astraboy

2003 saw the return of Raindance to the SEOne underneath London Bridge Station. After a rammed reunion party, the following raves were more than a little underwhelming for a variety of reasons. The only other Raindance that really kicked off was the 14th Birthday Party which took place late last year. Even though it had happened 8 months or so after the real return rave, this sell out party marked its "Real" return to its previous form as a proper underground rave with an atmosphere to match.
As their first party of 2004, I was hoping this standard would be maintained. On the lineup alone it was very promising. The Altern-8 live PA immedietly guaranteed my attendance. I had never even seen them DJ before so I werent going to pass up the opportunity to see them play live. In the Hardcore arena things were just as good. Raindance's patented mixture of headliners and the best of the NuBreed saw Sharkey, Energy, Sy and Vibes go up against Ponder, HB, Cris-E-manic, Uplift, Scottie and Lukozade. Last but my no means least, Billy "Daniel" Bunter was due to finish off the night with a classic hardcore set.
It was that good I was considering buying two tickets incase I lost one. As it happens I very nearly didnt get the opportunity. When I got to my Local record shop there were just three tickets left! During pre rave conversation in the pub, it was established my record shop was not unique. Outlets all over London had sold out with one of my mates having to resort to being a DJ's guestlist **** to get in as he just could not buy a ticket from anywhere. The lineup was sorted, the ravers had bought the tickets, I had a good feeling about this party, a very good feeling.
We drank in a nearby pub till the urge to go to the rave was too much to resist. Even though it was not even 10 yet we downed what drinks we had left and headed off to join the queue. We had to split up as some of us had guesties, some had to pay on the door. The majority of us had tickets though and we joined the back of the respectable queue. It moved reasonably quickly and soon we were at the front. Our tickets were taken off us and we were searched. All I got was a pat down for weapons and asked what was in my bag. He chuckled to himself when I replied "Dust mask and boilersuit mate" and waved me through.
I knew the drill at SEOne, I was straight in the bogs to sort out my earplugs, then made a beeline for the Hardcore arena. When I got there Scottie was on the decks and MC Spenno on the mic. They were doing a workmanlike job of warming up the party for the early crowd in the arena. Even though it was only 10.40 there was a reasonable amount of people and more to the point, they were all up for a good time. This was helped by the fact that Scottie was dropping some blinding tunes. CLSM's "Driftin Away" is always a nice way to start a night out and although the Gabba was a bit fierce for me this early on in the night, the rest of the ravers didnt seem to mind at all.
During Scottie's set I had a look around the Hardcore room. Decor at thePrevious Raindance's had been of high standard, if a little samey. Only a few subtle differences distinguished one party from another. This time the usual lighting rig was doing the business as before, but the single laser had been replaced by two trainable green ones on top of each stack. Best of all, in full Rez laser style, they had been progranned to spell out the names of the DJs and MCs that were performing. Cool. As well as that, the front of the arena had been decked out like Kew Gardens. UV sensitive plants and animals (cattepillers and insects and the like) were suspended from the decks and in front of the DJ. Backdrops were also hanging off the walls showing everything from simple black and white patterns to artistic efforts in the Japanese Anime style. I made a pleasent difference to the static efforts of last year.
After Scottie had finished his set, it was the turn of Lukozade to keep the party going. Luke knew what the rave needed and played a crowd pleasing set including tunes such as "Vigelante Hardcore", "Angel Eyes" and "Hardcore Hustler" amongst other tunes I didnt recognise. He was joined one the mic by Spenno and Whizzkid going b2b. Despite it threatening to become an MC-a-thon at the expense of the music, this never happened. The balanced soundsystem and two MCs who knew how to keep a level head and not get carried away made sure of that. Respect to all three of the entertainers for coming together for a great set.
Next up were two DJs I really wanted to see. Uplift and Cris-e-Manic had the 12-1 set and I made sure I was there to see em. In a change from their usual b2b business, the Raw Elements Jocks split their set in half, Uplift going first, with Cris-E finishing off. This made for an eclectic set with the first half devoted to more popular tunes such as "New Zeland Story", "Revolutions" and best of all the upfront mix of "Injected with a Poison" (YAY!). This left Cris-e with the tail half of the set which she devoted to the darker side of the hardcore sound. She covered all the bases by including "Picture of Devon" and Captain Skullfuk's "Shooting Filth" in her set.
By this time the party was well and truly up and running. The Hardcore arena was rammed and was loving what the DJs were offering. Next up was the first of the "Big names" to grace the party.
Orginally Kev Energy and Sharkey were meant to have seperate sets but they took the executive decision to go b2b for a two hour Nu Energy special. This was well received, as the whole place was rocking as soon as the brothers in sound started. Wottsee took control of the mic and the party went ballistic as the they combined to produce one of the best sets of the night. Mainly cos I only recognised just one tune throughout, "Definition of a Badboy". The rest of the tunes I didnt recognise and to be honest I couldnt care less. Often the best sets that Sharks and Energy come out with consist of tunes I that have come from nowhere, but rock the joint regardless.
The other good thing about the two hour special is that I could slack off for one hour and go see Altern-8! I dint want to but its not often you get to see Altern8 go live. I fished out my boilersuit and dust mask, threw em on and went into the oldskool room. The boys were hooded up and masked and were performing behind a big green A and 8 each. they had just started when I got in and the crowd was dancing away to their tunes. Altern-8's tracklisting was: Move my body, Infiltr8 - 202, Evapor8, Armageddon, Hypnotic st8, Frequency and Activ8. But the tunes were onlt half of the performance. The slack was taken up by three wicked breakdancers who went non stop on stage throughout the set. The Black dude with the big afro was particularly impressive, but they all knew their stuff and you could tell they were loving the music just as much as the crowd while they worked. This set was the definite highlight of the night and for me it typified what the rave scene is all about. Two blokes can work all week in Sainsbury's and a call centre and be nobodies, yet at the weekend can don dust masks and rock a packed rave event, not for the money, but cos it has to be done. Respect is due.
It was all over too quickly and when Activ8 had faded out, the boys came out from their positions to shake the crowd's hands. Top set. Want to see them again. Next week would be nice.

