Uproar is a fairly new rave on the hardcore scene, with only a few events in Swindon to its name. Its promoter, however, is straight from the Old Skool. DJ seduction was one of the DJs to leave the scene when hardcore was on its last legs. He stopped producing and sold the rights to Hardcore Heaven and United Dance to Slammin Vinyl. Upon his return, a few voiced concerns about him trying to cash in on the resurrection of the hardcore scene, But Seduction, along with co-promoter MC Rude proved the doubters wrong by setting up their own event, Uproar. Any promoter will tell you of the difficulty of getting a hardcore event to break even, let along make a profit. On this basis, its safe to say that these two are not in it for the money. Uproar's previous events have been held in the Brunel Rooms in Swindon, but this event, aptly named "The Big One" was held at the Sanctuary. Not only that, but it was a leg destroying 12 hours long and boasted a line up consisting of the regulars of the big Sanctuary raves and DJs who do not appear as often as they should. Sharkey B2B Kevin Energy, CLSM Live PA, Scott Brown B2B Marc Smith. These were all good reasons to attend. But if I'm honest, the only thing that made my attendance certain was the appearance of another Hardcore Legend, MC Livelee. He had been flown in especially to do a one off set with Vibes, just like he used to do on a weekly basis back in the day. I was there, damn right i was. I decided late on in the day to drive to Milton Keynes. When I got there I parked a little way off and made my way to the venue. I arrived about 5.45 having found Padz and a few others along the way. A small queue was snaking round the side of the venue when we got there. A bit too small to be honest, but I was confident of a respectable turnout. About 40 minutes later, the queue started moving and a little later we were at the entrance, ready to face security. As usual I took everything out of my pockets and placed them on the table while the security women patted me down. Eventually she found my Caffeine tablets and despite them still being in the original blister packet, she refused to let me in with them. If that weren’t bad enough, she wouldn’t let me take them there and then. I knew that arguing with Sanctuary Security is a good way to get your face aquatinted with a 12D cell maglight so I left it. Didn’t stop me being pissed off though. I had to rave for 12 hours without what usually keeps me going for 9. Thanks for nothing you meglomaniac bint. Despite the setback, I was pleased to be back at the Sanctuary. Having been there 3 times in the last 5 weeks, I was interested to see what they'd done to the place for my final visit this year. I weren’t disappointed. Huge spikey inflatables were hung from the ceiling as well as the mandatory lighting rig. UV fabric was stretched in long cylinders along the ceiling and the large amounts of UV light made them all glow. Straddling the stage were the speaker stacks , on one of which sat a hefty laser. In between the stacks and the stage were a pair of video screens showing weird ass visuals as well as namechecks of the event and computer graphics. On stage there was a surprise. The DJ booth was on stilts! Not just stilts but 12 foot tall stilts! Seriously, the DJ was way up near the ceiling girders while the MC had the run of the main stage. I was not sure what to make of it to be honest as it kinda separated the DJ from the crowd, all the way up there, but it was deffo something different. After I had sorted myself a drink and some earplugs, I tried to find a lineup of the night. The only thing I could find was for the Tasty lineup in the sweatbox upstairs. It didnt really matter though as it was a simple enough matter. Dont want to miss a set/ dont leave the hardcore room Up on the decks first was someone who was not even on the flyer, DJ Gammer. Not that I was complaining, mind you. I've heard previous sets from Gammer and I had gone away impressed by his mixing and his tune selection. Plus its always nice to see a DJ Grace the decks who has the talent but is not booked enough by promoters. He was warming up the night nicely, playing a crowd pleasing set including Roll With This, The Stargazer Remix of John Peel, Paradise, Black Magic Bad Magic, and Crazy Styles. The assembled crowd, though small, seemed to appreciate his efforts as they showed their respect by the nose report when his time was over. A few hours later, the rave was given the kick in the guts it needed from an early showing by the Nu Energy Collective. Both Kev Energy and Sharkey were behind the decks and best of all, Sharkey was on the mic for the first part of the set before getting down to the business with Energy of giving the ravers what they want. Freeform by the bucketload was in order and Sharkz and Kev came up with the goods, playing loads of new tunes which I hadn’t heard before. Even though it was only 8 in the evening, the party had kicked off thanks to the boys rinsing blinding tunes. Respect is due. One of the highlights of the night was on at 12.30. CLSM had previously done PAs for smaller raves, but having seen