Kent Crew promotions and Enigma are all new to the rave promoting game. This was their first event and as such was hevily promoted on USH.net and the flyering circuit. The lineup also looked top notch, as well as being that little bit different. On the night, this seemed to have paid dividends.
We arrived at the venue at about 9ish. Desperate to get out of the rain we went into the pub opposite to find a bunch of ravers having pre rave drinks. After the usual catching up and alcohol abuse, we went into the venue. A fairly light search later and we were inside.
The Imperial Gardens is a three room venue in Camberwell, located under the railway arches. The largest room is straddled by two smaller rooms,each with their own bars, soundsystems and various amounts of chillout space. On this occasion,all three rooms were used, with the third being a chillout/promoter room with merchandise and instant rave photos on sale all night. The production at enigma was very good for a first event. It was kept minimal, but the overall effect of darkness with a lot of smoke and a few well placed lighting rigs meant that the dancefloor was very atmospheric, especially when the lasers (one to each of the main rooms) were turned on.
Musically, I found the night to be one of the best and most varied I've been to. The main room was upfront hardcore all the way, with an interesting lineup comprising of some of the biggest names in the scene, alongside some of the best up and comings around. It was also nice to see the way the up and comings were in the middle of the lineup instead of right at the start to get them out of the way before the names turned up. It was also notable to see that the big names were some of the more unusual and less booked DJs. In other words, its always a pleasure to see Marc Smith play out and I werent dissapointed by his latest set either. Tunes I do remember him playing include "Freedom" and....other tunes as well
The second room was the old skool room. However it should have been called "The 100% happy harcore room" Its always nice to see a different style of old skool and this case, most of the tunes were from the 95-99 era. I must confess to spending a lot of time in this room, simply cos I'm a cheesy b*****d and liked what was on offer. Set of the night for me is a 50-50 split between Phantom-D and Mayhem.
I have a soft spot for the Phantom, being an ex Dream FM jock, I was expecting great things from him and he delivered. Cant name the tunes to save my life, but I do remember thinking it was as if he'd just come off air back when dream was running, grabbed his record bag, jumped in a time machine and arrived just in time to do his set. It went a bit old skool jungle toward the end, but that in no way detracted from a great set which held a lot of memories.
However, Mayhem's set was just as good, being cheesy in the extreme and fookin top notch as well. Tunes like "Hardcore fever" "Eyeopener" and best of all "Rush hour" had me dancing like a loon all through his set.
Nice one mate, really enjoyed it.
Also worthy of mention whilst I'm on the subject of old skool was Marc Blitz's set. Has to win the award for the gutsiest mixing of the night, if nothing else than for mixing Micky Finn's "Arsonist" into "Heart of gold". Pulled it off as well.
With all this going on the second room, I have to confess to flitting from one room to the other quite a bit. Stayed in the main room for all of Smithy's set, as well as most of Skampi's and all of Slipmatt's as well. Unfortunatly, most of the night was a bit of a blur at this point, but several concrete ones include Skampi keeping the crowd in the main room after Marc Smith had finished, no mean feat for an up and coming, I can tell you. Also of note was seeing MC Ethos back on the mic after a quite a while of not seeing him anywhere. It was also good to see he aint lost any of the talent he had before in that time.
Slipmatt finished the night off in the main arena when Cris-E-Manic's motor broke down on the way to the venue. Slippers did a classic hardcore set with a knowing nod to the later hardcore sound by finishing off with Shooting Star. The arena was nice and full right to the end and the party people were generating a class hardcore atmosphere.
Here we go:
Things I liked -
Different, innovative and varied lineup. Having the courage to buck the trend and still come up trumps gets my respect.
Moody, effective and atmospheric lighting, gave a real underground feel to the venue.
Great party atmosphere.
Cracking Oldskool lineup.
Considering it was a first effort, it was a fantastic party.

Things I liked less-
The venue. Things like the slippery main room floor, the peeling ceiling paint and the total lack of aircon was bordering on taking the ****. Okay, keep it underground, but underground doesnt include having no bogroll or locks on the bog doors.
The heat, together with no real chillout, this was quite a problem later on in the night. There was a fan at the end of the corridor, however it might have been more effective if it was plugged in and switched on.
The MCs. With 11 MCs on the flyer I was worried that the music would suffer a tad and although it was not as bad as I feared, there were occasions where a few of them got carried away and started chatting over the breakdowns and waffling ****e through some blinding mixes. At one point Slipmatt had to put up with about 5 MCs who on their own would have complimented the music nicely, but all 5 going one after the other, they tended to dominate the music. Not a good thing IMO. Maybe more rigidly controlled MC lineup times would help next time round to avoid an MC-a-thon which detracts from the music.

However, because they are mostly venue gripes, the good points more than outweigh the bad. As I've said above, this was an amazing party for first time promoters. Top DJ linup and good tune selection, it was obivious that people had gone to great lengths to put on a great party. Respect to the KCP for a well promoted and professionally run hardcore rave. I'm looking forward to the next one.
astraboy.
Special Shout to: Jen x.
Shouts to: Kat, NeoTech, Paul USH, Martin, Barticle, Paul Compulsion, Rizla(Go to hospital! No, I'm alright, honest)dizla, Ezzle, Nitr-8, MC Jutt, Scottie, Smiley, Jerome, Gill Dreamscape, Nuclearaver, HB, Ponder, Tom U4EA, Carlo, A.B., Rob Loony, Spencer, Teresa, AB, Mayhem, Skampi, Doc-E, Sian, Nicky, Scott Devotion, Spenno, MC Storm (do we have a problem here?), DJ Storm (hope you sort things out mate), Kaos, Ethos, Whizzkid and the inevitable loads of people I’ve forgotten.

 

http://www.ush.net/gallery/index2.ht...e=dscf0059.jpg
obligatory spannered astraboy pic
astraboy.

 

Does that jacket thing have 'Marshall' written across the back of it....?

 

If you don't take drugs at the venue then you sure pop pills before your write ups.

 

if ya gonna take droogs no point denying it. have respect for upfront droogies as long as they do it for social events and not cus they hate themselves and life

 

vis jackets white gloves and glow sticks jeeees they still doing that 10 years on

i wanna join in again but im too fecking old

i stopped when people started saying i could be a copper

 

by the way astraboy good write up send it to some papers and mags you may get a job

best wishes waky

 

Wakey, There is no such thing as too old mate. Enigma was my birfday rave. My 27th birfday rave If you like the music then go to a rave, nothing to be ashamed of. The oldest hardcore raver I know is 45 and the safest guy you could ever meet.
astraboy.
P.S. Oh and I cant hide the truth. I was on drugs when that pic was taken. Caffiene. Lots of it.