Neo in Birmingham is one of those special raves. It’s the kind of event that breaks down the barriers of dance music that have sadly been built up over the years by trainspotters desperate to pigeonhole. Neo is the type of event that attracts all kind of people; it rips up the rule book, throwing every style of hard dance music into one room. This kind of thing was the norm at the beginning of dance music, but the scene fractured into sub-genres many years ago, and not many raves have this kind of thinking anymore. This is why I was really looking forward to tonight, no moaners in the place and a crowd that I knew would be up for it! Thumpa got the train from Lichfield down to Birmingham New Street, and then got a taxi because his record box was wrenching his arm out of the socket (he was playing upstairs in the second room). There was a small queue forming outside the Sanctuary in Digbeth, and I got talking to a few people stood outside, who also said they were looking forward to the night ahead. The doors opened near enough on time, which is strange for clubs these days, and we strolled in. I didn't get searched at all by the bouncers and they didn't even look in my record box (which is weird because the bouncers at a pub in Lichfield looked through my record box earlier in the night!). The first thing that hit me about the place was the layout of the building, what a place! I'd only ever been in the Dance Factory round the back of the Sanctuary, but this place was amazing! There are 3 floors with 2 rooms on each floor, and the staircases wind round the building all the way to the top, making it look very grand and special. I had a quick walk upstairs to see where I was playing and was impressed. The Temple Bar is a small but perfectly formed room, with a little stage and good decor around the place. I walked back downstairs into the Arc, where Clipper was churning out some heavy hard style trance. The sound system was clear as a bell and very, very loud. Yeah! A quick walk to the DJ box to get a beer (A fridge behind the DJ box? Haha!) and I was ready to rave! At 11pm it was Thumpa playing in the upstairs room. The back half of this room had been sealed off by a partition so it was just dancefloor space there. Thumpa played an older bouncy techno style set with some recognisable tunes, the kind of stuff that you just don’t hear played out at raves any more. Also on at 11 in the main room was NEO resident and Leeds nutter Mark EG, playing till half twelve. The last half hour of his set was pumping hard trance and hardstyle, with the crowd all seeming to enjoy it. The special guest for the night was DJ Wag direct from Germany and he came next at 12:30. He played a really varied set, starting off with some trance that was hard, but at the same time deep and quite epic in parts. He then played his own remixes of “Red Planet” by Avatar and “City to City”, before dropping the groovy techno-esque “IRA” by Dariush. The last half an hour tended towards hardstyle and then near the end he dropped in the massive “Hands Up” by Arome. After him came NEO resident Ginge, who played hardstyle, including “Theme from a burning globe” by Yoji Biomehanika. Then it was Sarge but the next set seen was Jon Doe in the main arena. He started off with his new “D7”, then the first half an hour was mainly trance. The second half was generally his CLSM style hardcore, including what sounded like a remix of the huge “Warehouse”. The lineup had been designed to increase in tempo throughout the night, so the final set was Scott Brown playing hardcore. It was pretty much all Evolution stuff including “Rock you Softly”, the wicked “Commence”, “Na na na” and the “Turn up the music" remix. He also played a few new tunes I hadn’t heard before. He played about five minutes over but then the security made him stop so there was to be no “one more” tune. :( Overall the quality of music was of a really high standard, and it was refreshing to hear so many styles under one roof. Possibly having either one pure trance or pure techno set would have topped off the variety even more though. High points of the night for me were seeing loads of people dancing to 200bpm gabba (I was a bit weary of going too hard but they seemed to like it!), seeing Mark EG in full action again and hearing Jon Doe's versatile tune selection. Jon Doe really did play a huge range of music, starting with slower trance and breaks, building it up to hard style and finishing off with mental breakbeat hardcore and 4/4 material. Hopefully more promoters will book him because he is very open minded about what he plays and that can only be a good thing in this splintered scene. Other good points include the decor (the lasers lighting up the balcony above the main arena looked really wicked; the white light made it look like daylight on the balcony, don't ask!). The bar prices weren't too bad and everyone I spoke to had a really good night. The sound technician was a nice bloke but he didn't sort the sound system out properly until I'd finished on the decks (typical). My set wasn't recorded even though I thought it was (typical of my bad luck again), but apart from that I had a wicked night. The trains started early in the morning and I was in bed for 9am, which isn't bad at all! The next one is rumoured to be a massive free party, with help from another promoter. Sounds good! Shouts to Tobe and Ginge for a wicked party, the usual Lichfield suspects, Sawyer, Hiney, Gillard, Gallagher the nutter, Jonny Radders, Graham, Allan McGrath, Kat and her mate, Riddler (such a sound bloke), Lee UHF (another geezer!), Sam and Linz, Clipper and Delicious, Cruzey and Heather, MC Sykee, Tash and her mate, Mark EG (you are a star mate haha!), Jon Doe, Scott Brown and his ladies, Sappo, Sarge and the Manchester crew, Scottie and his mates. Respect to everyone who went down, hope we haven't forgotten anyone!
