Well here it is - I've been raving for nearly a year now, and the 31st December had arrived - and with it the opportunity for my first ever Hardcore Rave at New Year's Eve!!! There was never any doubting, in my mind, which event I would choose, as over the past year I think Raindance at the Drome has become my second home! Before this rave I had been to four of the five Raindances at the Drome this year and they just kept getting better and better and better. Raindance never seem to rest on their laurels, they keep things fresh, they increase the standards every time - and I was certainly looking forward to 9pm on the 31st December 2000 a great deal!! Jimfish, Nats and I all arrived at Waterloo station just in time to catch up with most of the USH crew, and to join them in their journey to the meetup at London Bridge Station by 8pm. When I arrived at the venue shortly after 8pm there was already a sizeable queue - and by the time the doors opened at 9pm I swear the queue had nearly reached the other end of the tunnel!! After a fairly non-eventful search at the door I was in by about 9:15pm, and I was already buzzing off the NYE vibe! The cloakroom queue was massive - I really didn't see it get any smaller all night I think - so I stuffed my records behind the decks and had a wander around. Every time I enter the Hardcore room at Raindance I am amazed how much effort they put into the production. There was a wicked laser, with mirror balls, and a cool Mirror-Suit man standing in the corner for the laser to bounce off. The stage construction was even better than the 11th Birthday one - difficult to see the DJs though, I always liked the fact that at Raindance the DJs were on your level and you could easily reach across and poke them (heh). The rest of the lighting in the hardcore room was also top-notch stuff - and the cooling fans at the front were a heaven-send when the temperatures soared later on in the night. I'm actually determined to make this a short review - not because I feel that my other reviews were too long, but mainly cos I can't really remember much of the night it was that good!!! Kaos and Simon Apex played a nice set with Ethos on the mic, dropping some fresh new tunes alongside some other well known ones - including a remix of Sunshine I think. Up next were the legendary duo - Ponder and Happy Bounce. Well I really think that it is appropriate at this point to congratulate these two on an unbelievable year in Hardcore. Huge amounts of respect go out to Mark and Paul for doing so much - DJing at loads of events, starting up (in conjunction with Sonic) Elation, and now starting to produce tracks of their own. Bo! Their set was, obviously, up there amongst the very best on the night - and their new track was... mmmmmm... heavenly! At this point I think I had a little sit down. You see, I came to Raindance this time with the intention of experiencing the whole Raindance "thing". OK, bit bizarre I know, but normally I just stomp away in the hardcore arch - fair enough - but I thought I'd broaden my appreciation of Raindance and try to master the art of chilling. Fantastic, chilling with Caine, Jexxy and others, smoking away, not a care in the world - just what I needed! You know there's this huge slice of this island in the Canaries that could splash into the water and cause a tidal wave 3 miles high that would flood most of the USA? You learn things like this by chilling :) Blaaaargh, it was nearly 12am, nearly time for the year 2001!!! (hmm, I wonder how Whizzkid will fit the year 2001 into his rhymes...) I stumbled into the Hardcore room, just in time for the last couple of tracks from Herman and Storm, and just in time for Whizzkid to start his countdown to 2001. I'm in two minds whether to attempt describing the feeling I got around this time. I've been looking in my dictionaries, and I really don't think they've invented the words to sum up exactly what was going on. It was the highest feeling of happiness. It was this over-riding feeling of unity, of one-ness (raver-waffle yey), everyone just reaching out, hugging people for ages, one person after another "happy new year, happy new year". Then the most surreal experience of my life was when the main riff from Toytown was played, and every whistle, every horn and every voice blew to the rhythm of the tune. I don't know how, I don't know what - but it was... the best. I caught quite a bit of Energy's set - blinding as usual mate - but it was interrupted by the USH meetup shenanigans at 12:15am. At least I remember thinking that we should be over there, and I think we eventually did arrive at the meetup point at about 12:20am, but I've got a feeling I kind of stayed there chatting to people and smoking till about 3am!! Hahaha, but I loved it. I missed most of Uplift's first set (standing in for DNA) - what I did hear was very nice indeed - and all of UFO's