Has it really been two years since Elation first started up? It certainly doesn’t seem like it but yet here was their second birthday celebration event, held at Electrowerx in London. I arrived at the venue at just after 10 to find a fair queue outside, which was encouraging. I paid my entrance fee and headed into the club to check it out. This event was different to previous Elations held here as it used the area near to the toilets as a second room. This was not a huge area but the demand for the hard house and trance in there was never as big as for the hardcore in the main room, so it never got too busy. The main room had the usual Elation banners up as well as the special Resonance laser which completely swamped the room with green rave light. The best touch on the production though was the bubble machine which filled the main room with bubbles and really added to the atmosphere on the night. The first set that I saw was Smithers in the second room, playing a hard trance set. He dropped in some absolute tunes like the Scot Project remix of “Dingaling”, “Club Bizarre” and “Warehouse”, and I’d love to see him play back here sometime soon. I then headed into the main hardcore room to see co-promoter Tom u4ea play. He did a very breakbeat orientated set with quite an old feel to it, dropping in tunes like the original “Musik” by Happy Rollers and the drum and bass version of “Ready or not”. I only caught part of Tom’s set as I went back to the second room to see Ponder’s set. He did another cool hard trance set, dropping in “D6” and “Expander” by Marc Dawn. I then had an interesting chat with Hixxy about the morals of trance rips, before seeing his set in the main room. In the past I’ve not been that much of a Raverbaby fan but I did quite like some of the stuff here. It was mostly new stuff, quite trance influenced but original work. He also dropped in the new “Elysium” remix, although he did play one rip near the end, so I had to leave the room. :) The next set in the main room was Vinyltrixta playing hardcore classics, but I was gutted when I found out that I’d missed most of this. I caught his last two tunes which were the Triple J remix of “Freedom 2 Dance” and the tune with the MC Ruff lyrics on it. The second four decks showcase set of the night was Ponder and Uplift playing back 2 back, and this came next. I only caught the first part of their set but they started off hard with “Insane Asylum” and kept it banging after that. Vinyltrixta had been booked to play two sets on the night, the second of these was a hard house set which came next. He tended to play the more bouncy style of hard house, dropping in “Full matrix” and the original mix of “Baddest Mutha” by Lisa Pinup. One of the sets I had been most looking forward to beforehand was Ting as she impressed me a lot the last time she was here, and she played last set in the second room. For me she symbolises everything a DJ should be. She’s energetic, loud, gets involved, interacts with the crowd, dances behind the decks, and she quite obviously loves the music that she plays. Not only that but she’s attractive too :) . She started off with the classic Baby Doc remix of “Never lost his hardcore”, moving onto harder stuff like “Reformation II” by Lab 4, then finishing off with some banging freeform like the “Devastator” remix and “Turn up the heat”. Sy played last set in the hardcore room but I only caught part of his set. He wasn’t with MC Storm as he had left earlier on, and he played a few newer tunes, then finished off with the “All I need” remix. The best thing about Elation is and always has been the atmosphere. It’s not a huge event so it manages to maintain the intimacy and community vibe that big events don’t always have. It still prides itself on its new music policy, and you won’t hear the same old anthems caned all night here. The event is now taking a break until the autumn, but keep an eye for when it returns because it is a good event with a special atmosphere. I’ll almost certainly be at the next one. :) Shouts go out to HB, Ponder, Tom u4ea, Sam, Smithers, Russell, James and Charlie Kitten, Voltage, Cris E Manic and Desire for their dancefloor brawling, Uplift, RizlaDizla and his dog turd, Grob LeFrog, Carl Loftus and his mate, Phick, Andy M, Jensta, Paulie, Caine, Erica, Sweetstar, Wildcard, Elmo, Hattrixx, Paul W, Ravegirl, D Jay, Nick K, Nitr8, Little Miss Nails, Jodi Minxx, Loony, Neotech, Ola, Snow, Tombola, Astraboy, Mikey B, Rob, Davespice, Stargazer, Tony Resonance, MC Whizzkid, MC Storm and Hixxy. :)
