This event was extremely significant, it was a huge risk after the closure of Helter Skelter, Dreamscape, and the relegation of hardcore to the smallest arena at United Dance. Things were looking bleak. However it was the consensus among quite a few people that these organisations had made a huge mistake. The Go Mental boys decided to prove everyone wrong, and by the power of Greyskull - they did just THAT!!!!!!!!!! I walked up to the entrance first of all walking under this concrete tunnel, this immediately gave the venue an underground feel. Marvellous. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by some of the friendliest security I have ever encountered, they even smiled and asked how I was. I then handed my ticket to this old lady who I would describe as being most benevolant I had a short chat with her, then rushed into the venue at high pace. Oh dear I thought.. I thought it would be bigger than this?? I then saw the printed notice on the door "Future Dance - This way", I opened the door , my heart was beating fast. I cannot find words to express my feelings at this moment. I was in awe. I was in this huge room, on the ceiling there were these amazing lights which slowly changed to another colour, I haven’t seen anything like this before at a rave venue. About 30 feet ahead of me I could see an opening, where I could see the main arena. I said hello to Happy Bounce, Ponder, Rave Girl, and met Sonic for the first time.. then ran at high speed to the arena! I was gobsmacked and astonished. All of a sudden I couldn’t say anything, I was overcome with emotion, and my eyes started to fill up. All I kept thinking to myself was that "someone cared". At this point I just ran around the venue making a total idiot of myself, saying to everyone "wow", "fuck - oh my god", "someone still cares". The decoration was the best I have ever seen for a hardcore rave. It reaked of so much effort. I noticed the banner first of all struck across the stage, I looked at the words "Future Dance", then I looked at all the people dancing already, the huge U.F.O/Space type objects hanging down from the ceiling. "The Underground" was playing by Scott Brown (BT6). I linked all those aspects with the title Future Dance. I was overly impressed and expressed this to as many people as I could, I was getting exactly the same response back. The toilets were kept clean all through the night, inside them were pump action hand cleanser and a massive stack of paper towels. Another aspect which made me even happier (if that was possible), was this little pre-flyer which was stuck everywhere, stating that the next Future Dance would be on June 9th, but with three arenas this time. Hardcore/Old Skool/Hard House. As the night just got better and better, this little flyer started to glisten like gold in a desert. DJ Vinyl was up first, he played tunes such as Feel So Real, Healing Mind, Reach for Love, Smiley Choons 3, and just a whole selection of top quality hardcore tunes. Many of them recent, which to me was a good way to start the night. I went off to the merchandise stall, all the staff behind the tables were dancing all night, it was pleasing to watch. The sound level was brilliant, it’s nice when it’s loud like that, it reminded me of how loud it used to be at Slammin’ a year or so ago. You really did have to shout loud to get heard! The atmosphere on the dancefloor.. well what can I say? There wasn’t event a dust particle of attitude or nastiness, no relaxation of facial muscles here! The contrary was that everyone was smiling, laughing, chatting, singing, screaming. Remember when you went swimming as a youngster? And soon after you jumped in, it’s total happy madness for sometime. That’s what it was like here, except the water was kept in bottles =) Sharkey played a much needed hard freeform/techno set, this new style of emotional freeform will always have a place in the main arena. To me freeform is mature, serious hardcore, it has a very emotional element, and has blatently caught on big time. It was nearly time for Slipmatt, so I took my place right at the front of the arena with Robin & Tom. Slippers played a fantastic set, dropping anthem after anthem. His set was very similar to the one he played at Hardcore Heaven last year.. but nevertheless - it worked! Dropping that tune with those long old skool stabs, a tune which I totally love - but have had trouble ID’ing! Who knows which one I mean? The atmosphere during Slipmatt’s set just grew and grew, and by the time it had finished, (predictably with his On a ragga tip remix - Bloody nice tune though!!) we were all more than ready for the much spoken P.A. Needless to say, the lighting dimmed, and the from the silence burst the tiny electro sounding stabs which were characteristic of that classic from last year. Yes it was Take me up - Dj Energy anthem, and the whole arena went wild! This whole P.A was hugely successful, and was a perfect re-introduction to the Live P.A at a hardcore rave. I was thinking to myself I know Energy is up next, but wont this be a little too much freeform with Sharkey playing and the P.As? Energy stepped up.. and to my surprise "In complete Darkness - Fat Controller" was the first tune.. I guessed the theme straight away. He played an absolutely top 1995/96 hardcore set, with tunes like "Feel free", and even his very own production from this era "Hardcore Fever", don’t you think that total is so relevant? Everyone’s favourite. This is something I would like to see more often in the main arena. Everyone was loving it. The variation of music styles all night really did have an impact on the night, especially Energy’s set though, because this is never usually done. (Although Billy Bunter did play a similiar set at Raindance) Straight after his set Sharkey initiated a Birthday chant to both Kev and his twin sister. They were both 21 =) This was such a nice thing to do.. do you know why? It made us all seem like a family. After Impact who played some hard twisted vinyl numbers came Kaos, he played a selection of all his dubplates, teasing everyone by not releasing em. JON - Diamond Eyes A.S.A.P! - I won’t wait any longer =) Shortly after this I decided to go on the stage and had a little dance on there, unfortunately though, you could hear very little bassline, so I jumped back down to rave on the last few minutes of hardcore rave history. Believe it people.. Future Dance blatently knew the score that night, the night was almost perfect, with a high turnout of well over 700. This is pleasing for the first event, and through the amazing power of word of mouth, the next one should hopefully be rammed. There is no atmosphere like a hardcore atmosphere, and this event totally epitomised that belief, I’ll see you all at the next one! I would like to personally thank the Go Mental Crew, Jon & Kev for taking this amazing risk, we are all thrilled it paid off, but probably not as much as yourselves. The utmost respect to every single person who made this night such a memorable one.. The nicest feeling in the world is that we have another to look forward to, which promises to be bigger & better. How can you argue with that? There is no argument. Raver’s Taking Control - Is the only way to go! [!!shout out list coming soon!!]
