, I was going to be spending my evening in one place unless i could help it and that was the Hardcore arena. I've developed a love/hate relationship with that red arena, with the dodgy sound and sky high head of events (and not just raindance either) past doing nothing to dim the memories of some of the best nights of my life that I have spent there.
For the last three or so parties though, none of the re-current issues which have plagues the red arena have surfaced. Heat seems to have been managed (maybe the aircon has had a change of batteries) and in the case of the last rave especially, the sound engineer and his dogged determination to control the accoustics and make his system perform yelded results to say the least.
Mind you, thats not the reason why I was going back to Raindance. Neither was it because of the lineup (top notch though it was), nor the venue (which I spend so much time in I should be having my post forwarded to it). I was going becuase it was Raindance and that is all the justification I needed to touch down at the shipwright arms a few hours before the rave, grab a few drinks and get sociable with the safe party crew in the place.
Mixing in with safe people on the same wavelength always makes time fly and as such the rave was looming before I knew it. Downing one final sambuca, I headed out the pub and down Weston St. Getting to the front (eventually) and saying hello to the ever present Grant Epidemik, I made my way to the queue to get in. Once inside (after a resonable search from the ever reasonable security) I was directed into the rave itself.
It was good to be back. SEOne is like a second home to me and having spent fat too much time in there in the past, I still took the luxury of a nose around once I was in. The main arena was notable by the way the main stage was located on the inner wall again, freeing up the door to the Hard House room. As well as that, the other place I was interested in was, of course, the Hardcore room. Located as usual, in the middle "Red" arena.
Walking into the Hardcore arena at Raindance is always a pleasent experience, but this time it was especially nice, with a good number of Hardcore ravers already in the place and best of all, Ponder and HB on the decks giving them what they wanted and then some. Even though the night was very young, Standing round and socialising was not an option, especially when I have a personal reason to get on it with these guys at the controls.
Personal reason? Well yes. In an action replay of what happened many years ago, when I walked into the Hardcore room at Raindance and HB and Ponder we bustin em out was an epiphany moment. I knew I had found my music and the people who I should listen to it with. It was something that makes me smile to this day and even more so when I get to recreate it.
I was in there like a shot, Drunkeness evaporated in an instant, proabably sweated out in all honesty, but thats only cos I was going for it so much. Best of all, its was one of those sets where I didn't have a clue what I was dancing to. The breakbeat driven tracks rained down and I was in my element, a mixture of memory lane and upfront, unusual UK Hardcore. Despite the fact the specifics of the set escaped me, a little detective work secured the DJ's personal favourites of the night, namely "From A Dream", "No reason why" and Original Source 2k6"
Next up was another DJ who hasn't failed to come up with the goods, DJ Crista took over from The men from Elation and then set to work with MC Sharkey by her side. Having followed her work over the past few months, its nice to see her musical development evolving as her enthusiasm grows. This set was no exception, mainly due to the fact that it was almost unrecognisable from her first, euphoric Hardcore driven set.
Crista played hard for her set. Last time was pretty hard with most of the selection coming from Next Gen and Blatent Beats, but this was HARD. I didnt have a clue what was going on, but I was more than happy to dance to it. Surprises are always nice and even though she warned me this set "might be a little different" it still raised eyebrows, most notably my own.
Best of all, it was she didn't play hard to the exclusion of everything else. In amongst tunes like "Phat as ****" and "Burnin NRG", she also managed to slip in tunes like "Shining down" and "Take me away". This variety, coupled with Sharkey's headstrong and blistering first performance of the very long night he had in front of him meant I was a sweaty mess by the time Crista had finished with me.
Leaving the Hardcore room to refresh my waterbottle, I was only concerned with cooling down, but that dissapeared when I saw what was in front of me. Bunter and MC Ice entertaining the crowd was all well and good, but it was the crowd themselves that really made me double take. All my friends were there. The friends that I started raving with, but unlike me, are not still out every week. I miss raving with them like nothing you could imagine so I joined Dan & Crissy, Dave and Shazza, Grob & Lisa and Paul Zykotik. As well as some of the crew who I've gotten to know through the years such as Dave the Rave, Bluekit and Mark E. Getting more water could wait, I wanted to rave with my friends.
