Bedlam has been going for almost a year now, and has been here at the George IV since November, so is now an established part of the Yorkshire rave circuit. This night was themed as an old skool night, as its always good to look back once in a while, just as long as its not done all the time. I arrived here at about 8:45pm due to me having to work, and headed upstairs into the venue. The two blokes who usually work as security here were searching people to get in here, something they’ve not generally done in the past due to the relatively small scale of the night. They recognised me from numerous previous Bedlam events though and let me go straight through. As I walked into the room I noticed that the entry desk by the door was now selling different types of rave merchandise and records. These included whistles, horns, glowsticks, and loads of new release records and imports supplied by local Sheffield shop Reflex Records. There was also a large selection of tapes recorded live at previous Bedlam events, and also some Uprising tapes. The first thing I noticed about the room layout was the improved lighting by the decks. The promoters had set up some cool disco lights right at the front of the room, as well as a mini smoke machine. The sound system was quite loud but they had problems with it distorting during the night, and had to stop the music between two of the sets for a couple of minutes to fix it. Due to me getting there late I missed the first two sets of the night (Bedlam starts at 7pm), so the first set that I saw was Defiance promoter DJ Impulse playing back to back with MOD. As with the old skool theme of the night these two chose to rinse out some wicked old jungle anthems such as “Super sharp shooter”, the original “Champion Sound” and even “Incredible” by M Beat and General Levy. Next up came Jake Nicholls and promoter UHF playing back to back, although it was Jake who was mixing the majority of the tunes. They played a good older bouncy techno style set with some recognisable tunes like “Nothing lasts forever”, and a couple of cheeky rips. There were two main guest DJs booked for this night, and the first of these was Vibealite regular Fergus who was on next. He played an unusual set which started off with some quite slow trance and then gradually built up speed before finishing up quite bouncy. I definitely wouldn’t have classed it as an old skool set, and I struggled to get into this set. Following Fergus came Bedlam resident Martin Space playing back to back with TNT co-promoter Part-E. I really enjoyed this set and they played some great bouncy and quite happy older tunes like “Pump up the noize”, “Jumpin Pumpin” and “Rainbow in the sky” by Paul Elstak. It was great uplifting stuff which bought back a lot of memories, and it got my vote for set of the night. The final set of the night before the 1am finish was DJ Impact, although this was former Uprising regular Impact and not the DJ Impact who is resident at Future Dance. He played what was definitely the hardest and fastest set of the night, with some quite banging gabba in parts, and it went down well with the crowd. If I had to sum up Bedlam in one word then it would have to be “fun”. It’s not a massive event and they don’t book all big name DJs, but it’s all about getting in the local Yorkshire ravers and having a good time with your mates. The smallish function room above a pub adds to the manic and intimate atmosphere, as does the lighting and Bedlam banners around the room. The MCs there seem to understand more than anyone the fun element of the night, as they constantly interact with the crowd and are just as much ravers as anyone else there. The next Bedlam is here at the George IV on Friday 10th May and this a techno night, with Uprising regular Spinner and Species resident Alarm joining the resident DJs. Then it’s Bedlam residents night on Friday May 31st, for £1 entry on the door. See you there. Shouts go out to Lee UHF, Martin Space, Jake Nicholls, Sam, Part-E, Rich B, Jonesy, Max, Rich Impulse, J.O. , Runna, Trigg, Shame, MOD, Lindsey, Hirsti and Scott Potential for his cracking “imaginary set”. :)
