Well the night started early for me. After picking up the new Elation tickets I went round to Kevs for the pre rave meet-up. Managed to shift two Elation tickets on a hard sell tip (only for U4EA to tout his later on in the night) on the way to the station. Well we met up with the usual suspects at Waterloo and instead of following them to London Bridge I stayed and filled my face at Burger King before meeting the rest of the Elation massive at Ponders flat. We arrived at FD to be greeted by the lack of queue again which is always nice but found out we were not on the guestlist as there was a bit of a cock up and Impact was late so we had to hang around looking like muppets for ten inutes. On the way in we were passed by Kev on his way out, hmmmmmmmm. Then a lovely bouncer bloke said "That's what'll happen to you if we find stuff on you too". Ooops Kev had been caught with some boiled sweeties!! The first stop for me was the old skool arena as I am too old to get straight into hardcore. Devotion was playing a very good set with fine mixing and tune selection even if it was a little predictable. Classics like SMD3, In Effect, Sing it Loud etc etc. You could probably name the tunes if you hadn't gone but a good warm up to the night. Now it was time for Energy playing at 11.00 which IMO is too early for such a class act. 1.00---> is when he should play as he really knows how to get the floor rocking and rammed. He played the set of the night for me with quality choon chosage and slipping in some old German hard trance numbers but it all went together very nicely. Next was the Silk Cuts P.A so I wondered off into the old skool room. I have nothing against PA's but if they aren't even going to pretend that it might be live is there any point? (The keyboard weren't plugged in and the singer was a bit quiet, but also quite tasty (see photos))!! DJ Blind was m,ixing it up 1991-92 stylee in the old skool rooms dropping the usual MUsic Takes You rmx, Way In My Brain style choonage and getting a good reception. The mixing was again okay, nothing spectacular, a couple of 1 bar out mixes but not too bad. A nice rest:-) Next up in the hardcore room was Impact who had to improve on his last FD set which was a bit cheesey and badly mixed for my liking. He did improve it and played a very good set with diverse choon chosage from happy to hard but not too cheesey. Overall a good set. But who was that I just saw?? Kev?? No it can't be? It was !!! He had gone home and changed out of his all blue tracky suit into grey shorts, green t-shirt, red bandana, shades and a West Indian accent which fooled security a treat. Well played mate, a classic in raving stories and an indication of what a diehard raver he is!! Well Impact now made way for the Vibes and special surprise gguest Livelee!! I was in the balcony with Paul at this point and we wanted to see the crods reaction to the inevitable opener, Boyzone rip off. The predicted ravers (Sam, Mikey B + a couple of others) left the room in disgust and we watched as the room started to empty only to refil after 10 minutes. The room was never more than half full all night but Vibes managed to get as many people in there as there were during Energy's set. The usual predictable cheese with a few decent tunes thrown in for good measure. He went down better than he did at Raindance but Livelee wasn't at Raindance was he?? Anyway fair play he did better than expected. During the last 5 mins of his set the room was only about 1/4 full again, maybe were in the old skool for Nicky Blackmarket or the firm but not hard house. Bit too commercial throughout the night although I missed Energy's house set. Well now it was the turn of Scott Brown who played his usual Evolution set playing the newer releases alongside the classics of EV40 and 41. I don't find his mixing that spectacular, beat matching is okay but nothing amazing but the room never seemed to get more than 1/4-1/3 full. Strange things like this kept happening all evening, where the people went I don't know. Anyway it was now 4.00 and time to flyer. Overall it was another good nights raving but the atmosphere was nowhere near as good as it was for the first one. I don't know why but that's ravers for ya:) The music was quite good and varied and the old skool room was good all night. Best sets of the night go to Energy in the hardcore room and Devotion in the old skool arena. The lighting in the hardcore arena was still too light but the effort that went into the decor and general organisation was spot on, couldn't have asked for more. They had about 8-900 people there, so about the same as last time but as long as this core 8-900 return the event can only go from strength to strength. Exams may have been a problem, holidays etc etc but there will be more at the next one. See you there:-) Happy Bounce Shouts to: Ponder, Sonic, Sam, Kev/AliG, Andrew + Jo, Rich + Jo, Peter and Emma, Paul and Carol, Barticle, Diewrecked, Gunnel, Chedda, Gyre, Jody, Dougal, Livelee, Raindance crew, Future Dance crew, Billybase and Missdee, U4ea, Nemesis, MDMA, Barking Boy, John, Alister, Peachy, Neil and anyone else I missed out due to my senile memory. Boing