the results, I was eager to see what they could come up with and how a larger audience would react to it. Why? Well, if you've never seen a PA by these people then "weird" doesn’t begin to describe it. CLSM take pride in their ability to mess with ravers heads while supplying top quality tunes. They took advantage of the larger stage at Uproar to do both with avengence. CLSM's tracklisting started with Driftin Away, before leaping "Into the sound" The next tune was a new one which I hadn't heard before, followed by John Peel,Wicked MC and Liberation. For some reason they decided to finish with "Rule Brittannia"!?!?! Whatever they finished with, it didnt matter. CLSM are my favourite hardcore producers at the moment and hearing pretty much all my favourite tunes of the moment, with the vocals sung down a mic and not prerecorded at all was deffo one of the best parts of the night and that was just on a musical tip. While this was happening "Ned" was on a mission, pushing his lawnmower round the stage, Chucking out free CD-ROM videos (Big up the truckmunki massive) and looning round the place as only he knows how. MC Wottsee was rinsing out his lyrics in a perfect example of how a hardcore MC can perform yet not intrude on the music and two stagedancers bumped and flexed on either side of the stage. The whole thing was amazing,cant wait to see it again. If that weren’t enough (and I was more than satisfied at that point) that the proper highlight of the night was still to come. At 2am Storm handed over the mic to a bloke in a hat who I hadn’t seen before. I looked up at the DJ booth and saw a long haired bloke armed with a record bag stuffed with cheese. The bloke on the mic shouted out "OIOI!" and the whole place went mental. This meant only one thing. The Vibes and Livelee show was about to start. I've never seen these two live before. Of course, I've heard the tapepacks , but that is a poor substitute for actually being there. This time I was there. Best of all,it was a near enough perfect reproduction of the tapes I have grown to love. It was so good I can only remember one tune that was dropped "Rainbow High in the sky" but the rest of it must have been equally as good as I didnt hear anyone complaining. The only thing I did hear was the crowd singing along with Livelee's lyrics. Lee was trying to do the "Sing the last word of the lyric after I've done the first bit" but the crowd was following him so intently that each time he started a lyric he only got a few words in before the crowd took over and near enough made him redundant. When he did the timeless "Ready, steady,BLOW!!!!!" the whole place went nuts. Not heard a crowd response like that for a long time. Helping things along was another one of my favourite stage performers, Vinny the stagedancer. He'd been going a fair old time when Vibes stepped up, but everyone knows that the word "Tired" aint a part of his vocabulary. Throughout the set Vin didnt stop once, Stomping as though his life depended on it, firing off glitter cannons into the crowd, Chasing the girly dancers round the stage,you name it, he was doing it. Vinny made a great set even more enjoyable, the combination of it all made the whole thing shoot by in a flash. What a set. Made the whole night. It was so good that I did the unthinkable, left the rave early, shortly after they had finished. I so wanted to stay on, but I was getting too tired to drive and thanks to certain members of the security, I had nothing to keep me awake. That wont be happening again, I can assure you. Things I liked: Hardcore at the sanctuary. Never a bad thing. Nice one. The lineup. Nice mix of styles, some nice touches and PAs which really made the night stand out musically. Vinny on stage! Its not a proper rave without him up there doing the business. Vibes and Livelee. Best set of the night, without doubt. Loved every minute of it. Things I liked less: No lineup times for the main arena. Security. I know they are only doing their job, but a little less zeal would be in order next time. I had my caffiene tablets taken off me which meant I had to leave early. This means that those bellends on the door owe me a Sy and Storm set and a Scott Brown b2b Marc Smith set. Robbie Long not turning up. No breakbeats then. Sound. As with Slammin, one side of the system kept cutting out throughout the night. Not on at all. This was my first Uproar and it was a good one. Nice venue, Nice lineup and nice turnout. On all accounts a successful event. I liked the way it was put together too, seamlessly blending older styles with the freshest upfront hardcore. Mixing established and well love DJs and MCs with only the best up and coming talent. Hopefully this will be the first in a long line of Uproar raves at the sanctuary. I will attend when Sedders and Rude put on another event. Dont keep us waiting too long now lads eh? P.S. On a personal note, I'd like to thanks to everyone who helped me through the night with their kind words. Its safe to say I werent exactly in a party mood on saturday. Thank you all for being there when I needed you. I wont name names, you know who you are. Respect.