Bunter provided the entertainment, and even though it was a bit downbeat compared to the full on Hardcore assault from Crista (who later joined us on the Dancefloor once her set had wound up), but it was definitely entertaining, with the Old Skool crowd rocking it down to what he had on offer, including "Feel good", "Peace deep in my soul" and "Dont go".
Unfortunately, I had to soon after he had finished, purely to see one of the another DJ who consistantly impressed me. DJ Gammer. Re-entering the Hardcore room and seeing the ravers in the place, it was clear I werent' the only one who wanted more of the same. However in this instance, Gammer was up against some competition, from one MC Sharkey to be precise.
Having "Warmed up" (if thats the right word for it) Sharkz was in full flow for Gammer's set. However, as someone who is worked hard to build a reputation from doing the unexpected, The Gammon was clearly not about to be upstaged. This led to the pair of them doing their level best to arrest the attention of the ravers. The DJ through the decks and tune selection and the MC through choice lyrics and the random **** he got up to.
Gammer was in his element for this sort of set. Playing to an openminded audience does him good and its noticable in his tune selection and specifically by the way I didn't have a clue what he played for the majority of his set. All I do know is it was his sublime mixture of genre hops, old and new music, euphoric as well as harder edged tunes, not to mention specifics which lept out at me and bullied me into remembering them inbetween dancing, such as the pendulum remix of "Voodoo people" and his finisher, "Raveheart".
However, Sharkey is nothing if not resourceful and if its anything to do busting out top quality lyrics and not forgetting to have a laugh while he's there, then there's no equal. This set was a perfect example, mainly due to him going for it on a well known tip with his "Rebel MC" and "Wobblin" lyrics one minute, then demanding Cris-E-Manic get her **** out and phoning up a raver's mum live on stage the next. The man is a genius.
If there's one thing that's gonna eclipse award winning micwork then its my firm favourite music. Fortunately, Kev Energy was on next and he had a surprise in store. Blindsiding me and NOT playing upfront Freeform Hardcore, Kev, pulled the rabbit out the hat, not to mention the set of the night out of his bag and played what he (and this is just a personal opinion) does best. A "Dream FM classic" set.
Oh my god it was sensational. I cut my teeth listening to this music and everything I was hoping for was in the tracklist. I didn't care I was thirsty and needed to have a rest, moving further away than ten feet from the stacks was not an option. Why? Cos I didn't get an opportunity to rave to this sort of music the first time round (I was a full on bedroom raver back then) so I make up for lost time every opportunity i get.
Doubly so in this case, and especially when Kev went for it down memory lane (for us both) by dropping "Together Forever", "To be Free again", "Forever Young", "Wham Bam", "I cant help myself" and best of all "Wanting to get high". Finally, for the sake of completion, Vinny the stage dancer also made an appearence, even if it was short lived, it was great to see him back where he belongs.
Finally, Kev had enough and let me go get some water. Not to put too fine a point on it, I was ****ing dripping and needed to cool down, fast, but even after the set of the night was over and I was heading toward the toilets, there was still no respite. This was becuase I caught the very last tune from Lukozade in the main room and he was determined to play the fastest tune of the night in there. From my experience he did so, mainly becuase no-one else (well maybe druid, but he weren't there) would have the ***** to drop "Feel the panic" in an Oldskool arena.
When i finally made it back to the Hardcore room, Sharkz had traded the mic with Rizla Dizla and was doing what Kev Energy had not done that evening, playing an upfront Freeform set. It weren't exactly what I needed, a 180bpm set after several hours of caning it on the dancefloor, but that quickly dissapeared as the pair of them got to work. When I say upfront, I mean upfront. It got to a point where I had gone for 45 minutes without hearing a tune I recognised, but I wouldn't have it any other way, especially when upfront means you can drop the Hard mix of CLSM's "Drive away" and I can go for it like a raver posessed.
I was having a great time in the Hardcore room, but the night was getting on and I had to make a decision. Seeing as I had seen Vibes the night before I did the only thing I could and left the arena and headed to somewhere else I consider my home at Raindance, the Jenkins Lane room.
It mattered little that I was about to take in my second Bunter set of the night. having seen previous efforts from him, I knew I wouldn't be dissapointed and I was right. As I got on it with the coolest people in the building, the man in charge made sure the music for the moment didn't go wanting. He did this by dropping tune after tune, slow as hell compared to the previous x number of hours in the Hardcore room, but seriously infectious and very, danceable, most especially "U Sure Do", "Stronger on my own", "Everytime I see the girl" and the classic "Free to feel good".
