Right then, here we go. Dave first... Cheers Rhod, Astraboy and I went to a place which inspires fear, dread and loathing in most ushers, yep you've guessed it: Birkenhead: Land of the scalleys! We were going into the lions den itself, if you want to find out what happened, read on! We had to get to the Mersey ferry terminal on time or we would get left standing there, Rhod and I only just made it onto the train we needed to get with about 2 minutes to spare! When we were underway we met up with Andy and Shaun, a couple of mates of mine from Chester who were up for trying out a hardcore rave! Anyway, we got to Birkenhead central, got off the train and looked around, this could only be described as hell itself! Rhod and I looked at each other and we weren't sure if we'd make it back from this one... so we put on our Kevlar vests and made a run for it to the Taxi rank! As soon as we left the station a gang of scalleys spotted us and a cry went up "SOURFERNERS, GET 'EM!!" We managed to take cover in an abandoned, LOL, sorry I am only kidding, Birkenhead wasn't that bad at all to be honest. But like all towns and cities it does have its worse areas and one of those was Seacombe which we had to go through to get to the ferry terminal! More on this later! We got into the terminal and found a load of ravers all waiting to get on the boat and after about 10 to 15 minutes they let us walk out to the pier. The boat was just pulling up, it was called the Royal Daffodil or something can't remember off the top of my head but it looked fairly big, not massive like a cruise liner or anything it had a capacity of about 300 I would say. The sun was out in force so once we set off it was really nice, the music wasn't going at this point so Rhod and I walked up to the bow of the boat and just sat there watching the world go by having a bud. There was a really good atmosphere already, even through there was no music playing, it felt really different to be at a rave in broad daylight for a change Once the music got going we found out how much fun it was to dance whilst the boat was rocking back and forth! *boing* *boing* *boing* *boing* *left* *left* *left* *left* *WALL*, SMACK!! lol, nah it wasn't that bad, although everyone was playing up to this novelty which was funny for a while! Over to Astra. Cheers Dave, Benson was on the decks for the entire trip upstairs in the hardcore room. I chatted to him before he went on and he was hell bent on a cheeseathon but when he got down to it he played a variety of styles as well as cheese. The crowd came and went as the boat chugged up and down the Mersey, ramming out the dancefloor at some points and leaving it down to the diehards when the majority went for a rest. The same could be said for the upstairs Hardhouse room. TBH there weren't enough ravers to fill both dancefloors all the time, mostly because it was a nice sunny day and people were content to chill out on the deck and listen to the tunes rather than brock to them. Still it was a good relaxed and chilled atmosphere, with the scenery slipping by at a pleasant rate and the tunes being pumped out both upstairs and downstairs. All too soon the boat came to rest where it had started (I'm sure the captain had done a couple of handbrake turns in the river but thats another story.) Meanwhile Benson was still rinsin it out. Only when the boat docked and people started to get off did he take the volume down. With that we disembarked. At this point it was around 4.30 and the main party was still a couple of hours, and miles away. We hailed a cab and shot over to New Brighton, where the second part of the party was to be held. When we arrived, we saw the venue. Christ knows how Vibealite had done it, but they had scored a top place to hold a beach party. About 200yds out to sea, via a raised causeway, stood a large fortress, next to the lighthouse. it was still a few hours away till the start so Me, Dave and the boys went for a wander. after frequenting a very nice chippy and a slightly scary old mans pub which smelt of wee a bit, it was almost time to go to the fortress. As we made our way up, we got a few photos and then went inside. Inside the venue, we were met by a smiling Sal and the rest of the Vibealite crew who checked our wrist bands that we'd been attached to on the boat, and let us in. Inside was a triangular courtyard, surrounded by different buildings and a few staircases leading upwards and downwards from it. Oh and a bloody big marquee, sound rig and lighting :) Hard trance was being rinsed out as the warmup set, with a few people dancing away. However me and dave and the rest of the boys bided our time, not least for the fact that we were still totally knackered from the boat trip! After the first hour, the pace was upped as Sy & Storm touched down early in the party. The dance floor justifiably rammed out as the boys did what they did best, Tore down the place with a performance you'd come to expect from the two hardcore guv'nors. :) As per bloody usual, I cant remember a single thing about the playlist, but I've come to accept this as an indicator of a good set, when it ceases to be a collection of tunes and becomes an hour long rave experience. At this point the evening became a bit of a blur, The DJs and MCs merging into one as the evening progressed. The best part about this rave was the way it was an exclusive party (only around 300 attended all in), yet throughout the night the biggest names in the scene kept turning up. This made the event even better, as even though I knew they were booked, when they did show up it was really good in a "Hey Dave, Scott Brown's turned up!" even though it only a 300 capacity party kind of way. Speaking of which, one of the downers of the night occurred during Scott's set (which was the nuts btw, even managed to dance to gabba!), namely the mic breaking. It was a pity as it happened halfway through a second helping of Storm on the mic, but it was also good as it gave the ravers a mic free party for the rest of the night. Its something that I feel promoters might want to try in future. MCs in the first half of the night to get the crowd hyped, then mic free for the second half to let the party people get into the tunes. It deffo worked on the night this time, though this is mainly due to Stu Allens set. After his last performance which I saw at Fantasy Island where he pissed on every other DJ and walked the set of the night contest, I was expecting big things from him and the man came up with the goods. Stu played 95-97 happy hardcore, Rejecting the original recipe and going for the "extra stompy" mixes of tunes such as "heart of gold", "Love of my life"; and "Now is the time" with other timeless classics which me, Dave and the rest of the crowd lapped up. Stu Allen seems to make a habit out of turning up to parties I attend and walking away with the set of the night every time. Shipwrecked was no different. Happy hardcore at an open air rave? Worth the entrance fee in itself. :) The rest of the night was a total blur after that, I remember stomping on for a few hours but I'll be an RnB vocalist if I can remember the tunes or even which jock was on the decks. I do remember dancing right to the end of the night and noticing on the way out that not only had the worn off most of the paint on the marquee's raised floor, but some nutter had stomped a hole through the same floor! What more proof do you need that this was a kicking party? I really enjoyed this one, if nothing else but for the difference from regular raves. Speaking of which, Things we liked: Cracking venue(s) Innovative party idea, Best DJs in the land in attendance, Safe Vibealite security. Things we liked less: 2.70 a bottle of beer on the boat! I know it was called shipwrecked, but I dint think we'd see piracy as well! The mic breaking and no spare, The party location being right next to a certain town which breeds a certain type of raver. If you know what I mean. The good points deffo outweigh the bad though, as this was one of the most creative parties I've been to in a long time. Shouts to the vibealite crew for having the guts to do something that little bit different, a well thought out party. Next time, how about getting all the DJs on the boat, sailing it out to sea and not coming back till 6am? Oh and starting off a couple hundred miles further away from Birkenhead wouldn't go amiss either :) Shouts to: All the SAFE Birkenhead crew, such as Ekkie, Matt and Gazz, Gary, Sal, Asa, Benson and all the rest of the vibealite crew, Spencer, Teresa, Sy, Storm, Sara, Scott Brown, Stu allen, Dodgee, The sound technician I got talking to and the hundreds of people we missed out. edited to sort out those annoying bits of code.
