This was a brand new event being put on by the former massive hardcore name, DJ Seduction. He had been away from the hardcore scene for nearly four years previous to this, so this event was his return to promoting and DJing. It was held at the Brunel Rooms in Swindon, a long established venue which has held several raves over the years, although this was my first time here. The venue is in Swindon town centre, about ten minutes walk from the train station. The event was due to start at 10pm and I arrived there 15 minutes before this. There was a fair sized queue already outside at this point, and by the time the doors opened roughly ten minutes late this had swelled to a pretty big queue. I was given quite a thorough search by the security who were searching most of the people going in, then went to check out this venue. On the night the security were fine, although I saw them telling one bloke to put his top back on, which seemed a bit pointless. The entrance is on the ground floor but both of the arenas are located on higher levels. The old skool room was on the first floor, then the hardcore room on the second floor was at least twice the size of this, if not more so. It has to be said that this was a really nice club, definitely not your standard warehouse type of rave venue. The décor of the club was mostly purple and walking into the old skool room involving passing over a lit green floor. The main hardcore room had a large wooden dancefloor in the middle of the room and then the rest of it was carpeted. The DJ box was at a slightly raised level so the DJ was about 2-3 feet higher than the crowd, then next to this was a large raised podium section. On the walls around the dancefloor were lots of painted banners and then attached to the lights was a long row of strobe tubes. The sound system was easily loud and clear enough (although I thought for the first hour the bass was too quiet) and overall the venue production was very good. In the main room were a hot food bar and a stall selling cigarettes and chocolate, but the most unusual thing was the revolving bar. This was a circular bar set on three steps and the top one rotated around so that the whole bar was turning (although pretty slowly). The first set of the night was Dice and Reality, and this set was virtually MC free. They played lots of new tunes including “Ultimate High” by Stargazer, “Hold Me Tonight”, “Sonic” and their own new tune “So Alive”. Following them came Breeze along with MC Whizzkid. He also played mostly new stuff including “Black Magic Bad Magic”, the new “Power of Love” remix, The Crow’s “The Speed” timestretched and his and Styles’ new remix of “The 6th Gate”. At midnight came Hixxy with MC Storm and he started off his set with his new remix of “Injected with a Poison”. After a few tunes he suddenly dropped in a series of big older classics like his own “People’s Party”, the original version of “Cold as Ice” and even the drum and bass tune “Badass” (although the mixes into and out of that tune were both a bit dodgy). He then went back to some new stuff like “Blow Da Roof” and “Rush-ins” before finishing off with his remix of “Set You Free”. Next up came the third Raverbaby DJ in a row, Styles. He started off with the anthem “You’re Shining” then played “Connections” by UFO and the new remixes of “Pretty Green Eyes” and “Can’t Stop Raving”. Later on came the hardcore rip of “The Way” by Divine Inspiration and he then finished off with the original “Field of Dreams”. The main set of the night was always going to be Seduction’s comeback set and this came next at 2:15am, with Storm on the mic. Along with everyone else I was curious as to what he was going to play, and here he showcased a lot of his new productions. In a ninety minute set it was entirely brand new tunes, apart from “Tekno Harmony 2003” on Quosh and a new remix he has done of “Higher and Higher” by CLSM. These were all fast and hard, and a noticeable difference from the trance sound pushed by Raverbaby and others. The mixing was all tight and within 6 months I’m sure Seduction will be back in the top 8-10 big DJs as he once was. Following Seduction came Scott Brown for the penultimate set of the night, and after 4am the club was noticeably starting to empty out. He played “Rock You Softly”, “Ghosts”, “Chase”, “Hardcore Hustler” and “Neck Breaker” before finishing off with some nu-style gabba for the last 20 minutes or so. For the last hour there were a few people dotted around the edges of the room and then 50-100 people left on the dancefloor, although all of these were going for it non-stop. This last set was Sy and Storm, and they played “Commence”, “Tekno Harmony 2003”, “Sonic”, the Scott Brown remix of “You’re Shining” and “Why Should You Live”. Sy then finished off the night which one of Seduction’s new tunes that Seduction had started his set off with. Overall this was an impressive night, especially as it was a first event for Uproar. The turnout was good and the club seemed about three quarters full (I’d guess at roughly 700 people). The club itself is very nice and plush, much more of a Ritzys than your standard rave venue. The sound systems and lighting were both good. At first sight many of the people weren’t your standard ravers as many were wearing shirts, although everyone seemed to be enjoying the music and the atmosphere was good. I chatted to lots of people, especially in the toilets where people as always were waffling to each other. Musically the event had a big DJ lineup and Hixxy played my favourite set of the night for his mixture of old and new tunes. Literally the only criticism I can make of the night is the three Raverbaby sets in a row, as this was a similar style of hardcore for all three. To their credit though the three of them had planned the sets well, and I only counted two tunes that were repeated between them. Apart from that though this was a very good night, and everything else was done well. This classes as a medium sized rave, and hopefully they can now build on this good start that they have made here. No date has yet been announced for the next one so keep an eye out for it. :) Shouts to Thumpa, Hiney, Mozz, Oli G, Smithers, James and Charlie Kitten, Andy M, Nocturnal, Erica, Bridie, Tony Resonance, Glenda, Breeze, Styles, Hixxy, MC Whizzkid, MC Storm and Sarah.
