what a fucking wicked way to end 2001. once again, another ministry event that i'm struggling to find fault with. Apart from being absolutely freezin inside the dome, the whole night was absolutely tops. we arrived at the dome at about 9pm...walking through greenwich tube station was unbelieveable...everywhere you looked there were thousands upon thousands of ravers, and every 5 minutes people would start blowing their horns, cheering and chanting, as we made our way to the dome. thankfully me and jon had guest list tickets, so we got inside pretty quick, the normal queues were quite hefty, it looked like some people would be waiting a long time to get in. On walking inside, i instantly knew this would be a good night. If you havent ever been inside the dome, you have missed out! it is fucking HUGE, with plenty of bars, food outlets, two funfairs and acres of dancing space. Each arena (drum and bass, garage, us house, r+b) was covered by a big tent...except for the main arena (hardhouse) which was out in the open - still under the dome roof though. This was to be the only real downer of the night....it was bloody FREEZIN!!! i instantly regretted putting my nice warm fleece and jacket in the cloakroom...we heard temperatures outside were minus 3 (brrr) and inside the dome it wasnt much warmer! At midnight we made sure we were bang in the middle of the main arena, which was kicking off unbelievably! Dave Pearce was rockin the crowd with all the cheesy classic anthems, and people loved it! (dont take the piss all you dave pearce haters!) for the midnight tune, dave played "music is moving" - one of my favourite tunes. There were huge screens all around the arena with clocks on counting down the minutes, and as it hit midnight the whole place erupted....fireworks went off everywhere, glitter fell from the roof, two HUGE lasers slowly shone down onto the crowd and started doing some amazing special effects. out of all the NYE events i've been to, this was definately the best. I know i'll never forget that feeling when it reached 12am...just so many people jumping and hugging each other going crazy... I was very impressed with the d+b, ok the lineup wasnt amazing, but the dj's in there were playing some quality tunes with wicked mixes and scratching. There was one gash mc on all night, but thankfully his mic was very low so i could hardly hear him, and to be honest, as much as i do love my shabba d, it was nice to have a break from people chatting over the music! Popped in the garage room for a little look, didnt stay long! it was a typical garage arena, a few lager louts here and there, a few rudeboys, and lots of girls freezing in little skirts and high heels (snigger). despite there being quite a lot of garage peeps therte, i didnt actually see any trouble all night, not in any of the arenas, which was nice. Right the pro's and con's: pro's: wicked atmosphere in all the rooms, lots of people on the same vibe, very well organised, huge arenas to cater for the expected 40,000 people, lots of food outlets (for the crazy people doing naturals), excellent production, lasers, lights, special effects etc. cons: the coldness! (not their fault though i spose), the toilets (they all flooded which meant you had to walk through a load of pish to go for a pee!), the lack of bottled water (they ran out of water at about 4am!), no proper chillout area, although the floor was carpeted so i spose you could have used that. Anyway, wicked wicked wicked night! roll on next year, lets hope they use the dome again coz that venue is an experience i can tell ya!! (just hope they got heaters by 2003) Shouts to: jonathan (2002 :-x), smithers, time (we meet at last!), gemma (if you read this!) and everyone else who went!
