Well this was Slammin Vinyl’s new look night so I was very intrigued to see how the night would turn out. For the first time ever I managed to arrive at Bagleys before 10.00. There was already a huge queue outside but I managed to get onto the credit card guestlist queue, so I was in nice and quick…….for a change !! After a very firm search by security I finally got inside just after 10.00 and headed straight to Arena 1. The stage was at the front as usual but I noticed that the production in here didn’t seem as good as normal. The sound system was average and there were no lasers to be seen in sight, standards seemed to have slipped quite a bit. Now first up was supposed to be Vinylgroover, but when I looked up it certainly wasn’t him on the decks. In fact it was the one and only Scott Brown, which made a very nice surprise. Scott Brown’s extra long set was excellent, it was so refreshing to hear the sort of hardcore he was playing and probably the set of the night in my opinion. Obviously dropping lots of Evolution tunes, playing new ones alongside the more well known such as ‘Elysium’ had the crowd going mad on the dancefloor. I managed to pop downstairs to Arena 5 to see Hixxy how was playing. In fact he was playing very well, lots of proper banging hardcore, none of the slow trancey stuff. It was also already packed down there too, which signalled to me the night was going to be very busy indeed. Back in Arena 1, it was time for DJ Sy who played a reasonably good set. Dropping tunes like ‘Kick it’ and ‘Space Odyssey’. But I really do think Sy’s sets have become a bit too predictable over recent months. But the crowd were loving it nevertheless and with Storm giving his all on the mic, made sure everyone was stomping mad. Back down the stairs, and time for DJ Sarge who was making his debut to Slammin’ Vinyl. Instead of playing hardcore he was playing hard house, eventhough it was supposed to have been a completely hardcore room. The hard house played on the night was generally quite banging, at about 160 bpm. In fact for a bit, I danced to some of it myself. But the thing about hard house is that it all sounds the same after about half an hour. Doesn’t seem to have the depth or variety that hardcore seems to have. My general conception was that a lot of ravers did stay on the dancefloor when the hard house came on, but a lot of them had enough after a while and walked off. From then on the night went sort of downhill for me. Trying to get back up the stairs was a mission. The staircase was packed and I mean really packed. Sometimes it was dangerous because someone could easily have slipped and got crushed. In fact the venue in general was far too packed and way over capacity. This really put a downer on the night for me and many others who were there. Why the Slammin Vinyl management overfilled Bagleys, just like they did at United Dance, I will never know. The only reason I think was down to greed and trying to make as much money as possible. Due to the crushes constantly taking place on the staircase, I was unable to head to Arena 5 again for most of the night, which was a shame because I missed out on a lot of good sets I was hoping to see. Another bad aspect of the night was the security. Who I have to say were the most strictest and aggressive I’ve ever seen at Bagleys. I heard numerous reports of people getting hassle in the toilets and even saw myself one poor bloke getting smacked by the bouncers in the outdoor chillout area, while everyone was watching in disbelief. I would say they were as bad as Sanctuary Security behaviour, which is not a reputation Bagleys security really want to have, because it will ultimately drive a lot of people away. I was now confined to the top 3 arenas only, so I decided to head to Arena 2 for a bit of drum n bass. DJ Ash Attack was on the decks alongside MC Five-O. It was a wicked set, dropping tunes like ‘Original Nuttah’ rmx, had the horns crews going mad. The Slammin’ Vinyl drum n bass room is always firing and tonight was no exception. I then headed next door for a bit of old skool, where Billy Bunter had just stepped up. He played a wicked set of mainly 90/91 old skool, which was nice to hear as he played tunes you wouldn’t really hear in most old skool sets. Dropping tunes like ‘Playing with Knives’ by Bizarre Inc and other classics had the packed room loving it. I also thought the atmosphere generally throughout wasn’t good as normal. Slammin’s in the past have always nothing but excellent atmospheres, but this night there seemed to more moody people about. I heard of numerous fracas taking place throughout the night. I’m not sure whether it was down to people getting annoyed with the overcrowding or what, but the usual Slammin’ vibe was most definitely missing. But having said the vibe in the hardcore room was top as always, which was where I headed next for the sounds of Brisk. He played up to his usual high standards. Playing nice and banging, unveiling some new Next Generation / Blatent Beats, had the rammed arena going mad on the whistles and horns. It was now 3.00 and again I would have liked to head down to Arena 5, but the staircase was now completely sealed off by security. So I was forced to head to the old skool room for a few hours where Ratpack were playing the same old set as always and then followed by Nicky Blackmarket who played a wicked mixture of old skool jungle. Playing tunes like the ‘Lighter’ tune and ‘Champion Sound’ had the packed crowd screaming for rewind after rewind. Time for the last hour so I trundled over to Arena 1, hoping to hear Slipmatt playing a banging hardcore set. But instead he did the dirty, and played hard house instead. It wasn’t even proper banging hard house either, it was weak commercial hard house..….what a sellout. Within 2minutes, I had enough of that, and headed straight down to Arena 5, which was now at long last fully accessible. Vinyltrixter was down there playing a banging set of hardcore. But to add insult to injury to the night, the room shut down a full 20 minutes earlier then the scheduled finishing time. Whereas the garage room upstairs was allowed to go full on until 6.00……an utter disgrace. Sounds to me that the Slammin’ Vinyl management have really lost track off their roots. Overall it was a really disappointing night. The greedy overcrowding really was inexcusable, making it a bad night for a lot of ravers and the over aggressive behaviour of the security didn’t help either. I’ve been going to Slammin’ Vinyls since the first ones back in 1996 so I know exactly what to expect from them. But to be honest I’ll doubt I’ll ever go to Bagleys let alone Slammin’ Vinyl ever again. Bring forward the promoters who actually give a damn about the ravers. More importantly bring forward the promoters who GENUINELY care about the future of the hardcore scene and not care about on how to maximise their bank accounts. Big Shouts to: Joe, Kev, Chedda, Happybounce, Andrew, Jo, Conrad, Jaimie, Chrissy, Steve, Luke, Roo, Adidas Matt, Ponder, Ryan, Paulie, Tom Bennett, Gum, Happy J, Barking Boy, Scottie, Peachy, Chris Rolfe, Mikey B, Fussion, Snow, DJ Horn, Nemesis, Carly, IceKold Pete, Stix, Dimi, Tony, Storm, Whizzkid…..…hugs to the girls, handshakes to the boys……..seeya around soon :) Over and Out Slammin’ Sam
