I then descended on the familiar path to Bagleys and could see a huge queue had already formed outside. Luckily I was in the credit card queue, so I got nice and quick and was in by about 10.15. After a fairly hassle free search by the bouncers, who I have to say were fine on the night and no way near as moody as they’ve been in the past, I was ready for some serious dancing. First stop for me was the hardcore arena, which had dance platforms situated in the middle of the dancefloor, for people to jump on and show their moves. Vinyltrixta was on the decks and played a mainly 96-98 set, which included quite a few happy anthems like ‘Party time’ and got the crowd nicely warmed up for the night. But the thing which initially struck me, was the quietness of the system in the hardcore arena. There was hardly any bassline, which meant me and many others were finding it difficult to really get into the music. Thankfully, the sound system improved later on in the night. But listening to the hardcore without proper bassline for the first few hours of the night, was a bit frustrating. Next up was Hixxy, who played a good set. Unleashing some of his new Raver Baby stuff, really got the crowd going. Some of the new tunes he played were very uplifting, some a bit too cheesy as well, but overall they went down very well. The hardcore arena was now rapidly filling up. It became very busy in there during the night, but no way near as rammed as I’ve seen it in the past. But there was enough space for everyone to dance and move around freely, which is always a nice thing. I then decided to go for a good old stroll around the venue to see how the night was shaping up. I thought the production seemed better in the arenas, more thought and effort had gone into décor this time around. The sounds systems could have been improved throughout though, there seemed to be a bassline deficiency in all the arenas. The atmosphere was good right the way through as well. I didn’t hear about or see any bad trouble all night, just minimum attitude and lots of friendly people about. Just past 12.00 so I decided to check out the drum n bass arena, which was rammed and sweltering hot as usual. Swan-E was on the decks alongside the Fearless and played a wicked rolling set which got more then a few rewinds to satisfy the crowd. Demand was on the wheels of steel next door in the hardcore arena and played a fairly decent set I thought. Opting to play tunes in a more bouncy style, which included a bit of the Spanish hardcore, some happy vocal stuff and finished off with a gabba tune. Quite a good set, a lot better and a lot less cheesier then I was expecting. MC Connie was on the mic for this set, who I didn’t think much off at all and no way near in the same league as Storm + Whizzkid, who got the crowds going all night as usual. The hard house/NRG room downstairs was quality as well and I was popping in there a few times during the night. It was rammed in there throughout and the music was nice and banging, sometimes reaching up to about 160 bpm. I do think having MCs to hard house is unnecessary though and does sort of ruin the enjoyment of the music. I would have loved to have spent more time down there, but there just weren’t enough hours in the night !! Over in the old skool arena, Vibes had just stepped up who I thought was excellent. Playing a mainly 93/94 mixture, dropping classics such as ‘SMD 4’ and ‘Ganja man’, which got the packed arena loving it. I’m not a big advocator of Vibes’ upfront hardcore sets, but I’m one of his biggest fans when I see him playing a classic 94 set with the sort of tunes which made him the name back then. Meanwhile outside it was raining and getting quite nippy, which was nice as soon as you walked out of the arena to help cool down. But after a while the cold set in, so everyone mainly decided to chill out inside, in any available space they could find. It was now 3.00 and next up in the hardcore arena was the man like Scott Brown. He started with his usual Evolution selection, blending together some of his new and old tunes like ‘Now is the time’ remix. Then in the last half of the set, he progressed into some nu skool gabba, which was what I was looking forward to the most. The Dutch hardcore was nice and banging and got the whole arena stomping hard and definitely my set of the night. DNA stepped up next for his much anticipated set to showcase his new breakbeat tunes to the crowd. The new tunes he played were basically like a happy style of drum n bass with vocals, strings + synths. I did think the tunes sounded too much like pure drum n bass though. But I can appreciate exactly the ethos to what DNA was trying to do with these tunes and full respect for him for sticking his neck out. His set went down a lot better then a lot of people were expecting as well. The first 15 minutes, a fair few people walked off, feeling a bit bemused by it all. But during the last half of the set, a lot of people came back on the dancefloor, ready to give it a chance, and seemed to be really enjoying it. Nice to see a lot of ravers out there giving something different a chance and being open minded……the way the rave scene should be. It was now 5.00 and time for the last set of the night and time for Sy. He played a good set, a nice uplifting set to really get the packed dancefloor going at the end. Dropping tunes such as ‘Break of dawn’ remix and ‘Return to Elysium’ made sure everyone left for home in high spirits. However, I did think the hardcore music overall was disappointing on the night. Some of the sets in the hardcore arena were pretty good, but no sets really took me aback in terms of quality and fresh tune selection. Maybe a few more of the fresher DJs / producers should be booked more to showcase lots of new tunes to the crowd and give that extra depth to the music. Overall it was a good night, but not a patch on some of the old SV Bagleys nights I’ve experienced in previous years. But still, I really enjoyed it, I’m glad I went and also nice to see some of the problems Bagleys suffered in the past have been sorted out. Big Shouts to: Kev, Happy Bounce, ‘The Ponytailed Warlord’ Ponder, Sonic, ‘The Beerboy’ Smithers, Steve, Chrissy, Luke, Ruth, Adidas Matt, Beth, DNA, Lord Crane, Charlotte the cheeser, Velocity, Madman, Scottie, Becki, Jonathan, Snow, Dodgee, Wotsee, Miss Go Mental, Jexxy, Tom U4EA, ‘The London Thug’ Swaver, Mupster, Phick, ‘The Peterborough Psycho’ Potfish, Misdee, Billybass, SD, Simon Mdma, Stargazer, Dimi, Gaz, Egg Fried rice, Bedroom raver, D-Jam, Andy Plu raver, Dairymilk warrior, Allan Mcgrath, Carly madraver, Lloyd, Ade, Andy T, Paulie of the Birkenhead, DOK, Jon Doe, Snort, Raver Geoff, Katic, Ward-E, Dave Mentalist……hugs to the girls, handshakes to the boys……seeya around soon :) Over and Out Slammin’ Sam
