Many people were very sad at the closure of the legendary Diehard some months ago. It had had a lot of troubles with raids and the courts etc. and the original vibe seemed to have been lost just before it closed. Well this was either gonna be really good or really dodgy..... It turned out to be an absolutely wicked night! One of the best I've had there in years (apart from the famous Heidi's birthday party!) After we arrived at about 11.15 and paying 15 quid on the door (Bah!! didn't see any membership slips anywhere!!) It was apparant that a few tins of paint had been used - a lovely military battleship blue if I'm not mistaken - anyway I'm rambling on!! :) The bar has moved from the left hand side to the right and made larger. Wandering onto the already full and bouncin' dancefloor I noticed the other major change - the DJ box, made sturdy and moved right, into the corner where the stage used to be. This makes far better use of the space and stops the congestion around the door to downstairs which used to happen, and also makes more space to dance as well. Walking downstairs, they seem to have covered the rickety old metal staircase with wooden stairs - nice but they seem to have done this also to the stone stairs (which where fine as they were!!) Anyway - onto the music I spent most of my time upstairs in the hardcore room - only venturing downstairs for a chat and chill to some trancecore. When we got there I think it was Unknown (could be wrong though) who was doing the bizz for the maniacs on the dancefloor! Breeze, was on at about 12 or 1 and played IMO opinion the most interesting/innovate set of the night. Starting off with epic trancey happy hardcore (the first choon was amazing - Breeze what was it?) and continuing with a set that wasn't full on cheese but was trancy and happy at the same time. Slowly building up to choons such as his one and only Let's Fly. Stompy was up next and played a pretty good set. 3 o clock and Darren said that SS was up next so I trundled off downstairs - jungle hmmm - I don't think so! But eeek - he was wrong and so I only caught the last half hour of Brisk. Brisks set was well one word really - Brisk! Nuff said - top banging happy stuff! :) Sy was his usual good self and to finish the night was had the king of cheeze - Vibes - not my ideal choice to finish but not the worst - even though he is pushing the boundaries of cheeze to it's limits!! :) I've said it once and I'll say it again - a fantastic night with lots of old Diehard faces bring back the Diehard vibe. This is where the small venues win over the larger raves im my opinion - you can wander round Diehard and the dancefloor and give a big grin to someone and get a smile back from them - you can do this 5/10/20 times in one night to the same person - whereas in the Sanctuary you could never see the same person twice! Gimme more! Yum yum!
