Anybody that hasn't yet been to Raindance is missing out, fact! It is easily the best rave in England at the moment and nothing else comes close. Don't believe me?? Then read on! Go to the venue nice and early ready for my set at 9.30 with Ponder. After the usual pre-rave meet-up at London Bridge we wandered down to the venue and got into the place at 9.25ish and headed to the hardcore arch to start the procedings in there. As I walked in I instantly noticed the effort put int the production in here. More lighting, laser, different decks set up, maybe a little high for the shorter DJ's amongst us but fine for me:-) Ponder and I played a slower than normal more breakbeat influenced set with classics such as You Belong To Me, Can you Feel it, Cold Get Lyrical, Music 99, Crazy Knowledge rmx and a couple of dubs from Robbie Long and Coyote (Crowd Control rmx and Trauma) both of which went down very well with the filling dance floor, as did our MC Elmowho was celebrating his 21st birthday in style. By the end of the set the archwas rammed but as I went to remove my headphones from the mixer my brand new gold plug broke leaving half the plug in the mixer. Ooops:-) Bosha following us had to play his first 6 tunes un-mixed before they fixed the problem. I sneaked out sharpish! Offg to dump my stuff at the merchandise stall and to the meet-up to meet all the regulars from USH and happylist. After some brief waffling I went to the old skool room to see what was going on in there. Can't remember who was playing but it was good stuff including Don't Go, Yeah Yeah Yeah etc. Now it was time for Vibes and Livelee but I thought I had better hang around to see what the Wixxkick PA was like. Amazing, the best PA I have whitnessed. They actually played the keyboards rather than miming and absolutely rocked the place with their brand of pianoey old skooly sounds with a couple of very hadcore sounding tunes. Great stuff. The whole venue was now rammed to the rafters and it was Raining inside at this point:-) Well I had missed Vibes at this point but wasn't too bothered, even though he did apparently play a good 95/96 set with no cheese!!!!! Livelee was a no show though (surprise)!! Next up was Jimmy J in the old skool room who played his usual 94/95 settage with the classics like Take Me Away, Six Days, Toy Town, Higher Love, 99 Red Balloons which went down very well with the crowd showing the old skool crowd like a bit of happy really;-) Well now it was time to head to the hardcore room for some more sweaty antics to Bunter who played a quality blend of 94-97 tunage including his trademark Higher Love into the 96 remix, Let It Lift you (cheers m8) and finishing with Bodyslam to the delight of the crowded arch. During this set I spotted cheeser of the night, Tony Raindance waving the worlds largest glowsticks at the front of the room and giving it some stompage. Class:-)The venue was getting hotter and wetter and if it wasn't for the fans placed strategically around the venue it would have been even hotter!! Time to chill and waffle with the USH after listening to some of Herman and Storms set where they were playing some of their new choonage including Atomic Pussy (you cheeser) crew etc and gather up some more energy:-) Here I saw bizzaaaarrreee moment number one. A geezer sat in the arch, well not sat but stood on his head for a good 20 mins up against a wall!!!! Heh enough of this madness, Lukozade was yp next in the nu skool/ old skool arch and played a good mix of classic 92 old skool and after a few tunes I had to have a sneak at Energy's set in the hardcore arch. Good stuff as always and pretty banging for a change all mixed to his high standard. Time for some hard house!! Had a quick boogie in here but couldn't get to grips with the lack of crowd noise. Believe me if you wanted crowd noise you need look no further than the hardcore arch or the old skool arch. The atmosphere was elctric and full of up for it happy ravers. The Raindance crew certainly know how to put on a party!! Anyway time to cool off again and found a nice cool space near the toilets at the back of the old skool arch and a huge sink where I submerged my head in water for a minute:-). More waffley bollocks and then off to the hardcore room for Uplift who, according to his name, played a very uplifing set and it went down well with the raving crew. Playing tunes such as Inf23, 24hrs In Aldershot and Shooting Star (joke;-)) he had the dancefloor rocking. I was in and out of both hardcore and hardhouse arenas at this point till I realised that I had left my fags on the DJ booth and people had been helping themselves. Arses! Well the hardcore room was supposed to finish at 7.00 but due to the packedness of the venue they kept it open all the way till 8.00 and Lukozade helped Uplift for the last hour still playing to a rammed dacnce floor. Missed Scotties set (soz mate) due to being unable to leave the hardcore arch. What can I say that hasn't been said before then?? Nothing. It just keeps getting better and better and more and more people are spreading the word. Raindance are number 1 and deserve to be after Saturday. Everything was spot on, they opened up the side doors when things got too hot, the production was spot on, lighting superb (wicked lasers), Rave Monkeys amusing, missed Raindance man, DJ's spot on and the crowd were fantastic, all happy and having it to the best Raindance at the Drome!! Is it getting too big for the Drome?? It will be soon, they need to go venue hunting again me thinks as this venue will only be big enough for the next couple of Raindances!! Only moan was the usual skanky floor but with that much heat, humidity, spilt drinks etc it wasn't as bad as it could have been:-) If you still haven't been get yer arses to the next one, you will love it, believe!!!!! Shouts out to: Paul I need the headphones pulled out to maximum length to get round my pony tail Ponder, Elmo, Ryan I'm off to the pub, anyone fancy a pint? Dissapearing Sonic, Jo ;-), Slammin' Sam with his tin of spam, Kev, Chedda, Ade, Androo + Jo, Caine (not northern one), Happy J, Egg Fried Rice, Paul + Carol, Joe Retro, Lloyd, Peachy, Chrissy, Steve, Luke, Wildcard, Beth, Twig, Ed, Alieeeson (nice to meetcha), SD, Phick, Bwad Bwoy Bwreaker, Luna VC, Kia, Clicky, MikeyB, Alister, Herman and Storm, Christopher, Bosha for not hitting me when my headphones bust in the mixer, Dan, U4ea, Billybase and Missdee, Paulie, Miss Go Mental and finally a big shout to the Raindance crew for a top night Richard, Tony, Dick, Natasha, Asiyah, Darren etc etc etc and to anyone else that my spongey brain missed out. You lot are wicked, see you at Riverdance:-) Boing:-)))))
