The time had come once again for another Slammin Vinyl event, and this one was their two year anniversary of when they first started their solo events here at the Sanctuary. This event had the theme of "The Firework Spectacular" as it was so close to bonfire night. I had planned to get there right at the start but due to late and cancelled trains I arrived there at 10pm. There was an insanely long queue outside but the security kept it moving well and I reached the front after 35 minutes. There were no searches being done as I went through. The Sanctuary security were better than normal on the night, although by their standards that isn't really a compliment. Between the two warehouses was the usual big outdoor complex with a few fairground rides, a chillout tent, a hot food stall and the merchandise stall. The first arena I went into was the Fastrack warehouse where the hardcore was being held. This was done out well with good lasers and lighting, video screens at the front, a big stage with dancers on, and once again it was all carpetted. I was gutted to find out I'd missed Paul Glazby and Mark EG, so the first set I saw was the K90 live PA in the hardcore arena. He played a good hard trance set including his own "Breathe" and the wicked "Red Snapper" as well as "All Your Bass" by DJ Virus. He was also really dancing behind the equipment and interacting loads with the crowd, as all good DJs should do. After that I went into the Sanctuary main arena which was drum and bass. This was also fully carpetted, had about four powerful green lasers on the stage, video screens and a raised dance platform along the far wall opposite the balcony. It was Mampi Swift on the decks and he did a good drum and bass set which was pacey, and was accompanied by MC Fearless on the mike. I returned to the Fastrack to find Styles playing the new "Field of Dreams" remix as his last tune, then it was time for the special hardcore set for this event, which was dutch gabba DJ Neophyte. His set was crazy with really hard kickdrums and a dark scary feel to most of the tunes. It got faster as it went on and he played the anarchic "Under Control". I then went into the upstairs room of the Sanctuary which was old skool to see Scott Brown playing a special Rezerection set. It was a bouncy techno set and he dropped in tune after classic tune, like the original "Now is the time", the "F/uck my best friend" tune and "Jieeeeehaaa" which he finished off with. The decks were on the long wall of the room and this seemed to give much more dancing space, although the sound system in there was a bit too quiet. It was then back into the drum and bass arena to see Tru Playa Zinc play. I really rate him as a drum and bass DJ and he did a great set which included the "Snapshot" remix, "Twist Em Out" by Dillinja and his own "Ska". Following him was the Ram raider Andy C, my favourite drum and bass DJ, but I got sidetracked by the USH meetup so only caught his last 20 minutes or so. As always he played it fast and hard, dropping in "Playtime" by Roni Size. I then headed back into the hardcore arena where Hixxy was just starting off his set. He played his new remixes of "Heart of Gold", "Set you free" and "Wonderful Days" as well as "You're shining" by Breeze and Styles. Someone turned up from health and safety though and made them turn the volume down, which left Hixxy visibly fuming behind the decks. After Hixxy I caught a bit more drum and bass when Brockie was playing, but I mainly went in there because it was Shabba D on the mike, my favourite of all the drum and bass MCs. I caught the last part of UFO's set and heard him play a few new tunes and rips of "Punk" by Ferry Corsten and "Till tears do us part" by Heavens Cry, then it was time for the final set of the night. As always at Slammin this was left to scratchmasters Sy and MC Storm, two of my hardcore favourites. Their set was very good as usual, with Sy playing it bouncy and with a fair few new tunes in there. He also played "Ghettoblaster", "Neck Breaker" and then finished the night off with "Chase". For me Slammin has been the best rave around for over a year now and it still holds that title after this. The best thing here was the atmosphere with a really friendly up-for-it hardcore crowd and a friendly drum and bass crowd too. The production was to a high standard as it always is at Slammin and the music was also good. Sy and Zinc both did very good sets but for me the set of the night came from Neophyte. It was great to hear his set as it was something different in the hardcore arena, and I'd love to see him back again in the near future. There were a few downsides though, the main one being the cloakroom. When I got inside at 10:45pm there was a massive queue for it so I decided to return to it later on. An hour later the queue was still big so I just tied my coat round my waist all night, as luckily it was only a small jacket. At the end there were huge waits to retrieve coats and some people didn't get their's till 8am. The most frustrating thing about this is that at recent Sanctuary events they had a cloakroom system which worked fine, but the Sanctuary changed it for a new system here and it led to big problems. I don't see why the system was changed. Also, there were two sets of female toilets in the Fastrack and no male ones, when all it would have taken to rectify this was putting a gents sign on one of the doors. There was also no sign of the indoor pyrotechnic display promised on the flyer, in either of the two arenas. The plus points massively outweighed these criticisms though and overall I thought this event was good even by Slammin standards. Their next event on NYE sees the return of the Rollers arena, and looks a quality event all round. :) Shouts to Tina, James and Charlie Kitten, HB, Sweetstar, Ponder, Smithers, Voltage, Number 2301, happythoughts, Traffic Cone, Cris E Manic, Desire, Uplift, Stargazer, Karen, Immz, Mel, Velocity, Shox, Slammin Orion, Bug, RizlaDizla, Mayhem, Becky, Bedroom raver, Ted Pornstar, Foxy, Fishgeoffo, Tenz, Kazzer, Nitr8, Compulsion, Davespice, Andy M, Paul W, Charliiieee, Icklemiss, Denno, |-_-| , Bedford Caine, Astraboy, MC Whizzkid and MC Storm.
