Accelerated Culture is a large drum and bass event co-promoted by Helter Skelter and Club Sidewinder, and this one was back at their larger home of the Sanctuary in Milton Keynes. Their last event here was the drum and bass awards 2002 night, which was absolutely rammed out and a quality night all round. This event started at 9pm but I arrived just after 10:30. There wasn’t really a queue at this point so after about five minutes I reached the search tent. The security seemed to be very thorough on ID here and I saw quite a few people being quizzed about their age. There were a few new faces in the security team and I was searched by a woman who was friendly enough, then I headed inside the Sanctuary complex. In the outdoor area was a cloakroom tent, a chillout tent, a merchandise stall with lots of older Helter Skelter tapepacks, a large hot food van and a mini fairground. This consisted of an amusement arcade, dodgems and a big spinning wheel. Accelerated Culture are still one of the very few rave promoters who put on a fairground and don’t charge people money to go on the rides. Heading into the Sanctuary main arena I could see that lots of effort had once again been put into the event production. The whole arena had been carpetted, there were large black and white drapes over the ceiling, and two powerful green lasers at the front of the arena. There was a large stage with plenty of room for MCs and stage dancers, and the DJ was right at the front of the stage so that he could interact well with the crowd. The stage had once again been located on the left hand wall as you come in through the glass entrance doors (along one of the shorter walls) and I feel this is the best place to have it. Above the stage was a large circular video screen showing visuals, the name of the DJ and shots of the crowd, and there were plenty of Helter Skelter, Sidewinder and Accelerated Culture banners about the venue. I thought that having a dance platform somewhere in the middle of the main arena would have made it even better though. The upstairs room was the Human Traffic hardcore arena and this was also done out with coloured banners and Helter Skelter logos. The DJ box was along the longer wall which seemed to give more dancefloor space in the room. The first set that I saw was Mark EG in here and he played some hardstyle along with MC Ribbz. It was then downstairs into the main arena for Full Cycle boys Krust and Die playing back to back along with MC Tali. It is very rare to see a female drum and bass MC, and I feel that this is her edge. She is lively on the mic, has lyrical talent and adds great variety to an MC lineup, please book her more often. :) Krust and Die were on for two hours altogether so they managed to play loads of stuff including “Snapshot 3”, “Playtime”, a new Roni Size tune with MC Stamina on vocals and of course “Lyric on my Lip” by Tali. After these I went back upstairs to see Breeze playing in the Human Traffic room along with MC Storm. He played a good set which included “Connections”, the new “Pretty Green Eyes” remix, “To the Dancefloor” and the new “Sunshine on a Rainy Day” tune. It was then back to the main arena to see Formation DJs SS and Twisted Individual play a back to back set. They played the new “Champion Sound” remix, and a special parody tune that Twisted Individual has made as a statement against Distorted Minds. He feels their tune “T minus 10” was copying “his style” so made this parody tune in retaliation, and this issue was highlighted over the mic by Skibadee and Fatman D, along with much dissing. This set featured some impressive back to back MCing from Skibba and Fatman. After them came Nicky Blackmarket, although I only caught the start of this set. The most memorable thing about it was Fatman D introducing a new MC called Cash B who then had a go on the mic. This lad was fast, clearly fired up for the occasion and genuinely showed some real talent. Then it was back upstairs to see Styles on the decks. He played “Sonic”, “Neck Breaker”, the timestretched version of The Crow’s “The Speed”, and he was accompanied on the mic by Man Parris. This guy was a huge old skool MC name and was a regular at pre-millennium skelter events, but should he really be MCing to upfront hardcore now? :( At 4am it was time for Andy C along with Shabba D, my favourite drum and bass DJ and MC together. They did a good set which featured “How Dare You” by Dillinja, “Snowcat” by Bad Company, the new “Twist em Out” remix and the new drum and bass bootleg of the house tune “Love Story vs Finally”. It was let down slightly though by the fact that the sound volume had dropped quite a lot, so even though the tunes were good it was difficult to get into the music. :( When I went back upstairs at 5am it was still Styles on the decks, and this was because Brisk wasn’t able to make the event. Styles did well by still managing not to replay any of the tunes he already had done, and I stopped there till 5:45. I wanted to finish the night off with some drum and bass though, so headed downstairs to see Brockie along with MCs Fearless and Foxy. He wasn’t able to sneak in any extra tunes after the 6am finish as the security were dead set about ending on time, so he finished the night off with “South Manz” by Dillinja. Overall this was a good night from Accelerated Culture. The turnout wasn’t as high as the rammed out drum and bass awards night, but then this was on the same night as Breakin Science vs Trouble on Vinyl at the Rex in London, and also Flashback in Birmingham. The main arena seemed about half to two thirds full for most of the night, and the atmosphere was good with no trouble or attitude. The production was good with plenty of lasers and visuals as well as the backdrops and all of the banners. Krust and Die played my favourite set of the night, although Andy C was also good, as was Breeze. The only thing that let it down a bit was the sound system in the main arena. At the start of the night it was fine but it gradually seemed to get quieter as the night went on, and in Andy C’s set from 4-5 it was much too quiet. At that point I was having a conversation with some lad on the dancefloor and we didn’t really have to shout to be heard. Some of the toilet cubicles also flooded in the gents, and in the second half of the night the toilets were filthy even by rave standards. :) The positives greatly outweighed the negatives though, and Accelerated Culture at the Sanctuary is still my favourite drum and bass event. No date has been given for the next one here yet, but there are two forthcoming Accelerated Culture events at CODE in Birmingham, on March 29th and April 26th. Shouts to Jodi Minxx, Reepa, Bedroom Raver, Andy, Kickin_k, Glenda, Breeze, MC Whizzkid, MC Storm and Sarah.