I could have stayed there till kicking out time, but I had to get back to the Hardcore arena for what turned out to be the last set of the night. Rik Arkitech was up next and I have a lot of time for this man. One of Sharkey's Prodigies he may be, but at the same time he is rapidly growing beyond what Sharkz originally released on an unsuspecting public.
An uncanny knack for tune selection, combined with a concentrated effort to keep the music euphoric yet driving and fast paced which is evident in both his production and DJ sets, both has meant Rik has rapidly climbed my personal league table of "DJ's to see when you want to stomp your guts out AND rush like a barsteward".
What more can you ask for at 5am? Well Sharkey back on the mic where he belongs is always a bonus, but luckily he did the decent thing and did just that. Together, they made sure my closing time at Raindance was as action packed as the rest of the night.
This was easily done with the two of them double teaming the ravers, while Rik dropped blinders like "Bodyslam", "See you on the other side", "Life is a contruct" (my personal favourite), "Take control" and the remix of "Get ****ed", Sharkz, with seemingly limitless energy, was concentrating on the chats and as such "Messed up mashed up" and "Hot sensation" were both evident during the set.
The final tune I heard was "Laserbeam addict" and that was it for me. Having to leave early was a bit of a downer, but Dougal was nowhere in sight and I had an appointment with an illegal rave in a field. Besides, it always takes a longer for me to recover from Raindance, so and early dust would soften the hardhsip of having to drive to Wales and back the following night.
Things I liked:
Raindance - With it being Raindance again, I did what I had to do. Get myself in the place and have the time of my life. It always happens, regular as clockwork and I was more than happy to do it again.
Music - Cutting edge Hardcore, Old Skool, House music all night long, even the breakbeat room lured me in briefly, albeit from personal recommendation from my friends. One thing remained constant throughout this repeated room hopping, the top quality music. If had to be good if I managed to not turn my nose up at what was on offer in the breaks room.
Sharkey - If the first time Sharkz hosted Raindance's Hardcore room was notable for novelty, this time it was for inventivness. Throughout the night he kept the ravers on their toes, dressing up like a lollipop lady and setting up "Sharkey's ravephone warehouse" when the inevitable shouts were getting tapped out and handed to him. And as for the very first Hardcore Conga....
Kev Energy - Three Words - Dream FM set. Two Words - More please....
Vinny - Please see the last two words of the above sentence. Cheers.
Attendence - Even though it was slightly less than last time, it was not such a bad thing. It was an opportunity to spread out a bit and not feel like a sardine, but at the same time, get on it with plenty of other party people on the dancefloor. This also had the advantage of not having to fight your way to where you wanted to go.
Sound - Same guy as last time was in charge of the sound in the Hardcore room and the same effort was put into getting the sound in order. No slacking off at all and the sound was good as the last time. Eskimonoise at raves is the way to go.
Things I liked less:
Dougal not turning up - Not sure where he got to, but the slack was taken up by Rik Arkitech.
No PK in the Jenkins lane - Just as I get into what he has to offer, he has to emigrate! Bah!.
Like i said earlier, Raindance is a rave you go to because its raindance, not because of the DJ lineup. Its actually getting difficult to put into words why I like what goes on there so much, but what it boils down it is the rave event is what keeps me coming back for more. No other event is like it or even comes close to it in terms of scale and musical diversity.
I've only just realised this, but Raindance is what it is because of the people that go to it. More specifically, why those people go to it. Many different people going for many different reasons, some for the Hard House, some for the Hardcore, some for the DnB, Some for the breakbeat. Some (like me) go for the lot, others spend the whole night in the one room to the exclusion of everything else. However, the one common denominator is that they all go to Raindance.
Thats what really does it for me. In this day and age where you get too many events proclaiming "NOWT but Hard Acid Drumcore ALL night long! If you're coming for something else then dont bother" its nice to go to a rave, a PROPER rave where people are there for a variety of different reasons, but all of them get what they want from the same place. You don't get that feeling at many places these days and its even odder to make your way to a night to experience a feeling, but its definitely worth it and its the reason I was there. I had a great time.
astraboy.

JTaylor

I did a couple of Cakes at a rave once. Fcukin' bangin' mate