If there's one thing that I love about the hardcore scene then it's how everyone comes together in hard times, and recent months have shown that. After becoming disillusioned with the lack of good quality raves around, three ravers from this site decided to set up their own new one. It had been planned since a few months ago and everyone from USH was eager to see how it would turn out. We all got to the venue at just before 10:00. The Chunnel Club is under ten minutes walk from Vauxhall station so it isn't that hard to find. I was given a fairly thorough search by the security and then went inside. I thought the security seemed a bit moody, and while I wouldn't go so far as to call them unfriendly, I wouldn't call them friendly either. As we got inside the venue seemed quite empty and I was a bit worried that it might have stayed that way and the event would be unsuccessful. However this was not the case at all. First set was Happy Bounce and he played a decent set with a few older tunes you wouldn't have thought of straight away. The second set was Lukozade who was playing an old skool set. He can undoubtedly scratch but as I'm not a massive old skool fan I chose to see Ponder's set in the hard house room instead. Ponder played some great hard house tunes, a style that I'm getting into a lot more recently. I think hard house works well with hardcore, definitely better than the drum and bass you get at Slammin Vinyl and Labyrinth etc. At midnight was Brisk and as soon as he came on the room seemed to fill up immediately. Brisk's mixing was flawless as always, and he played his usual style set with tunes like "Eye Opener 99" and "Pilgrim". MC Live Lee did the second half of this set and it was great to see him at a rave again. After Brisk the tempo went even faster with Majestik on the decks.. His was the only freeform set there and for me it was the set of the night. He played some absolute freeform anthems such as "The Awakening", "Distornord" and of course the immense "Now Control". I'd like to see more than one freeform set at the next Elation. At 2:00 was the second big name guest, DJ Breeze. He was accompanied by MC Live Lee who told us that "Hardcore has gone underground, so it's up to us to help it out again". People have been slagging off Vibes recently, maybe with good reason, but this event showed that Live Lee is as good as he ever was. Breeze didn't play it as trancey as he normally does, instead dropping in tunes like the "Shooting Star" remix. The next set was Sonic, who as his name suggests played a fast hardcore set. He played "Oblivion" and "Hardlife" by Sharkey, a tune containing possibly the most uplifting break EVER. The penultimate set was Ponder doing a 95 set. He dropped in plenty of recognisable tunes like "Higher Love", and finished off with "Toytown". Suddenly the last set of the night had arrived. It was Cris E Manic accompanied by MC Wildcard and even though I was nearly exhausted by this point I managed to find the energy to dance through it. Cris E played a selection of tunes from around 98ish such as "All I Need" and "Passion" to finish the night off with. At the end of the night I was tired, but satisfied, because I knew that I had witnessed something special. This was a brand new rave put on by three ordinary ravers like you and me, and it had gone really well.There were so many people there I knew and it was great to see mates behind the decks. The atmosphere there was great with not even a hint of any trouble. The club was a good rave venue, although the hard house room was quite empty for most of the night. The only thing that I can fault the whole night on was that there was no running water in the gents toilets. The only way to get a refill was to find a female friend and send her into the ladies with a water bottle, which wasn't always practical. I'm sure it doesn't need explaining how dangerous it is to not provide drinking water at a rave. However this was really the fault of the Chunnel Club management, and I'm sure the Elation crew will get it sorted out for next time. To sum up, this was a brand new rave put on by three ravers with no previous experience of promoting nights. It was a great atmosphere and the whole night was a success. With new raves like this springing up, the days of Slammin Vinyl in the hardcore scene are surely numbered. Come to an event that cares, and is ran by people who want to move the scene forward, not just fill their wallets by overfilling the venue and letting in raving dregs like the Birkenhead crew. The next Elation is on July 21st and if you care about the hardcore scene then you really should be there. See you all at Future Dance. Shouts go out to Sam, Kev, Radium, Smithers the taxi hoaxer, Majestik, Cakes, Charmy, Dimi, Peter and Emma, Alistair, Caine, Unit-E, Danny, Gaz, Adidas Matt and Beth, Cris E Manic, Lukozade, Uplift, Nemesis, Barking boy, Breaka, Ravegirl, Icekold, Andrew and Jo, Tony Raindance and Natasha, Johnny Go Mental, MC NRG, Carly Madraver and Chris, Conrad, Snow, Jamie, Happy J, Nick EP, Paul and Carol, Billy Bass, Misdee, Darkcyde, and most of all to the promoters Happy Bounce, Ponder and Sonic for making the effort.
