The Que Club is gone forever. This was the last ever event at this legendary venue, this being announced about six weeks before the event. I'm a massive Que Club fan so when I heard the news I knew I just had to go to this one. I got to the Que Club at 11pm due to waiting for mates, this being 90 minutes after the event started. The usual touts outside were said to be selling tickets for a staggering £130, but due to this being the last ever Que Club event this wasn't surprising. As I queued up there were quite a few sad looking people walking away as they hadn't got advanced tickets and weren't able to get one on the door. The security were just walking everyone through without searching them so I got in straight away. As expected the club was very busy, especially after midnight and it must have been sold out. Once I got in I headed into the third room which was hard house, trance and techno being put on by Unification. In there was Sundissential resident Nick Rafferty playing hard house. He did a good set with loads of tunes I didn't recognise and he finished off with "Revolution" by BK. At midnight I went into the drum and bass arena to see Nicky Blackmarket but he wasn't there. It was Mistress Mo instead with MC Fearless and I stopped in there for half an hour. The arena was absolutely sweltering and I was really sweating in there. I then headed into the main arena for the first time. As always this was well done out with colourful banners, inflatables and the very powerful green laser at the front. On the stage were N-Joi doing a live PA which lasted for half an hour. There were two blokes on stage with a keyboard each, one of them was doing some MCing and they did actually sound as if they were playing live. Towards the end they got a female vocalist on stage to sing one of their tunes live and this went down well with the crowd. It was then back to the Unification arena for me where it was Ribbz on the decks. He played a more acid techno type of set which wasn't really hard but it was quite deep. I only saw the last half an hour of this set and then on came the Powered Up DJs who I'd never seen before this. They were playing hard house and it was pretty hard so they lived up to their name in that respect. However their set was spoiled for me by the MC who was on with them and just drowned out their music. As a rule of thumb hard house should not have MCs and even if it does then the MC should be minimal like Ribbz, not continuously talking. :( One of the sets I was looking forward to was Dougal with MC Storm as I really enjoyed their last set here. This one had a similar kind of structure as it started off with old skool then got faster with "6 days on the run". The set then moved into classic 96-98 happy hardcore with Dougal playing "Have it all", "Devotion", the Slipmatt remix of "Higher Love" and then he finished off with "Field of Dreams" by Force and Styles. All the people around me at the front were loving it and Storm kept all the ravers going too. The next DJ was Mickey Finn and "Field of Dreams" was playing he was mixing it in and cutting it up with a drum and bass tune which was unusual but good to hear. After Dougal I went down to the drum and bass arena where a female DJ called Jo Jo Rock was playing. I'd never heard of her before this but she did a good set with some really groovy tunes in there. The arena had emptied out a bit by this point so it wasn't as hot and there was more room to dance in. I then went back into the Unification arena to see the last half an hour of the Powered Up DJs, as they were scheduled to be on for three hours altogether. The MC had gone by this point and they were still playing pretty hard stuff, but a fair amount of their mixes were out. Mark EG was due to follow them at 4:30 but by 5 he still wasn't there so the Powered Up DJs carried on playing. I went back into the main arena at 5 so I'm not sure if Mark EG turned up or not. The final set of the night in the main arena had to be something pretty special to see off the Que Club and it was. It was billed as being a special guest who was to play a selection of the most requested classic tunes sent to Flashback over the net. This special guest turned out to be Sy, which was my guess as to who it would be. At the very start of the set a list was put on the video screens above the stage saying all the tunes which were to be played, and there were almost 30 of these. Sy started off with jungle/drum and bass, playing "Original Nutta", "6 million ways to die" and "Super Sharp Shooter". He then moved onto old skool, playing classics like "Don't Go" by Awesome 2 and "In Complete Darkness". As the end of the set approached he played the immortal "Shooting Star" then stopped the music and played "Let me be your fantasy" by Baby D. For the final Que Club tune he played "Sweet Harmony". At the majority of Que Club events (as with nearly all raves) the venue starts to empty out 1-2 hours from the end. Here the main arena barely emptied out at all though and was still very busy right up until the very end. Flashback resident MC Lenni took the mike at the end to tell the crowd that he had been at the first ever Que Club event and was here at this last one, and his voice was clearly breaking with emotion as he spoke. The noise from the crowd at the end was awesome and it's been a long time since I heard a crowd roar like that at a rave. As the crowd left through the lobby a completely spontaneous roar broke out which was also deafening. Dougal was good but the set of the night had to go to Sy, the perfect choice to see off the Que Club. I am really going to miss this venue and I know a lot of other people will do too. It is a truly legendary rave venue with a completely original layout and I don't think there will be another venue like it again. The next Flashback is their 6th birthday on November 8th at the Sanctuary in Birmingham, itself a good club. See you all there. :) Shouts to Marcus, Smithers, Xtra-C and his sister, Cris E Manic, Wildcard, Desire, Immz, Raz Power and MC Storm.
