Elation has been running for almost two years now and I've been to every one of their events so far. This year they've decided to push their night a bit more by bringing out their own record label and starting up regular monthly Elation nights. This was the first of these nights, and was held at Electroworkz in Angel, London. I got the train down at Sheffield, met up with a few people and then got to the club at about 10:15. Electroworkz is located in a back street behind Angel tube station and as I got there I could already tell that it was an underground club. As I arrived there were only a handful of ravers queuing up outside so I went straight in without a search from the security.

Upon entering the club I saw a small bar area with some seats and toilets, and then the entrance to the main room. I went into the main room to find a nice and loud sound system along with disco lights and plenty of Elation banners. There was also a huge green laser above the DJ box which was used later on in the night, pretty impressive considering that very few smaller nights like this one ever use a laser of that size. To get to the cloakroom meant going through a door at the back of the hardcore arena and up a long set of mad winding stairs. Electroworkz has an upper room which is used for gothic nights and this music could be heard when standing by the cloakroom. I dropped my coat off and headed back downstairs for a dance.

First set of the night was James F, an up and coming DJ signed up to the Elation Recordings label. He played a really good hard NRG set with some powerful trance riffs and some really cool breakbeat sections over the top. I really enjoyed this set and it was a shame that the club was still filling up at this point so not everyone got to see it. Next up came co-promoter and resident DJ Tom u4ea who chose to play an older breakbeat hardcore set. The set he played was mainly uplifting old skool hardcore including "Six days" but he also dropped in a couple of jungle tunes like "Ready or not". The following set was Majestik who had travelled down from Barnsley to play here. His set started off with a couple of new tunes I hadn't heard before, one which had a female vocal in the breakdown. The rest of his set was a mixture of older freeform classics like "In Deep Trouble", the original "Bodyslam" and "The Theme", and then newer tunes like "Wipeaway" and "Rez out". He finished off with his own tune "End of the war" to wrap up a set which I thought was set of the night.

Next up came Robbie Long who played a newer breakbeat hardcore set. I didn't see all of it but I did catch him doing some really impressive scratching and cutting, two of the things that he is known for. After him came co-promoter Ponder who played a different set to the ones I've seen him play in the past. This one was more uplifting and vocal orientated than sets he's played before, with him dropping in "About U" by DNA and Ham. He played his own "Faces of Angels" which I've heard a few times now and has really started to grow on me :) Following Ponder came Ham to play a 94/95 hardcore set. The tunes he played were all big well known older tunes like "Six days" and the crowd all seemed to love this. It was a very uplifting set and added to the musical variety that there was on the night.

The penultimate set of the night went to the third Elation promoter HB and I liked his set a lot. He also played "Faces of Angels" as well as "Turn up the music" and "Bring me round to love" on Quosh. The last set of the night was Hixxy but I only saw a few small bits of this set. He played a new remix of "Follow me" by Force and Styles which I really liked, but then he also played the "No Alternative" ripoff which I hate with a passion. It's heartbreaking to see such a good trance tune as that callously ripped off to make a hardcore tune :(

When the 6am finish arrived I was still raving and felt that I could have gone on for longer, which is always the mark of a good night. This event had the same friendly happy vibe that Elation events always seem to have, and once again there were loads of new tunes played on the night. The emphasis here was mainly on good up and coming DJs and only a couple of big names were booked. Electroworkz is a good underground smaller club and I think that monthly Elation nights could do really well here. The next Elation event here is on Saturday March 16th. They have booked a live Blaze PA (the people formerly known as Bang!), as well as DJs Sy, Sharkey and old skool legend Luna-C. Make sure that you're there because I know I will be. :)

Shouts go out to Sam, Voltage, James, Charlie Kitten, Grob Le Frog, Mikey B, Phick, Billy Bass, Madderz, Caine, Dusty Vixen, Jensta, HB, Ponder, Tom U4ea, Elmo, Snow, Paulie, Cris E Manic, Uplift, Astraboy, Jake Riddler, Sam, Erica, Paul USH, Carol, Ravegirl, Casper, Icekold, Conrad, Majestik and RizlaDizla.

- Chedda (chedda@ush.net)