After a slight detour in June to the Que Club in Birmingham, Slammin’ Vinyl returned back to the Sanctuary for this event. Their event in April was pretty impressive and they used all 3 Denbeigh Leisure warehouses to very good effect on that night. This event here had the disadvantage though, that the Rollers warehouse was now sold and so could not be used. Slammin therefore decided to use the Fastrack (Magna Carta) warehouse as an actual dance arena for the first time ever.

I had watched the England / Germany game beforehand, so I didn’t arrive at the Sanctuary until about 10:30. I had a credit card booking, so I was on the guest list queue, but there was virtually no queue outside anyway. I picked up my ticket and was searched by a youngish woman who was actually pretty friendly and made a real effort to chat to me as she searched me. I was inside for about 10:40 and put my coat into the cloakroom (which was outdoors at the time). I then headed off to check off the Fastrack warehouse. Considering this was the first time that it had ever been used as a music arena, I thought Slammin had done a very good job with it. It is pretty much the same size as the Sanctuary and had bar and toilets inside. The stage was a decent size and had plenty of room on it for dancers. The DJ was located in a booth high up in the arena and almost reached the ceiling.

Either side of the stage were two sets of dance platforms, each arranged in 3 levels like steps. This meant that there was plenty of room to dance or sit down. Above the stage was a powerful green laser that filled the whole arena. There were also 2 video screens behind the stage showing visuals and there were plenty of lights around the arena. The sound system in there was okay, but it did sound a little distorted and not clear enough at times. The first set that I saw was Sarge and he was pretty good. He played a set of really banging hard house and it seemed to go down well with the crowd. After him came Billy Bunter who also played hard house, although his set was a bit softer then Sarge’s. Accompanying him was MC Marley, an old voice who was good to hear back again :)

Slammin had kept all hard house before midnight, then put the hardcore afterwards. After Billy Bunter, I headed off to the first meetup to see the others as well as checking out the complex. The bungee jump was back, but it looked far too shit scary for me to try it. They also had about 2 other fairground rides, a big merchandise stall (although no United Dance tickets) and a big chill out tent which showed films. I then headed off to check out Goldie who was the headliner in the drum and bass arena. The Sanctuary was rammed for his set and he was accompanied by the one and only MC Skibadee. Goldie played a lot of newer stuff that I hadn’t heard before, and overall it was really good set. After this I headed back to the Fastrack warehouse to see Mark EG finishing and Brisk starting his set. Brisk played his usual hard bouncy style with a few newer tunes and was a wicked set. MC Wotsee was on stage making his debut to Slammin, definitely a name to watch out in the future.

After this I went to the second USH meetup and then back to the Sanctuary to see Brockie. He played his normal jump up style drum n bass with a few well known tunes. On the mic for his set was Shabba, who I think is even better then Skibadee. Following this set, I had a breather and had a chat for a while. I heard some of UFO’s set from outside the Fastrack arena and it was nice and varied. He played a few Raverbaby tunes like ‘Its alright’, a couple of newer trance tunes that I’ve never heard before. He also played ‘Desensitize’ by Fury and I’m sure a drum n bass tune near the end of his set. I had planned to see Sy play the last set of the night, but the cloakroom took a lot longer then I expected. I eventually caught the end of Sy’s set and he was playing pretty good. He played the Evolution 55 tune and the new ‘Cold as ice’ nu style gabba tune, along with his trademark scratching. It did seem strange without MC Storm there though, as he was performing in America instead.

It was a good night overall and a quality event. My criticisms on the night are only relatively small ones. The security were quite rude and aggressive, but then they usually are at the Sanctuary. A friend of mine told me how he had his camera confiscated on the way in, and his horn taken off him, which was out of order. How on earth can you take horns from ravers ?? In the security’s defence though, there were a few rudeboy scuffles and they moved quickly to sort these out. The cloakroom could have also done with being a bit faster as well. Apart from these though, I have no other criticisms of the night and very glad I went.

Shouts go to: Nitesh, Wilson, Kev, Paul USH, Paulie, Crazy Chris, Jonathan, Beckiboo, HB, Ponder, Tom U4EA, Bug, Erika, Bedford Caine, Billy Bass, Misdee, Phick, Madman, Potfish, Ade, Rez, Ollie, Darren Rapid, Gemma + Becki, Cris E Manic, Uplift, Mikey B, Alarm, Kerry, Wotsee, Banksy, Snow, Paul Compulsion, Scottie, Stix, MC Wildcard :)

- Chedda (chedda@ush.net)