astraboy

I could have happily gone home right then, but there was still four more hours of wicked hardcore to enjoy. Quite frankly it would have been rude to go home early. Especially when another highlight of the night, DJ Vibes wasdue on.
Everyone knew wha was coming and Vibes didnt let us down, playing cheese from the outset. Tunes like "Get together", "Techno Wonderland", "Time after Time" and "Come and follow me" set the tone for his setbut the best thing had to be the MCs. Everyone of them wanted a crack and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves when they were up there. Seeing sombody having a good time while they were working helped me enjoy a great set even more. Hell, it had to be good, I saw Cris-E dancing away at one point.
Sy Stepped up after Vibes had finished his set with the classic "Eternity", together with his usual partner on the mic, MC Storm. These two are virtual residents at Raindance, appearing at almost every event last year. This gave me the advantage of knowing what to expect and they dished it out in spadefuls. Storm providing the lyrics to the new material that Sy gave to the ravers. This included very dancable remixes of "Love of my life" and even better "Discoland". I was dancing away when those two came on believe me. The rest of the set was just as good with Sy spinning crowdpleasers such as CLSM's "Free your mind", "Bring me round to love", "Keep the Crowd Jumpin" and "Heartbeatz". Cant remember the last time I didnt enjoy a Sy and Storm set. This one maintained the status quo.
The Boys with the biggest job of the night were Ponder, HB and MC Elmo. They had to keep the ravers on the dancefloor after 4 hours of the biggest DJs in the land had worn them out. the Elation Boys rose to the challange by playing a sublime set. They could have kept the crowd in the place by playing only the biggest, bassiest and most popular tunes
in the scene, but instead chose to pique the crowd's interest. They played a nice Breakbeat driven set, sprinkled with a couple of kick driven tunes. Unfortunatly I can only remember the biggest and most of them were CLSM efforts, including "Driftin away", "WickedMC", and the amazing remix of "Faces of angels" Never fails to make me rush, that tune. However their set was not limited to one production house, they also spun the darkest tune of the moment "Picture of Devon", the hyper cheesy "I'm in Euphoria" and finished with my personal favourite, the rushy as hell "Chemical love". By the end of their set, the dancefloor in front of Ponder, HB and Elmo was just as full as when they started. Mission Acomplished.
By this time it was 6am. Most raves would be packing up and going home at this point, but there was no way I was going home. Billy "Daniel" Bunter was up for the final hour and as I had heard previous classic Hardcore sets from him, wild horses would not have romoved me from the dancefloor. Instead of playing a mish mash of tunes from 95-99, Bunter took us on a musical journey, starting way back with breakbeat classics such as "Get up and Dance", "It feels so good" and "Got to stay together" then moving on to Hardcore's peak period with "Toytown", "Partytime", "Now is the time", "Rainbow high in the sky" and "Love of my life" before moving on to tunes from the darker days of the hardcore odyssey with "feel my burning love" and "You're shining". Finally he brought us bang up to date with "John Peel is not enough" before finishing off with the classic "Round and round in my head". As with previous "Final tunes", bunter blagged it and stuck one last tune on while security werent looking. The Definite final tune of the night was "Takes me away", this also ensured that the Hardcore arena was the last to stop playing. Respect.
Things I liked:
Another cracking party from those that bring us Raindance. Danced pretty much non stop from start to finish it was that good.

