This night was my birthday night out as I was 22 on the day after, so I wanted to do something big to celebrate. When I heard that Flashback was on at the Que Club it seemed like the obvious choice to go to. I’d been to two Flashback events before and enjoyed both of them, so I was looking forward to this one as well. My mate was late getting into Birmingham by train so we didn’t arrive at the Que Club until 11:45, much later than I would have preferred. There was no queue when we got there so we walked right in to be searched. The security at the Que Club is probably the tightest that you’ll find anywhere, so they gave me a pretty thorough search. I went upstairs to drop my coat off and found a pretty big cloakroom queue, but it moved along fairly quickly and I was waiting there about 15 or 20 minutes. I headed straight off to the main room and checked it out. As always Flashback had put a lot of effort into the production, and hanging from the ceiling was a huge inflatable star and about four or five smaller (but still pretty big) inflatables. There were also two green lasers projecting into the arena, as well as other lights. If you’ve never been to the Que Club before it really is an impressive venue, and the main arena is a sight to behold, especially when it is full of ravers :) The first set that I saw was Phantasy and Gemini back 2 back. They played a mixture of well-known old skool tunes such as “This sound is for the underground” by Krome + Time and “DJs unite”, as well as some jungle tunes. Halfway through their set MC Storm arrived to hype up the crowd, which contained a lot of ravers with yellow waistcoats and glow sticks. After Phantasy and Gemini finished I headed off downstairs to the North arena to see Flashback resident and promoter Mistress Mo playing hard house. She played a banging set that included “Lets Rock” on Tidy Trax and “Freaky fukkas” by Ingo. The room was full and everyone in there was dancing away and enjoying themselves. Towards the end of this set I nipped upstairs to go to the toilets and heard Ray Keith play “The Chopper” then “2 degrees” in the main arena, so I had to go in and dance to those two :) Next up was Mark EG who I had been looking forward to seeing. He played a banging hard trance set as we’d expect from him, including a new anthemic EDM tune, which I think is called “Shadows and light”. I thought he himself was a bit reserved in his antics by Mark EG standards, but the set itself was very good. When Mark EG I went back to the main room to see the last part of Dougal’s set, alongside MC Storm. I couldn’t believe my ears when I walked in and heard him playing 97/98ish happy hardcore like “My way”, “Shining down”, “Devotion” and “Pretty Green Eyes” (which he finished off with). It really reminded me of being at Helter Skelter at that time, especially as MC Storm was on the mic as well. It wasn’t what I’d expected to hear at an old skool event, but most of the crowd seemed to love it (me included), although a few of the jungle people there didn’t look too impressed :) Once Dougal had finished I decided that it was time I saw some drum and bass for the evening, so I went to that arena to see the luscious DJ Rap play. She did a good set of tunes that I mainly hadn’t heard before, and it was nice to have a brock at least once during the night :) I then picked up my coat before the end and went back to the North room to see Vortex, who was doing the last set of the night in there. He played a mixture of hard trance and techno, which was all well banging. I can remember seeing him play somewhere earlier on this year and I was impressed with him then as well. Please get him back for next time :) When 6am arrived I couldn’t believe that it was over already, and as I had got there late the night had seemed to just fly by. Mistress Mo, Mark EG and Vortex had all done good sets on the night, but my set of the night has to go to Dougal for surprising me and playing happy hardcore in the main arena. This was my third Flashback event that I’d been to and definitely the best one yet. If you class Milton Keynes as south (which I do) then Flashback is the biggest event in the midlands. It often sells out and if not then it’s nearly full. The crowd are great and they have what is in my opinion the best regular dance venue there is around. The night has great musical variety, and at this event I heard old skool hardcore, jungle, hard house, drum and bass, happy hardcore, hard trance and techno. How many other events could you say that about? The next Flashback event will be early next year (probably February-ish) so keep your eyes out for the flyers and give it a try :) Shouts go out to Rich, Nitesh, Wilson, Marcus, Stu, Lollipop and MC Storm.
