Elation was back again taking over the glamorous Islington surroundings. As always the security at Electroworkz were laid back, with no searches on the door whatsoever. On entering the hardcore arena, it could be seen the production was up to its usual high standard. The now legendary Rez Lazer was there, various colourful UV backdrops were scattered about and not to forget the good old bubble machine was in full effect, can’t forget the bubbles! The sound system was pretty good, the top end was again a bit too piercing though. Interestingly this time the arena had now been graced with a full size furry car at the back of the room, which provided an ideal location for the casualties to sprawl themselves on during the night. There were no themed shows or surgeons appearing on stage this time, which was a bit disappointing as they provided lots of laughs at the last event The night started off with co-promoter and resident Tom u4ea on the decks along with MC Whizzkid, who was doing his first and only set of the night due to another booking. Tom played a breakbeat set with lots of older tunes, then dropped in the legendary “Valley of the Shadows” by Origin Unknown, before speeding it up a bit with “The Bastard” by DNA and Energy. After him came Raw Elements DJ Cris E Manic with quite a varied set. She also played some older breakbeat, then moved onto some bouncy stuff, and even dropped in one nu-style gabba tune to really set the crowd off. Towards the end she played a few newer tunes like “Rock You Softly” and her own “Acid Aftermath”. Unfortunately there were a few problems with the sound system in this set, and the volume kept cutting down to quite a low level, then going back up to normal again. Just walking around at the start of the night there were already a lot of people in the venue. In fact this Elation proved to be the best busiest one yet at Electroworkz. There were just under 300 people there on the night, meaning the place was proper rammed. Dare it be said, it was almost a bit too hot and busy on the dancefloor at times. But still, the promoters actually made some sort of profit on the night for the first time in ages, so not too many complaints. The next set was co-promoter Ponder along with resident MC Elmo. His set was also quite varied, and he started it off with “Higher and Higher” by CLSM. He then went on to play “You’re Shining”, the new “Original Source” by HB and Elmo, and also the classic “Take me Away”. Following him came DJ Ham with a set which was mostly older stuff. This started off with older breakbeat then got faster, and he played his own massive tune “Is Anybody Out There”. The atmosphere was again spot on. Elation definitely has one of, if not the friendliest hardcore crowds around. The ravers were well up for it on the dancefloor too and supplied lots of noise. You know how in some events, it takes a few hours for the dancefloor to really kick into life? Well here by the end of the first hour the dancefloor was full on and having it. At 2am came one of the main guests, which was Nu Energy head man Kevin Energy. He played a banging freeform set that included loads of new stuff, as well as the new “Pilgrim” remix, “Unlock the Brain” and Marc Smith’s “The Deviant”. He was accompanied on the mic by MC RizlaDizla who did quite a few sets on the night. MC Storm was sadly unable to make it due to him having car problems on his way back from Vibealite in Wakefield. After Kevin Energy came Lukozade and Wizbit playing a back to back set. This was a really fresh set which included the breaks mix of “Chemical Love” and Wizbit’s “Pull the Trigger”. The highlight of the set (and maybe even the night) was when they suddenly mixed in the huge current drum and bass tune “Mo’ Fire” from absolutely nowhere, then mixed another hardcore tune in afterwards. The penultimate set of the night was the second main guest, which was Raverbaby’s Darren Styles. He started off with a new cut and paste style remix of “You’re Shining” combined with “Future Set”, which used sections from both but sounded more like “Future Set” out of the two. He also played “Sonic”, The Crow’s “The Speed” timestretched to hardcore speed, a remix of the hard house tune “Nervous Breakdown” and the new “Can’t Stop Raving” remix. It was a good set apart from when he played a new hardcore cover/rip of the big chart euro-trance tune “The Way (Put Your Hand in my Hand)” which was blatant and quite poor. :( The task of finishing off the night was given to the third co-promoter HB who played along with MCs Spenno and Wildcard. He started off with Elation’s “Faces of Angels” and also played the breaks mix of “Chemical Love”. The night finished off on a comedy note when the last tune was a special novelty supercheese rip of the “Button Moon” theme tune, made specially for the night as a bit of a laugh. Once again it was a top quality Elation night. Excellent vibes throughout, atmosphere was having it and music was class. Kevin Energy just edged it as the set of the night, but Lukozade and Wizbit were good, as was Darren Styles. The only real criticism was the sound system but this was only a minor problem, there have been other recent events that have had far worse sound systems than the one here. Next one is the 3rd birthday bash on Fri May 16th, which also will have the upstairs arenas open for extra mayhem - be there ! Shouts to Mark, Paul, Tom, James F, Gaby, Karen, DOK, James, Charlie, Elmo, Cyanide, Eccles, Mr Skinhead with Tattoos, Moonlight Raver, Emma-O, Chrissy, Dan Desire, Ryan Sonic, Pir-8, Mikey B, Uplift, Wildcard, Rizla Dizla, Ezzle, Paul Compulsion, Kazzer, Tenz, Ben-e, Amit, Astraboy, Davespice, Hardcore Frog, Tombola, Josh-E, Doc-E, Bedford Caine, CDJay, Gemma, Justin B, Sorcerer, Sophie, Dairymilk Warrior, Neil K (off to Australia now for an entire year), Stoned, Jordan Spenno and the other Epidemik boys, Frog, Loony, Mayhem, Endurance, Kevin Energy, MC Whizzkid, Glenda, Lukozade, Grob Le Frog, Snort, Stix, Alan M, Androoo, Lord Peter, Emma, Erica, Janine, Paul W, Hattrixx, Allan McGrath, J Sainsbury (The prince of Upper Street) and anyone else whose been forgotten (apologies if you have !).
