Since its first event at the Imperial Gardens, the Enigma crew have barely had time to draw breath before their next event was announced. Taking on board the feedback about the first party, the organisers took the plunge and booked a venue with a distinguished Hardcore history, The Rocket in Holloway road. This combined with a lineup which boasted plenty of exclusives meant that I was looking forward to this one. Having never been to The Rocket before also saw me and more than a few people sat outside the venue at 8pm, waiting for it to open. The venue opened about 15 minutes late and seeing as we were pretty much the first in the queue, we werent even searched and after handing over a very reasonable 15 quid, we were in. I made a beeline for the second arena as Cris-E-Manic was on first in there. However, a few minutes into her set I remembered that Mayhem was also on first in the main arena! Reluctantly I left and went upstairs to see another one of my friends grace the decks. When I got into the main arena, I was seriously impressed. This was a proper hardcore arena and no mistake. The main stage overlooked an arena roughly the same area as Bagleys main arena. At each corner was a stack that when combined, formed a system so loud that my throat rattled everytime the bassline came in. Co-ordinated lighting rigs surrounded the arena and the whole thing was topped by a huge parachute suspended from the ceiling. The most important thing I did was go straight into the bogs and sort out some earplugs, it was that loud! Downstairs, an equally impressive system was being used, combined with backdrops familiar from the old Total Hypnosis raves and a fully plumbed in and effective lighting rig. I spent the majority of the first few hours downstairs in the second arena with the *ahem* more senior members of the crowd, getting down to the classic hardcore which I dont hear played out enough. Okay there were five of us on the dancefloor, but the tunes were top notch. One set I didnt want to miss was Kaos. I really rate him as a DJ and I was determined to see his 12-1 set. Kaos stepped up an in a departure from his usual 190bpm cardiac sets he has played recently, played a hardcore set with more than a few tunes from back in the day of the unforgettable Future Dance raves. Tunes like Bad Ass, Voodoo Magic, Smack my Bitch and 9mm made me and Davespice dance like idiots all the way through. Kaos's set brought back memories that were nostalgic of the "Nobody likes us, we dont care" 2001 Hardcore era. Really enjoyed it. After Kaos had finished, I realised I was missing the DJ/MC crossover sets! I was proper pissed off that I had to miss Brisk to see it, but its not every day that you see MCs put down the mic and get their hands on the mixer. When I entered the second arena I saw Storm on the decks and in front of him was an even more peculiar sight. Surrounding him on virtually every angle were a 15 strong crowd of chinstrokers, studying his mixing with an intensity that even I found intimidating, and I was on the dancefloor! If Storm felt insecure, he didnt show it. The only thing I saw on his face was concentration as he worked through his set. His tune selection was another highlight of the night, for me at least, playing Happy classics like Shooting star and my personal favourite of the night, EyeOpener What his technical ability was like is anybodies guess, denfintley not mine. I can barely mix concrete, let alone Hardcore. All I will say is I didnt hear any obivious clangs. Toward the end of the 2 hour special, I was flaggin bad, so went to find the Chillout. When I found it, I liked it a lot. A large courtyard had been laid on for us and i the middle I found a bunch of degenerates and drop-outs going up in smoke. It was nice to be among so many friendly faces and I quite forgot I was at a rave, it was that quiet out there. When I returned to the dancefloor, the main men from Elation had taken over and were doing what they do best. Ponder and HB had promised a full on hour of breakbeat hardcore so I was glad I had caught their set early on. Soon after the news broke that the main arena had been closed early. Whilst it is never good when a rave is downsized, the effect it had was to cram every raver into the second arena, making it pleasently full. Shortly afterward, Storm got on the mic and read the ravers their fortune. An announcement along the lines of "I know the main arena has been closed but lets make the best of what we've got", coupled with Paul and Mark's decision to ditch the breaks and go over to the kicks worked wonders for the party. No disrespect to Elmo or to the breakbeat sound, but within 15 minutes of the switch and Storm reading the riot act, the party was going mental and the atmosphere had skyrocketed. It was 2am and the rave had finally kicked off. Wicked. Whatever Storm takes home per hour, he earned every penny on this one. Mark and Paul deserve a shout too, playing a top set all the way through with tunes like the breaks version of CLSM's "Liberation", Ham's "Like this", Cris-E's "Composition B", CLSM's awesome "John Peel is not enough" and finsihing off on "drifting away" from the same. Cant get much better than that:) Even better was the sight of all of the top MCs in the country on stage. Its not often you see Elmo, Storm, Whizzkid, Smiley, and Ethos standing shoulder to shoulder going back to back to back. The only person missing was Wottsee, but his absence didnt detract from the sight of the rest of them all going for it one after the other. The balanced soundsystem ensured that they didnt dominate the music and the crowd were loving every minute of it as they finally had the rave that they had paid to come to. At this point the evening became its familar blurry mess. I can only rmember outstanding highlights of the evening such as MC Smiley doing as close to a live PA as I've seen him do. When the MC dropped "Ordinary People" with Smiley MCing the vocals, one bona fide hardcore rush was the result. Very, very nice. As well as that, I think Disrupta spun "Incredible" which got me very excited indeed and last but by no means least, USH's very own MC Rizla Dizla providing the perfect accompanyment to the Hardcore DJ of the year, Scott Brown. Scott Played blinder, but the only tune I can remember is right at the end when he dropped "self destruction". The rest was eclipsed by Sean's class performance on the mic. Professional, Coherent and most importantly, minimalist. This guy knows his stuff. Things I liked: The venue. Never been to The Rocket before and I left impressed. Can you imagine how good a Hardcore Heaven would be there? OMG! Soundsystem. Loud. Which is all you need to know really. I could use words like awesome and heavy, but loud is the best one to describe it. Loud. Security. Polite and discreet all night. Didnt notice them at all tbh. The Music. Awesome lineup, Blinding tune selection and MCs on the decks. 15quid? Would have payed double. The MCs. Its not often you'll hear mecompliment Hardcore MCs when they all go b2b at once, but it worked on the night, and then some. The food. A plate of sandwiches and crisps went down a treat at midnight. Nice one. The Chillout. Totally quiet with heaters and a fish pond. What more could you ask for? Things I liked less. Attendance. More ravers were needed at this party. This rave was a good one. Okay, no-one could say that it was perfect as hardly anyone turned up and the main arena was closed early because of that. However, if you had walked in at 2am and saw all the party people going for it downstairs and the DJs busting out top quality tunes then you wouldnt have known any different and you would have thought it was a great night. I admit it did take a while (6 hours!) to get going, but once it did it didnt let up till kicking out time. The only real downside to it to was the harsh lesson that the promoters learned. I for one hope they return when they are able to and that we see further events from them. I will attend when they do. Shouts to: Davespice, Nikki Enigma, Martin, Barticle, Emsties, Happythoughts, Laura, Voltage, Immz, Cris-E-Manic, Dan Desire, Uplift, Wildcard, Sorcerer, Nuclear raver, Emma O, Moonlight raver, Sykee, Doc-E, Hayley, HB, Ponder, Tom U4EA, Bedford Caine, Skampi, Hectik, Mayhem, Rizla Dizla Ezzla, Dreamscape Gill, Vinny, ITFC4EVER, Whizzkid, Smiley, Storm, Ethos, Kaos, Brisk, Androo, Alan_m, Tenz, Projekt, Pumps,Skinno, and all the people I have forgot sorry!
