Over the past year Slammin Vinyl have made multi arena events at the Denbeigh Leisure Complex their own, being the only hardcore promoter to now use the site, and the only dance promoter at all to use more than one of the warehouses. When I first heard about this event I knew I would be there, as I never miss Slammin’s events here. Good old Virgin trains made sure that I was late by delaying my train from Sheffield, making me miss my connection at Birmingham. This meant that I got there 45 minutes later than I otherwise would have done, and totally missed Mark EG’s set. This was made even worse when I was told by a mate that he thought this was the set of the night. When I arrived at the venue there was quite a big queue outside, but they kept it moving quickly and I was in after about 30 minutes. When I got to the search tent I found out this was because they were walking everyone through without searching them. Getting in quicker is nice but I would prefer everyone to be given a full search just to be on the safe side :) I went to the cloakroom and found a big queue there, but this was kept moving well and I was only waiting there about 15 minutes. I walked straight into the Fastrack warehouse to check it out, and was very impressed with what I saw. The entire ceiling of the arena was covered in black drapings which had trippy UV drawings all over them. Behind the stage were about three or four projection screens showing video displays, there were dancers on stage, and best of all the arena was rammed. The first set that I saw was Dougal and he played a mixture of old and new. He dropped in happycore classics like “My way”, “24/7” and the original “Steam Train”, along with a few newer tunes that I’d never heard before. These were in the standard Dougal happy style and seemed to go down well with the crowd. I missed the end of Dougal’s set as I headed off to the first USH meetup, and it was good to see plenty of USH ravers there. I then went back into the Fastrack warehouse to see the second half of Billy Bunter’s set. He played the Stimulant DJ’s remix of “Only me” on Tidy Trax, “Feel my desire” by Code 28, and then finished off with a few old skool tunes, including his own “Higher Love”. After Bunter came my absolute favourite, DJ Sharkey. I’m a massive Sharkey fan and he didn’t disappoint me with a stomping set of rock hard and dark freeform. He played a few new tunes I hadn’t heard before, “The Baptism”, “Badass” on Go Mental Dark, and a few classics like “It’s all just hardcore” and “Now Control” (which he finished off with). As his last tune came on he took over the mic and made me laugh by clowning around in the usual Sharkey style :) Next up was UFO but I missed his set as I went for a wander. I headed off to the chill out room where I sat and watched a bit of the film “Dune” with a mate, then went on the dodgems. These were £1.50 a turn, but I got a fairly long go for my money. The outside complex had quite a few fair rides there (more than last time), as well as a full merchandise stall selling loads of different things. I headed back to the Fastrack to find that I’d missed Hixxy’s set as well, and got there just as Brisk had started his. He played a decent set of banging hardcore, apart from one shocking rip off of “Silence” by Delirium. Can we please have less of the trance rip offs please guys? :) After Brisk came Scott Brown, who started off with some off his nu-style gabba tunes. I caught the first few tunes he played and then went across to the Sanctuary to see Grooverider on the decks alongside MCs Shabba and Dett. He played a good set of drum and bass, and Shabba is my favourite dnb MC so that meant I enjoyed it even more. I stopped in there for about half an hour before heading back to catch the end of Scott Brown’s set. At most Slammin events I normally see about two hours of drum and bass, but I was really enjoying the hardcore here so this was the only half an hour of drum and bass I saw all night. Scott Brown finished his set off with “Eardrumz”, handing the headphones over to Sy for the last set of the night, accompanied as always by MC Storm. I think that Sy has really improved over the last few months, and almost every tune in this set was either new or newish. His set was mainly Evolution tunes such as the “Now is the time” remix, “Elyssium” (which he scratched in), and “Turn up the music” which he finished with. He also played a few tunes I hadn’t heard before, which I assume are forthcoming Quosh releases. Sy’s scratching was wicked as always, and MC Storm was also on form to keep the crowd up for it. I thought that Sharkey played the set of the night but Sy came a close second for me. This was one of those nights for me where 6am came and I was amazed that it was over already. I felt that I could have gone on for at least a few hours, and this is the mark of a great event. There was a great atmosphere on the night, reminiscent of the kind of atmosphere that Helter Skelter used to generate at the Sanctuary a few years back. The production in the Fastrack was extremely good, and this must have been the first sanctuary event that I’ve been to in years where the hardcore arena was busier than the drum and bass one. The music played in the Fastrack warehouse was all varied and there were loads of new tunes that were played on the night. I thought that Slammin Vinyl’s event here in September was quite good, but this one was much better, and everyone who I spoke to seemed to agree with this. The only real criticism that I can make of the night is that the Fastrack male toilets got very busy, and about halfway through the night they had to put a security guard at the entrance and form a queue to get in and out of them. Two cubicles and two urinals in not enough for a warehouse the size of the Fastrack. This is only a minor criticism really though. Slammin Vinyl’s next event at the Sanctuary is on New Year’s Eve. This was a very good rave, and Slammin have an impressive line up for NYE, but I have to choose Fantasy Island at Skegness for my New Year’s Eve night out. Make sure that you choose one of these two though and don’t stop in :) Shouts go out to Nita, Scottie, Madderz, James and Charlie Kitten, Kev, Emma, Becki, Ponder, HB, Sweetstar, Cris E Manic, Uplift, Lukozade, Bedroom Raver, Mike and Missus Sureal, Ted the Pornstar, Phick, Caine, MDMA Si, Stix, Lynchy and Boo, MC Blaze, Ravegirl, MC Gazy J, Banksy, KRS, Tom U4ea, Ade, MC Storm, Sharkey and anyone who I’ve forgot.