set, which was a bit disappointing for me, as I really rate that guy, and wanted to hear what he was playing. What I loved doing was just closing your eyes, holding someone's hands in the air, who is standing in front of you, and both thinking the same scenario. For example, one of the best ones you can do is when you both stand in front of the fan things, and imagine you're standing on top of the highest mountain, with the wind blowing past you, away from everything, with the music playing in your ears. Another one, which freaked me out last night, cos Deep Impact was on, and that was scarily similar - was to imagine you're standing on a beach looking out to sea. All you can see is the flat calm sea, but then you see an uprising in the distance, and it is, in fact, a huge tidal wave coming towards you. You see it growing and growing and getting closer and closer, until it engulfs you. It's wicked when two of you do it, cos you can feel your body arching, and your grip tightening, and you always come out of the trance at the same time, and just stand there staring at each other - really really wicked. My god, I've just chatted complete shit - sorry bout that hahahaha. Back to the rave, erm, yes - Uplift was on at 3am for his second set of the night. And what a set that was. The prestigious Tom Bennett Set Of The Night Award goes, without a shadow of a doubt, to the one and only DJ Uplift. What a set. 95/6 hardcore I seemed to remember, but avoiding the obvious anthems, only selecting the true hardcore classics - tunes to bring a tear to the eye, tunes that leave you grinning from ear to ear, and stomping like a mad man. Top stuff all year mate - nice one :) Gosh, then it was... Cris-E-Manic!!! Wahaaaay!!! This was the one point in the night where the stage was a bit annoying, cos I do appreciate being able to see the DJ at times in the night such as this ;) Hahaha, once again a fantastic set from Crissy - most of the tunes were new to me, and all the tunes I loved!! I think it was time for another chilling session at this point, and unfortunately it kind of over-ran to nearly half way into Hixxy's set. The 40 minutes I did catch though were rather good indeed. Come together, right now, oooh yeah, in sweet harmony. That's all I really need to say about that set. Thank you Hixxy :) Hahahahahahahahahaha, then it was 6am. Then it was time for me in the Eclectic Arch. Wicked :) Probably the most enjoyable hour of my entire life. I was doing my very best Mark EG impression - bouncing along behind the decks - mixing was spot-on I reckoned (hehe), and honestly what a laugh. The energy that a DJ puts in is so important to me. That's why I'm seen bouncing behind the decks, hands in the air, whistle in my mouth - I love mixing, I love djing, and I hope that is transferred to the ravers (hahaha). That hour just summed up the entire night for me. The music I loved, the people I loved, the whole "yeah, it's hardcore, yeah it's NYE, yeah we're just going to take the piss and we're going to LOVE IT!!" atmosphere. Wicked mate, absolutely wicked. I think Luke was thinking along similar lines to me - fair play to him though, he pulled it off in rather more style than me though - and it really came through to the ravers. Lovely tune selection, and a nice way to start to finish off the night. After Luke was Vibes, who to be fair to him, played a nice set - avoiding the awful selection of the last Raindance (Friends remix, etc) - choosing some classic tunes from yesteryear, and mixing without noticeable clangage (Crissy and I were listening very carefully, and I'm sure she'll agree with me). And then it was all over. As I said in the meetup list - Raindance, who needs heaven? Now for the shouts... Big huge massive New Year Shouts to: James, Natalie, Kev, Caine, Jexxy (really really cor blimey guvnor so absolutely mindblowingly rather fantastically unbelievably sexy hahaha), Kat (on holiday skiing, bah it's alright for some innit?), Ed (my god, what a nice New Year's surprise seeing you there!!), Slammin Sam, RaverJo, Androoo, Mupster, Miss Go Mental, Fussion (cheers again for the headphones, I'll buy some of me own soon hehe), Acidnik, Ade, Phick, Nic from Onelove, Dan, Gemma, the other bloke (sorry I've forgotten your name!) and his girlfriend, SimonMDMA and his brother, Potfish, Denno, DJ TI, Bedroom Raver, Mad Man, Danny, Lukozade, Ponder, Happy Bounce, Uplift, Cris E Manic, Elmo (eek man, bad luck geezer), Vyper, Tony Resonance and Natasha, Dick Raindance, Richard Raindance, Misdee, Billy Bass, Conrad, Peter, Emma, Barticle, Jamie, Mikey B, Dan and Joe, Ardee, Spike, SD, Doug, Craig, Kev Energy, Jonny, Peter Ethos, Icekold, Stix, Gordon Whizzkid, everyone I met, everyone I didn't meet - see you all at FUTURE DANCE 5 - 3rd March 2001!!!!!!!! PS "I'm actually determined to make this a short review" - I lied obviously! LOL Tom Bennett / DJ U4EA
