Got to the sanc early, to be greated by a farly large queue (about half way down that long road) Then 10 minutes later. the queue had reached the end of the road! Waitied in the freeeezing cold for over an hour, until they started letting people in at about half eight! Put bag etc in the cloak tent pretty quick, and ran striaght for the chill out room, as all arena's were closed, met the ush lot inside and had a yarn! They opened up the DnB room first, which was good, as i wanted to see the sanc... and boy i was impressed! Lighting, sound, backdrops.. the works, a lot of work had gone into this! I started raving a bit to the sounds of swan-E who was on first.. he was playing a pretty good set, then kev came running over and said the fastrack was open! Everyone i knew ran out to the fastrack, where we were greeted with the sounds of sarge (i missed the brisk set cos he only played for about 5 minutes!) He played a nice HARDcore set, which was good as i was expecting a NRG set! :) Also had wotsee displaying some good MC'ing! Then came the mighty Scott Brown and MC Storm, two of the most prolific people in the scene today... i didnt want to miss this! I was not disapointed. the dancefloor all of a sudden was rammed, and i was up close, enjoying the sounds of scott brown, dropping some of the best evolution tracks around (including power of love!) He then stepped into the gabba side of things. i stayed for a bit, but then treked to the DnB room with madderz! We entered the sanc, to be greeted with a packed room full of drum and bass heads.. and by packed... i mean packed! The sactuary was also nicely decorated, and the lighting was wicked. We could berly move let alone dance... mampi swift was playing a wicked set of DnB showcasing some of his material on charge records! I went outside to the burger van to taste the natouriouse sanctuary burgers... they seemed alright untill it in the system : As sick as i felt, i was not going to let his deter me, i went straight back into the fastrack were Force and Styles were playing there new material, which was very upfront, vocally and quiet good! It was fast approaching midnight... the place was nicely packed, and kaos was on the decks by this point! He was showcasing his unique style of hardcore, which is very hard and fast, and very unique! I enjoyed this set alot as it was a fresh approach to hardcore... and made me just want to dance! :) But his set was over ... and on that note storm began the count down for the end of the year! Unfortunately i couldnt find any of the USH crew, so had to celebrate with myself, although everyone was shaking hands and hugging each other, so i wasnt left out! I enjoyed it when midnight came, cos the whole place was buzzin! Hixxy then stepped up for the midnight set, and who deserved such a set then hixxy? Anyhow, he did not disappoint, played all the new stuff on raverbaby, with tunes like "why oh why" and "open your mind" The whole place was rocking! :) I wanted to check the DnB room for the midnight set, so quickly popped in there to see hype playing a wicked set, alto it was to rammed to do anything, so i went back to the fast track to see the dougal set! He played a good set, with lots of good tunes! and @ the end he even dropped shooting star, which got the place rocking! Up next was (i think) Breeze, i didnt actually know the set times, as i never actually saw any line ups posted anywhere, so had to go by word of mouth! Anyhow, breeze played a nice set, playing deep inside, and other new infinity tunes! Then billy bunter stpped up on the decks, he played his usual material, at which point the USH meetup was on (thank god) and as i was leaving.. i noticed everyone else was, ush or not! Well got to the chillout tent, caught up with many people, had a laugh and a good old yarn. I then toddled over the the fastrack to catch the sharkey set! What a set... my set of the night definitely... he played a mixture of things, old and new, but on a freeform tip! Wicked set, and wicked crowd reaction! That was soon over, and came another wicked set! DJ SY!!!! I was really looking foward to this, as i hadnt herd much of the new quosh stuff, and have always wanted to hear a sy set! I was not disappointed, he dropped many quosh tunes, and many other new ones too like turn up the music. I did really like this set too, but was disappointed that storm had to go to Fantasy island, as i wanted to see a sy and storm set! I wasnt disappointed how ever, as whizzkid and sharkey were b2b, hyping the crowd to the max! I assumed Mark E.G was up next, so i took this moment to go and get my bag, befor the ques got to big... but when i got back, i was disappointed to see i had missed half of a demand set! I tried making the best of the rest of his set, which may i add was good, and he dropped classics! :) But before i could believe it, sharkey was wishing us a happy new year, and a safe journey home :( But he did drop one more, which got the place rocking LETS FLY AWAY!!!! On the whole, a wicked night, a bit of an anti climax how ever when it stuck 12, i was expecting something big to kick off! The night ended on a sourr note, when we realised neotechs car got broken into :( Anyway... roll on 2002 and massive shouts go to - Neotech, Kev, HB and sweetstar,cris-E (thanks for the slaps) and uplift, mungo, Sam, James, Charlie kitten,Ponder,Scottttttie,Hanny(give my hat back:P) and jon Mayhem(toothbrush crew) and mark ,Vicky and stix, astraboy, davespice, Grob le Frog, Holly, Mdma and his bird, Madderz, Joe R(eventually:P) Denno and his missus, Danny and blackie, Hattrix (altho i didnt see u), Fanta-C, NY Geezer, marshy, kaos, d-lyte, all the DJ's and MC's, and the slammin crew and security for not being arseholes, and everyone else i may have missed out or met! :) Peace
