The event myself, the entire Dizstruxshon family, and the nation’s most dedicated ravers had been waiting for, for many moons. On Saturday 13th July 2002 Doncaster was to witness the biggest rave the east of England had ever seen, the biggest Dizstruxshon event in it’s ten year history, on the 13th July Doncaster was to play host to DEKADANCE the 10th anniversary of Dizstruxshon. The venue for this milestone event was the Dome, Doncaster Leisure Park. Dizstruxshon had held 5 events at this exciting new venue (not including this one) over the past year, and in that year it has become a firm favourite of the Dizstruxshon regulars. So for me this was the perfect venue to stage an event of this calibre. My usual raving buddies (most of my mates are in to commercial shite) were unable to make it to this event, so I managed to persuade two of my mates who aren’t really into rave to come along and experience it. After a couple of bevys and a red bull me and my non-raving ravers were driven to the Dome which is about 20 minutes from were I live, which is ideal. We arrived outside the Dome at about 7.20, there were about 200 people in the line at this time, and we met a few old friends from high school in the line (that went onto the road, which was a bit frustrating when cars wanted to pass). After arsing about for the cameraman for a bit, we finally got into the Dome at about 8.20. I snapped my glowsticks ready, purchased some white gloves, and arsed about in front of the camera some more. At 9-ish we were let into the Industry arena. This is at the heart of the Dome, the circular part with the glowing Dome on the top that’s visible from outside, and the main thing people associate with the Dome itself. This is usually the main arena, but with it being the 10th birthday, Full Effex had something a little better in store for the main arena, so this space staged the 2nd (Industry) arena. Which catered for all the trance/techno ravers. One of the only complaints I had of the entire night was the fact the main arena didn’t open until 9.40, this was only a small problem however and was soon forgotten. So as I stood at the back of the industry arena waiting for the main one to open we were being entertained by Dizstruxshon resident DJ SIMZ with MC SPACE alongside. This was a pretty good set and was perfect to start the night off, Simz was laying down some hard vibes which did the job of getting everybody stomping early off, I couldn’t help myself and had a bit of a jam at the back as I waited impatiently for the main arena to open. As soon as I saw the bouncer leave the entrance I made a dash for the front of the main arena (which was labelled the ‘History of Dance’. As soon as I caught a glimpse of this arena I was gobsmacked, it was absolutely massive and the décor was well impressive. I got straight to the front with a grin on my chin and watched as the room started to fill up, everyone seemed to be as thrilled by this arena as I was. One kid I spoke to commented on how amazed he was at the size of it. What made the first impression even better was that as I jogged in it was classic early nineties rave that was being thumped out of the sound system. The first DJ in this arena was TOPGROOVE. I saw about 25 minutes of Mr Groove, and he was playing some wicked old stuff as I was saying. The first time I went mental that night was when he dropped an absolute classic hardcore record that I don’t actually know the name of. The ‘ I found a love but it didn’t last, wonderful things belong to the past’ tune. I was absolutely loving it. There wasn’t an MC accompanying this set until right at the end when PETA PAN made an appearance. Topgroove played his last tune, and then Peta pan welcomed everyone and introduced us all to Dekadance. After he said his bit it was time for the OPENING CEREMONY, which I for one was looking forward to witnessing. This idea was pretty decent and a break from the norm. First of all fire was shot out from the floor of the stage firework style, then there was a sudden bang that made me absolutely cack myself, followed by tonnes of shiny paper falling from the sky. This happened a further three times throughout the night, and I had learnt my lesson come the last two, and covered my ears ready for the bang. As I looked round I wasn’t the only one with this idea. Once the 5-minute opening ceremony was finished it was time for the masters to step up. This was the set I had been most looking forward to, SLIPMATT AND LIME (B2B). I was not disappointed, it was indescribable. Slipmatt has been my favourite DJ ever since I have been into hardcore, and this was the first time I’d ever seen him play out, so for me this was incredible. SL2 were delivering some of the best rave classics from yesteryear, the best of their selection included ‘Compended’, ‘Sweet harmony’, ‘Outer space’, and of course Baby Ds ‘Let me be your fantasy’ (was over the moon to get a shout out on this record). This for many reasons was the set of the night for me. I had high expectations for this set especially and was not let down. Next up after SL2 was the creator of Raver baby and Jelly baby records DJ HIXXY. Hixxy was to play a 50-minute set from 10.40 till 11.30. This 50 minutes was probably cut short due to technical difficulties about 5 or 10 minutes into his set. I was just about to get a shout out from MC DOMER as well. He just started to read out my piece of paper when the music cut off, gutted. What is it with Hixxy’s sets and faults in the musical equipment! At Dizstruxshon in March the sound was lost for about a minute right at the beginning. Unfortunately it lasted a bit longer this time, and to stop us all getting restless MC ELL kept us entertained. Once it was all sorted Hixxy got back to spinning brand spankin’ new hardcore. His set was good and was made up of the latest sounds, most of which I don’t know the name of yet. My favourite tune of this set was without a doubt ‘Rush-ins’, a tune made by himself and DJ Styles. I was hoping he played it and ‘give it some’ big style when he did. He ended with his new remix of ‘Get into love’ it was the first time I had had chance to hear the latest effort of re-newing this song. I have since heard it on the new Bonkers