ScoobyNet.com - Subaru Enthusiast Forum - Rave review, Jellybeanz 28/02/2004

Having made the mistake of drinking myself into oblivion at Elation the night before, I had to get myself to another rave where I could physically enjoy the music. Handily, Jellybeanz was touching down in Northampton the very next day. I needed to feel the music again so I filled the car with Tansy, Lauren and Emma and they filled my pockets with petrol money. Soon after we were belting up the M1.
We found the club soon after entering Northampton and parked in the carpark right behind it. We wlaked round and the laydees went in while I drank my usual gallon of energy drinks before going in myself. After being greeted by a friendly bubble and a very reasonable 7 quid and no search later, I was in.
Studio 11 is to all extents and purposes, just another Northampton Bar. However the manager has seen the light and lets Bubble transform it into a rave venue for the night. Extra lighting, lasers and strobes are brought in. The second room is brought to life and a well thought out DJ and MC lineup graces both sets of decks. The lineup at this, the "Heaven and Hell" party, ranged literally from bedroom DJs right up to international Techno superstars. Downstairs was the Heaven room with a daring all female lineup, Upstairs was the "Hell" arena, which delivered the darker side, with a guest appearence of the legend that is Clarkee, doing a two hour techno set.
When I got in, the Heaven arena was a little too pitched down for my liking, so I made my way up the stairs where Scottie was on the decks. At first Scottie was keeping faithful to the music policy, however, as soon as he changed to Hardcore, he got more people on the dancefloor, including me. Scotties set was exactly what I needed and as such I was having a great time all the way through it.It helped that he dropped a lot of tunes that I liked, including "Freedom", "Terrabeat", "Vibrations" and best of all, finishing on a German breakbeat tune which I failed to name but loved to bits.
When Scottie had finished, I stayed on the dancefloor, hoping for more of the same. When Mantra stepped up, I got it and then some. Mantra picked up where Scottie left off and continued to up the pace throughout his set. He started off with some real "Hard"core with tunes like "Badass" before moving into what the room was there for and playing gabba. Respect is due for playing one of my favourite tunes, the Gabba remix of "Cold as Ice" Well enjoyed that one.
As soon as Mantra's last tune had stopped, I was straight down the stairs and into the "Heaven" room. One half of 2wo's company was on the decks and as such I knew she would be playing some breakbeats. I werent dissapointed either. She started off with a tune I didnt recognise, but I had no such problems with the next one. The breakbeat mix of CLSM's "Liberation" got me VERY excited and the rest of the set was just as good. She took the decision to move away from the breaks and onto the kicks, but neither myself or the assembled crowd really cared at this point, especially when she leaned on the freeform side of the hardcore spectrum. High energy stuff was just what the crowd wanted and and the ravers were lapping up tunes like "Andromeda", "Parallel Minds", "Planet of Dreams", "Wicked MC" and "Bodygroove". Danced pretty mcuh non stop throughout her set, so did the rest of the crowd.
At this point the venue had filled up nicely with both dancefloors full up with dancing ravers and bewildered top boys driunking their beer and not dancing. Towards the end of the night the "Heaven" room got a little too full, making it difficult to dance, but that just made the atmosphere even better. Besides, it was fun scaring the beer boys by pretending to be an out of control raver:D
After 2wo's company had finished, up stepped the first of the night's two hour sepcial DJs, Cris-E-Manic. She had a relatively easy job to do as the party people would have danced to just about anything at this point, but if you think she took the opportunity to slack off then think again. Cris-E played a varied and highly enjoyable set, mixing tunes she is known for playing regualrly like "Picture of Devon" with tunes that I have not heard her play before, like the Luna-C remix of "Brutal" (Which was amazing btw). To keep the masses happy she even spun the upfront mix of "Injected with a poision" which I happily bounced around to till her time was up. Not that she had finished playing though, I had to leave halfway through her set to catch the second half Clarkee's efforts upstairs. When I climbed the stairs and entered the "Hell" arena, Clarkee was well into doing what he does best. This man is good, very good. I dont think I have ever heard him play a bad set and this one maintained that standard. Not so much because of the tunes he was playing (I wouldnt be able to name em anyways) but because of the type of tunes he was playing. Clarkee was playing the exact level of hardness that the ravers could get into, without going overboard and going bonkers hard and killing the atmosphere. The party people seemed to appreciate that fact and were loving what he was offering. I was too, apart from one minor detail. On the mic was Gazy J. I have heard a couple of times and have been nonplussed, but this time he was going way over the top. Its not that his lyrics were bad, quite the opposite infact, but the fact he never really shut up for more than a minute at a time quickly got annoying. its a shame really cos his pace, speed and delivery matched the music quite well, but Techno is a minimalist genre and tbh the MC's really should reflect that. If he had reduced his input by 50% then it would have been spot on, sadly it was not to be. Nevermind, at least the music was tip top, with tunes like "Feel the pressure", "Rock the vibe that keeps us alive" and that tune with the riff from "Gangsta's paradise" all getting a look in. I made sure I told Clarkee how much I enjoyed his set after he was done.
After I had had my fill of techno for the evening, I made my way down for the final set of the evening. Most of the ravers were on the dancefloor at this point and the atmosphere crackled as DJ Delecious took over from Cris-E-Manic. The only other place I have seen this DJ was at the bottom of the forthcoming Uproar flyer. I anted to know what had justifed such a booking. I wont comment on her mixing as I cannot mix myself so I dont know what to look for, but I was deffo having a good time on the back of the tunes she was playing. Sticking mainly to the popular crowdpleasers, Delecious played tunes like "Come and let the beat drop", "Yeah baby", "I'm in heaven", "Ecstasy 24-7" for the final hour. The ravers with stamina danced all the way till the end and the atmosphere never flagged once, mainly due to the surprise appearence of appearence of MC Whizzkid! He werent booked for the night, but he turned up for the crack anyways, top bloke. He asked Scottie B for a go on the mic (Mic blaggers eh? :roll: :wink: ) and together with Chit Chat went b2b2b until the final tune of the night, "Take me away"
Things I liked:
Top atmosphere, it didnt feel like we were in a bar in Northampton at all.
Nice DJ lineup, mixing unknowns with established names.
Friendly security, no power tripping of meglomania here.
Things I liked less:
The **** in the white top behind the downstairs bar for refusing to give me a glass of tap water for a friend who had overdone it. Isnt that illegal?
3am finish. It makes daft ravers do daft things, like go on daft3 hour missions to find afterparties and suchlike.
I had a real good time at this party. It was as if the size of the night was three times what it actually was. The atmosphere was deffo larger than the venue and thats what counts when a rave is put on. This was a top night out with a cracking lineup for a mere 7 quid on the door. Cant really go wrong with that and it definitly worked this time and then some. Whens the next one?
astraboy.
Shouts to: Tansy, Lauren, Emma, Bubble, Gill Dreamscape, Fish Geffo, Martin, Stu8, Stompin Daz, Gammer, Cris-E-Manic, Desire, Uplift, Wildcard, Doc-E and Hayley, Bouncee Bunches, Chickpea, Thumper, Lunarsunrise (apparantly), Rob38943469263, STS dave, Whizzkid (snap!), Evo, Sykee, Deddley, Sonic, 2wo's company, Mad Vic, and all the people I forgot.