I hadn’t been to a hardcore rave since Dreamscape 1999 so I had high hopes for this event. The last couple of raves I went to had seen declining numbers and hardcore demoted to much smaller rooms. I welcomed a whole venue being use for Hardcore. I fished work at eight and met my girlfriend for a couple of drinks. After getting off the tube at Vauxhall I stopped to ask a couple directions to the club to save my usual directional skills getting us lost. We followed them to the club and found a lot of happy people queuing into the car park even though it was just gone 10pm. The rain couldn’t dampen my spirits as I got closer to the doors. After a polite and fair search and a quick cloakroom queue, I ventured upstairs and walked into to the sounds of Jedi and Stormtrooper I was straight down the front to move to the music. Everywhere I went friendly ravers seemed to appear to offer a hand to shake or a smile. The music of the night was top notch particularly Sharky. One memorable moment is when Sharky put on a CDR of a new track and it jumped all over the place, needless to say this soon got taken off and thrown into the crowd. The DJ’s in the main room all had their work cut out for them with a few no-shows. The Hardcore was a lot harder than I remember it but everything was brand new and up-front. Kevin Energys Dream Fm classics set brought many a tear to the older ravers. It was nice to see people of all ages and colours having it with no trouble anywhere in the whole venue. The old skool room was also a nice addition with Bluey rinsing out the classics from my original raving days. This monthly is perfectly suited to the venue and the crowd is excellent. Big shout to the Southampton crew that my misses Gillian disappeared with for most of the night, nice to meet you all.
