Devastation is a hardcore event in Cardiff ran by MC Wotsee, the promoter behind Xplosion in Newport. This was their third event and despite despicable tactics by a rival Cardiff promoter who put cancelled stickers over Devastation’s posters the event was very much on. Due to late/cancelled trains I arrived a bit late. I had just missed the shuttle bus to the event from Cardiff Central station but this was running. I arrived at the venue Evolution at about 10:30 to find a small queue outside. The queue moved quickly but this was down to the fact that the security didn’t appear to be searching anyone at all. I dropped my coat off in the cloakroom and went to check out the venue. It has to be said that Evolution is not your typical rave venue at all. It is very well done out, resembling a new Ritzy style venue. The club has two rooms, the main hardcore one being the bigger of the two, but they are both a fair size. There are plenty of bars (although water was two pound fifty a bottle), and a diner which did nice hot food. In the main arena were some huge Raverbaby banners, a good selection of lasers and a sound system which was more than loud enough. The first set of the night was due to be Paul Glazby but I don’t think he showed up as it was the Barmey Boys on instead. They did a decent hard house set, dropping in “Ready 4 Dis” by Ingo. The dancefloor was quite empty at this point, and this was more of a warm-up set. The first hardcore set of the night came next with UFO and Dowster back to back, accompanied by MC Marley. These played “Music Makers” by UFO, 2 new tunes by Dowster and a kind of Raverbaby theme tune I quite liked. This started off quite breakbeat and had Marley’s voice with lyrics about all the Raverbaby DJs. They played a rip of Tidy smash “Till tears do us part” which was pretty poor though, and a rip of Ferry Corsten’s “Punk” which was even worse. Next up came Hixxy and Styles also playing back to back, along with MC Storm on the mike. The dancefloor had filled up quite a bit just before they came on, then when they played the new “Set You Free” remix as their first tune it was suddenly rammed. These two did a good set which included the new “Heart of Gold” and “Wonderful Days” remixes, “You’re Shining”, “Rush-ins” and they also played the “Punk” rip. One thing that had struck me near the start of the night was that there were a lot of people there wearing shirts, trousers and shoes who didn’t really appear to be ravers. These were all dancing and getting into the hardcore though and lots of them had glowsticks. After these it was due to be Brisk and Scott Brown playing back to back but Scott Brown had a car crash on the way there (he was fine afterwards) so it was just Brisk on his own. Brisk did a mixed set, starting off with the more vocal kind of hardcore, then played “Serious Hardcore”. He finished off with some nu-style including the new “Eye Opener” and “Hold me now” remixes. Whilst the second of these was playing the lasers were projecting images of hands clapping, a mouth talking into a microphone and hands playing a piano. These images were synchronised with those different parts of “Hold me now” and I thought that was a really nice touch production-wise. Dougal came next with a good set which started off with "Gang Bang Society" by Scott Brown, and also included the remix of Force and Styles' "Follow me". Breeze followed Dougal and I caught his first tune which was the “Heart of Gold” remix then went to the second room. In there was a DJ called Robert “Chuck-E” Sullivan playing hard trance. The room wasn’t that full but he did a decent set, playing the awesome “Hands Up” by Arome and then towards the end played “The Invader” by Breeze. This room closed an hour early at 5am to ensure that the remaining crowd were all in the main room for the last hour. I caught Breeze’s last tune which was his rip of “Be Angeled” then it was time for the last set of the night which was Sy, accompanied as always by MC Storm. The club had started to empty out at about 4am, meaning that just the true hardcore were left on the dancefloor, which was a shame as these two did a really good set. Sy played some new stuff including “Neck Breaker” by Scott Brown. The highlight of the set though was when he was playing the Kosheen rip “Chase” and into it he mixed the original drum and bass version of “Badass” by Urban Takeover. He did some wicked scratching over the top then went back to the hardcore by mixing “Elysium Plus” into it. Sy then finished the night off with “Sunshine after the Rain”. Dougal did a good set as did Hixxy and Styles, but for me the set of the night definitely went to Sy. Attendance wise Devastation are doing much better than the majority of new events and they have the makings of a really good event here. The venue is very nice (much nicer than most rave venues), the production there is good and the DJ lineups are also good. The MC lineup was a good mixture of established names like Storm and Marley along with up and comings Fugitive and Buzz. It was a shame Wotsee couldn’t have been on the mic more but as he’s the promoter his time there is bound to be limited. The music on the night was fresh, the crowd were all getting into it and I didn’t see any trouble all night. Downsides were that it did empty out a fair bit after 4am and when I came out at 6am there was no sign of the shuttle bus. Overall this was a quality event though and I will definitely be at the next one. Keep an eye out for it. Shouts to Wotsee, Sawyer, Thumpa, Hiney, James and Charlie, Cris E Manic, Uplift, Buzz, Slammin Orion and MC Storm.
