This was yet another good event from Helter Skelter which I enjoyed loads. We drove down and started queueing at about half seven. We got in about half eight when the music had already started. The first thing I saw was an absolutely huge queue for the cloakroom so we decided to go back later. As we walked around outside it became obvious that the event was way over it's usual capacity and the whole complex was absloutely crammed all night. This was a bit annoying at times because on a few occasions they actually shut the doors to arenas for up to 15 or 20 minutes. However more people meant even more atmosphere so it didn't bother me that much. The first set I went into was Juice and Cally. MC Storm was on the mike and I managed to get to the front and shake his hand which was good. I then nipped into Stompy which sounded like quite a good set. We then decided we had to drop our coats off in the cloakroom. Unbelievably we had to queue up for an entire hour and we missed all of Brisk. I blame the people working the cloakroom because they didn't seem to be moving very fast. Next I saw Billy Bunter. I got to meet Michelle the stage dancer for the first time ( Hello Michelle ) and she was friendly and said hello. I then nipped into Randall for a bit of D&B before going to the meet up. It's right what they say about Joe Retro, he is tiny! Also there was Peter and Smithers. I went into the rollers at 11:30 to make sure we were in before new year. Force and Styles were on and they seemed okay even though I don't like them that much. One of the stage dancers passed out and that was a bit scary. The undoubted highlight of the night was Sy and Storm at midnight. The rollers was crammed to bursting and Sy played a brilliant set with all the top tunes in it. That was without doubt the best set I've ever been in. Vibes was on after that in the Sanctuary but unfortunately Live Lee was not there so I was disappointed with that. Vibes apologised for him not being there so that reassured me after my original fears that he had given up MCing. Mark EG was next but I'm not a big fan of trance so I didn't get into that. Dougal was a very good set as well. He had one of the singers singing one of the songs live on stage which I've never seen done before. Vinyl Groover was good as well and Magika was there MCing to hardcore for the first time in quite a few months. I missed the last two sets because I had to pick up my coat and I had an hour conversation with some girl outside. It started off with why she didn't like Sy's scratching and then moved on to discussing the meaning of life and stuff. As you do. Overall, I didn't think this was as good as Halloween Skelter or Slammin Vinyl vs Hardcore Heaven but it was still a good event. It was let down slightly by it being too crowded. It made me realise though just how big an event HS is. NO other rave could have held an event that full because nobody else in the scene is as big or as good as Helter Skelter. Think about it.