Sound system. At LAST it has been sorted. It took constant corrections throughout the night but when it got there it was all worth it. Very, very loud and surprisingly clear too. The party responded accordingly (see next bit).

Atmosphere. Probably the best atmosphere in the business (with one notable exception) the atmosphere at this Raindance was particularly good. Didnt see any aggro or bling, just friendly party people up for a rave.

The music. One of the best things about Raindance is that it is a real alternative to most big hardcore events on a musical tip. The corners of the Hardcore spectrum were explored last Saturday.

The Fans. SEOne's air movement system tends to be overwhelmed with a lot of party people in the place. Raindance solved this problem by putting two big fans at the front of the Hardcore arena. these took the edge off the heat so it was just about bearable.

Things I liked less:
Okay, a tiny gripe here, all the headliners were on at the same time. If you wanted to see Altern8, you had to miss Sharkey, if you wanted to Glenn Aston, you had to miss Sy. But I suppose with 5 arenas you are always going to miss someone you like.

What a Rave. Raindance have a habit of walking the "Party of the year" Competition and they have done it again with a top effort. the empasis is on the word "Effort" as well, cos it was obivious that the Organisers had sat down and though about what they could do to make this party better than the last. And this was just in the Hardcore room! Everytime I walked through the old skool room I wanted to split myself in half and dance in both rooms cos the music was so good. Whether it was Squirrel dropping "I'm raving, I'm raving" or the Ratpack in a rare burst of Spontaneity, mixing the original reggee version of "Out of space" with the Prodigy version. I was even dancing away at the back of the Drum and Bass arena when Swan-e was playing as I was passing through. Everywhere I went the music was doing it and the ravers were loving it. A lot of people have decalred "Raindance is back to its old form" on the basis of this party and I honestly have to agree with them. The next one is in May. You try and stop me from attending.
astraboy.
Shouts to: Paul Zykotic, Rainbow drops, Lady Angelic, baby D, Cris-E-Manic & Desire, Tansy the pisshead, Lauren, Wildcard, Lukozade and Uplift, Shauny C and Abynence, Moron, Ponder, HB, Elmo, Tenz, Caine, Spike (Dancing so hard the bouncers were telling him to calm down!), Martin, Stu8, Xtra-C, The raving legend that is Barticle (Cheers for the ALtern8 help!), Mayhem and Mrs mayhem, Doc-e and Hayley, Curly, Immz, Deddley, Spenno, Whizzkid, Storm, Gammer (sticker free!), Carlo, Sammy P, Hyper Rush, Ckay, MC Jutt and the loads of people I forgot!