The night started out, as usual, with the same old ridiculously long Slammin’ Vinyl queue. I waited for the best part of two hours as I watched people on the guest list casually waltz in. I was even envious of the people in ‘The Cross’ at one point while I was stuck out in the cold. I put all this out of my mind though and decided to make conversation with strangers in the queue to pass the time quicker. There was the usual atmosphere outside although I’d seen better at previous events. After a lenient search by security, I finally arrived inside Bagleys once again. Unfortunately, I was too late for the USH meet-up although it wasn’t long before I saw everyone who seemed to be having a good time. After getting rid of my coat, I wondered into the Old Skool room where Vibes was playing alongside, to my surprise, MC Live-Lee. He played some nice tunes including the usual few anthems like ‘Sweet Harmony’. I waited to the end of his set before taking a walk into the main arena where Lisa Lashes was spinning the new Hard House stuff. I could definitely see a new crowd of people at Bagleys (defined by a ‘different’ dance style and dress sense) who are obviously good for the promoter but are they good for rave culture? It seems to me that, with the garage style already prevalent in most premier raves such as Slammin’ and United Dance (if you can still call that a rave), we are moving closer to the club scene and their culture. Moving swiftly on, I headed downstairs to check out the hardcore in arena five, (better than four I suppose. As I walked into the happy hardcore room the atmosphere was good and only got better when DJ Vibes stepped up again with MC Live-Lee. The only problem was, there was hardly enough space to move let alone dance. All the new Go Mental stuff came out of the bag including ‘Sorry’ and the ‘Don’t Cry’ remix (twice) which was then topped off by the all time classic, ‘Techno Wonderland’. By the end of his set the crowd was hyped and ready for Sharkey who kicked things off on the harder edge as usual dropping ‘Now Control’, a personal favourite, half way through and then finishing with some other free-form stuff. Set of the night though would have to go to DJ Vibes for his incredible 100% happy hardcore set complete with my favourite MC. I floated about during Energy’s free-form set heading up-stairs where Billy Bunter was playing more hard house. After a while, I got bored of this new ‘future’ stuff and went to the merchandise stall where, out of sheer boredom, I bought loads of stuff I didn’t need and couldn’t really afford. I met up with some more USH people and we went back down to the happy room and found a nice place to chill for a bit while I listened to a nice bit of Dougal showcasing the ‘new style’ Essential Platinum stuff. Out of nowhere, I felt a sudden surge of Energy and a need to Dance when Vinyltrixta stepped up for the last set of the night. He finished with, surprise, surprise, yet another remix to ‘Shooting Star’ twenty minutes early which was annoying but then I remembered that security clear out arena 5 first. This was okay though because I knew Slipmatt was upstairs and a mate was getting my coat so I headed up excitedly only to find that the ‘God Father’ of hardcore was actually playing hard house again. I enjoyed it as much as I could but the pace and the vibe that the music carried was just not enough for me. Then, to my surprise (no, really), Shooting Star was spun in which, despite the tune being milked at every rave over the last couple of years, ended the night on a high note. Leaving the venue, I walked through the flyer queues which were mostly gone by the time I left except the people promoting ‘Elation’ who were the last ones their (what dedication). I remember thinking back to previous Slammin’ Vinyl parties and deciding that this wasn’t the best night I’ve had at Bagleys but I made the most of it and that’s what really matters. Shouts To: Kev, Happy J, Cris.E.Manic, Andrew, MDMA, Andrew’s girlfriend, Tina in Bristol, Slammin Sam and all the rest of USH, Chris R. & Aaron, Praise to Sharkey for Toytown –you know you love it really, DJ Happybounce, Bridey, Bridey’s boyfreind, Edgar or Jon & all the Bluelight crew, George Doors, all the Harrow crews, Kaotic Kaos & all the US ravers, The Haynes brothers and Conrad, Johnny Go Mental, Kevin (Energy), MC Suicide, DJ Preacher, DJ Storm, Chedda, Mark Simmonds and everybody else who I’ve forgotten but know or have met and everyone still keepin’ it 100% hardcoreJ Seeya all at that next one! <~PEACHY~>
