The worst night I've had at Bagleys by far - even UD Y2k was better! Okay, so there were some good points but they were far outweighed by the many many bad points... We joined the queue (which was full of attitude - "Out the fucking way", "What the fuck are you looking at?" etc.) at 9:20 and got through the door at 10:50 after being greeted by the friendly security - "You better tell me if you've got anything now, otherwise, if I find something you shouldn't have, I'll take you personally to the fucking police." A far cry from the genuinely friendly greeting at Future Dance... After getting in, Johnathon and I made straight for the cloakroom which, despite it's crap location, definitely seemed to be improved. The queue at the end of the night was a lot quiker than at UD, but maybe that's because less people brought coats due to the nice weather. On the way to Arena 1 we popped into the bogs to take a piss etc. Security came in while we were there and one guy went into an occupied cubicle while another waited outside. We obviously didn't see what happened but it certainly didn't sound too pretty... Got into Arena 1 just as Scott Brown started his set. The best bits of the night for me were in this arena. Scott Brown's set was superb, a great way to start the night but it seemed to be over so soon, was it 45 mins or was I just having too much fun?! The room was really buzzing at this point and after SB was Sy who again played a fantastic set along with Storm on the mic - set of the night for me, nice one! :) Brisk, later on in the evening was, of course, wicked especially contrasted with the set before it - but that was it! No more hardcore in Arena 1! Slipmatt played hard house for the last set!!! When I got in the main room just after 5am I assumed that the previous DJ was still playing but, after walking to the front of the stage to get a better look, I saw that it was Slippers himself! Very disappointing. I didn't listen to much of the hard house played during the night but did notice that the dancefloor was still full during the sets - although nowhere near as full as during the hardcore sets! :) Didn't spend a great deal of time in Arena 5, partly 'cos I hate the room but also because it was almost impossible to get to and even harder to get back upstairs from. SV had seriously overfilled the venue just like UD did in February and there were huge queues to get anywhere. It also meant the dancefloors were rammed all the time which also had the effect of making the temperature almost unbearable at times. Big bad point. Attitude was rife during the night. Sadly, security were supplying most of it. They were very heavy handed and abusive. I witnessed them on two occasions using unnecessary violence but wouldn't be surprised to hear of more incidents. The usual group of trouble makers were there of course. I only saw them involved in one incident but it was a particularly nasty mugging and took place outside where security should have been able to stop it. Luckily, later on they were identified to security and thrown out - respect to security for that and respect to whoever grassed them up, you took a big risk but it payed off. Someone told me on the night that someone had attempted to mug them at knifepoint but luckily they they had managed to run off before it escalated. Saw a bloke in the toilets towards the end of the night with a big bandage on the side of his neck and a heavily blood-stained t-shirt. I asked him what had happened and he told me that someone had swiped at him with a Stanley knife as he walked through a group of people. He was rushed to casualty near Euston and bravely came back to Bagleys to catch the last couple of hours! All the points I have mentioned above along with the severe overcrowing of the venue made for a bad night for me. Yeah, I still managed to enjoy myself for the most part (hardcore in Arena 1and of course all the USHers were the high points of the night!) but I expect a lot more for my money. The upshot of Friday night is that I WILL NEVER GO TO BAGLEYS AGAIN! I see Bagleys as the major problem. SV overfilled the venue (and put too much hard house on) but Bagleys is *A FUCKING SHIT HOLE* full of too many 'bad elemets'. If I hear that the problems have been sorted then I will reconsider my position. Otherwise I'm sticking to nights where I'm almost guaranteed to have a good time - I'm talking about Raindance, Future Dance and Elation (I just know this'll be a corker!) to name just a few. Sorry if this post sounds really negative. If you enjoyed Friday night then respect to you. I may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time but it seemed to happen quite a lot... Big shout to all I saw on the night! Too many names, to short a memory for individual shouts! ;) See you all at Raindance!!! Hold tight! Conrad.