compilation, and I have to say I am pretty disappointed with it, especially after the original from 1997 was so good. The original is by far superior, the new remix seems a little tame for me, and lacks the bouncy, make u want to get up and dance feel the original had to it. Overall though this was a good set with plenty of fresh tuneage. Once Hixxy had played it was time for old skool again and SL2 to return. This time however they were going to be performing the first of two live PA’s at Dekadance. With SL2 was their MC JJ who I’d only ever heard on tapes before. There own tunes were being played for about half an hour and it was well sound. Mc JJ seemed to be enjoying himself, jumping around the stage, which was nice to see. The dancer also provided good entertainment (who I think might be Slipmatt’s wife/girlfriend). ‘Way in my brain’ was a tune I was very much looking forward to hearing, and obviously one of the biggest rave records of all time ‘On a ragga tip’. SL2 saved their best tune till last. The fact that they ended with ‘On a ragga tip’ made the PA for me. Respect to SL2 for both their set and live PA, I was most certainly a happy Raver. ‘). Nearing midnight the mighty STU ALLAN took over. I finally had my chance to rave to some classic happy hardcore, the music that got me into the best style of dance music there is, and who better to dance to my first full set of happycore to than the man like Stu Allan. Playing classic hardcore from the 95-99 era. Starting with ‘Hold me now’ into ‘Discoland’, the amazing tunes were being brought in thick and fast. Was glad he played that ‘Don’t leave me alone’, ‘I like the bass that goes boom’ song. ‘Jiiieeehaaa’ was another tune that got the ravers buzzin. His last tune was the Savage garden ‘Moon and back’ hardcore rip, one of the Ravers choice tunes. Some people may call that record old cheesy hardcore but it got my vocal chords going and my arms and legs moving. After Stu Allen I decided to give the 2nd live PA a miss (DREAM FREQUENCY) and rest up ready for MARC SMITH and SY. I made my way out of the History of Dance arena and through the Industry arena were DJ SPACECASE of Germany was playing. It was his 2nd time playing at a Dizstruxshon event, and from what I heard it seemed pretty good. As I was waiting around in the merchandise area I saw Stu Allan making his way through, I shuck his hand and congratulated him on a wicked set, he seemed a friendly bloke. I also saw MC NATZ getting acquainted with some old friends. The 25 minutes I waited seemed to pass so slowly, I just wanted to get back to raving. I returned to the main arena to see Dream Frequency’s last tune, and then it was onto Marc Smith, one of Scotlands finest DJs (don’t rate him as the best as there’s Scott Brown !). Nothing I didn’t expect starting his set off with the tune he started off with at Dizstruxshon in march. His flagship tune ‘Boom n pow’ was the best moment for me in his set, as it was last time he played at Diz. Love that record. He played that Raver baby tune, ‘I’m a raver baby so why don’t you kill me’, I think it might be the song titled ‘Welcome’ though I could be wrong. ‘Blue room’ was a tune that got my whistle in my mouth. He played this class tune I hadn’t heard before, I think it could be on the video. In conclusion it was the usual wicked stomping Marc Smith set overall. During his set my mate noticed Slipmatt walking over to the drinks bar, so I followed him and had a little chat with him and got my photo took with the big man, I was like a little starstruck teen boyzone fan. I shuck his hand and kept telling him that he’s the best dj ever and stuff, I couldn’t actually believe I’d finally got to meet my hero. This was the best moment of the night for me by far. Then to end the night was the scratchmaster, DJ SY (as usual, which is a good thing). Scratching it up good and proper like always and playing a lot of fresh new records. The ones that stuck out in my mind were ‘Elysium plus’ and ‘Definition of a badboy’, both from Scott Brown’s new E plus record label. I think Sy also played ‘blue room’ if memory serves me right. Strangely enough there was no MC STORM as planned, not sure why that was, instead MCs NATZ and MOTIVATOR supplied the lyrical. A wicked set to end the 10th birthday on, and then fittingly the last tune of the entire night was the one and only ‘Dizstruxshon anthem’. Was great to see mc Motivator for the 1st time ever, what a time to return to Dizstruxshon. Hasn’t JD WALKER been sent back to HMP ? That’s what I think I heard anyway. For god sake as one leaves another goes in! The robots & alien predator type thing again added 2 the night. The entertainers were quite cool but I was just concentrating on dancing so didn’t take much notice of them. Nice way 2 end as well with the MC Motivator 'pon the bongo's accompanied by mc Natz. And it was great to see Stuart receive his award (it looked proper mad-it was like one of them statue things that cost a bomb, and I think I made out it had a wizard on it and a couple of other things). I had an idea they were gonna do something like that. Just before I left I bought myself a yellow Dizstruxshon cap for a tenner and got myself a copy of ‘Definition of a badboy’. Tapes from recent events were on sale at a robbing price of £2 each!!! Like an idiot I didn’t actually buy any, for some reason I just thought oh well I’ll get some next time, not realising they were this price because it was the 10th birthday, doh! Classic Howden tapes were on sale as well at £3 each for an M.zone ‘95 tape. Respect to everyone that attended and was being raver friendly, Slipmatt, Stu Allan, all the other DJ’s, all the MC’s (Marcus, as he’s one of my favs and I didn’t mention him in the review), the camera man for the video, the camera man for TV, the entertainers, the dancers, the water sellers (water never tasted so good!), Ginner and Coop my non raving Raver buddies, my girlfriend Stace who was going to help me out if noone came along with me, Tony and his crew from Woodlands, the two VIP’s that gave one of my shout out’s to Natz, and most importantly full effex for putting on this special birthday party. Many happy returns Dizstruxshon. Nuff sed! The Wedgy on tour 2002 :)
