During our taxi journey to Castle Studio’s I heard the driver mutter “Oh yeah I know where it is, must be that run down place”, this gave me doubts weather the venue would be up to much. Upon the exterior of the place did look run down just like the taxi driver said. After a short walk I was very surprised to see no queue what so ever, “Uh oh, its dead inside” sprang to mind. After a quick search I saw Kev who just came out of the doors to the cloakroom and he said “Its amazing in there, they’ve spent loads”(or something similar to that) and I couldn’t wait to enter. After following signs and the cheesy smiles of the fellow ravers that led me to the main arena I couldn’t help but think that this will be a night to remember (or not for various synthetic reasons). The décor of the main room was nothing short of first class. The Go Mental cru obviously spent a great deal of money on inflatables and stage decorations. The décor was very futuristic, hence the name “Future Dance”. This included inflatable planets, a USH Mental rocket and loads of shiny metallic stuff. The Lighting of this event was also the best I’ve seen since Rezerection, a professional set-up with many kinds of lights that made me go “Ooooh”. The Sound System was massive and crystal clear at all times, the lightweights said it was too loud, a notch higher please hehehe. First up was Dj Vinyl I think. Vinyl played a pretty fast set that had the ravers rocking very early on, nothing special, but nothing bad. However it is good to see new talent on the turntables rather than same old Dj’s other well-established events book time and time again. Who was up next, erm Sharkey I think (again). Sharkey played a good selection of old freeform, hardcore-freeform and new freeform. His set had a harder edge to Vinyl’s. I’ve only learnt to appreciate the sounds of freeform in the last year or so, but dancing to it is a joy. (Warning, continue at own risk, rest of night is from a fragmented memory) Something wasn’t working here, I couldn’t stomp fully and I didn’t have the almighty happy vibe yet! Time to chill out. So there I was sitting in the bar area with Sam talking about how our nights were going so far. Then it happened. Awww, shit or lord it happened. HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY suddenly came all over me as I was about to go back and try to stomp, sit down Steve its all too much…. 10 mins later I’m back in the main arena along with the cheesiest smile I’ve had. Everything had changed. Future dance was now not a great rave, but a rave that will be at number 2 in my all time rave’o’league. Everyone now was not a raver, they were friends, they were family and they were special. The happiness running throughout the arena was electrifying to the point that I couldn’t hold back; I just had to hug everyone in sight. Slipmat was on the turntables and he knocked out a set of hardcore tunes that had me stomping, rushing and nearly crying. Top set Mr Slipmat, I came up (I mean back) at just the right time :) It had been a while since I last heard a live PA and the Nu Energy PA is the first freeform PA I’ve heard. With two keyboards on stage, Energy and Co played tunes from well of course their Nu Energy label. Tune of the PA was “Take me up”, and it certainly did. PA’s fill arenas and should be more often, nice touch Go Mental. At this point I’m lying in the middle of the central room just going loopy to the sound of “Every time I Close My Eyes by Scott Brown” being played by Impact? It’s hard but I did find some way to dance for 15 mins while lying on my back. Back to the arena for some more real stomping action. Impact was playing a fair few Cheese Police tunes and I lapped them up like a kitten to milk. People said Impacts mixing wasn’t to hot at times, but I personally couldn’t notice the wrinkles and stretch marks in his set. Memory Loss, Memory Loss, I’m queuing to for my coat and its time to go home :(, bah… Future dance has set the standard for future raves. I can see the next Future dance being at least 2 fold better as the buzz from this event is spread throughout the rave scene and everyone flocks to see what they missed out on. At least I can say I was there I was at “FUTURE DANCE”. A very special shout to the following people who made my night just that extra bit special. Nita, Slammin Sam, Kev, Chedda, Conrad, Snow, Andrew, Johnny Go Mental, Rolex and Mitzi Turbo. And shouts to the following Peter and Emma, Caine, Dimi, Happy J, Ned, Jo, Sarah, Sonic, Ponder, Happy Bounce, Majestik, Ardee, Smithers, Lukozade, Cris E Manic, Emma, Anna, Icekold, Tina, Dave, Cakes, Charm, Cjunky, Carly and her lad, Paul & Carol, Joe, Lizzie & Stuart. There is more but I cannot remember, oh and the two people in the taxi to the event. The next event is on Friday 9th June, if your not there you’re just not HARDCORE.
