On the 18th of August I decided to attend my first Species, it was also to be my first gabba/hard techno night in over 17 months and, also, my first time back at the Park club in Manchester in just over a year. I got lost on the way because you can no longer get to Grovesnor Street via the science area of the university (aaawwwww!), but I managed to get there at around 9.15. When I got there a few people were queing up outside. The searches by the security guy were lenient and I was asked if I had any drugs on me (you'd only say 'yes' if you were proper smashed, wouldn't you?). I handed my jacket & bag in to the cloakroom and made my way downstairs. The first thing I noticed was that several things in the venue had changed. The space through the arches was no longer available for dancing on, and instead it contained a few tables and chairs. The dj box was moved to the area near the steps going up to the toilets. Overall there was less dance space in the venue than before, but there were a few 'aqualite' tubes in there. Nice. I was a bit nervy at first cos I didn't see anyone I recognised. This was a different crowd to what I'm used to but then I bumped into Banksy at about 9.35 and I got chatting to him. By this time there were 50-60 people inside the venue, maybe more, but it was filling up rapidly. At about 10.00 I decided to take up the dancefloor and do my business !! It reminded me of my first time raving, being a bit nervy going onto the dancefloor n stuff but I quickly settled in. Like I said this wasn't the usual crowd I was used to, but the gabbers were cool, I shook hands with enough people and I had no problems. There was one incident where a guy was shoved in the back by the owner of the pint he accidentally knocked onto the floor, but there were no punch-ups or anything like that. The lighting was minimal, but nice and effective. Strobe lighting works very well with this kind of hardcore, if you ask me. As for the quality of the sound...well, who could complain about that??? The sound system was clear and VERY LOUD. I thought that my hearing would get permanently damaged ! The djs and guys doing p.a.s (Scotty, Rascal, Rage, Crossbones, Total Output & a couple of others) all played hard techno + gabba. They played quality tunes which I recognised from my Species tape. I was surprised, however, that no one played a set similar to M-Zone or someone like that. A slower techno / hard trance set in other words, because it was hard to keep up with 5 hours of relentless hard techno + gabba...without the use of drugs too !! There was very little mcing too which I found a bit strange. Total Output played for the last hour (I think) and I just went for it !! To my relief they started off their set relatively slow which encouraged me to get back on the dancefloor. The set was soon over, almost without warning and....there you have it. I made my way upstairs to the office but sadly, they had no Species tapes for sale :0( Overall I had a good night. Although this isn't MY usual kind of hardcore night and may have been better, if 1 or 2 slower techno or hard trance djs had been thrown in for good measure. I was still happy with the event which I had attended. The turnout was good without the place being crammed. The sound & lighting were decent, as was the music. The Species boys have done well to make this monthly night a success. Definitely worth checking out !!
