Electrik – Sunday 30th May 2004 The Venue, Town Quay, Southampton Info: 07761280854 Times: 9:00 –2:00 Prices: £6 How much is a beer: average £2.50 Well, well, well, hardcore in Southampton, you’d never believe it and many people said that it would never work but how wrong they were. MC Marley and DJ Tony Benn have bought the South Coast ‘Electrik’ a fully-fledged hardcore night to be proud of. Hats off to them for getting off their arses, taking a risk and putting on one of the best nights on the hardcore calendar so far this year. Local nights always tend to be a bit of a risk with smaller crowds and generally the wrong type of people, but ‘Electrik’ managed to encompass all that is good about hardcore – a great atmosphere, wicked music and up for it people. The refurbished Venue on Town Quay played host to the night and unlike the old clubs ‘strip club’ feel it has a much more mature look with windows overlooking the docks where as the sun went down outside the tunes got more bangin’ inside. With two rooms rammed with the UK’s biggest DJ’s and the best up and coming talent a treat was to be had by all. Dave M kicked off the night in the main room and Promoter Marley fired the second room up with some break beat flavours. Next up in the main room we made way for fresh blood and D-Lyte took the bull by the horns. D-Lyte is definitely someone to keep your eye on, he combines a range of different genres from break beat to old skool to hardcore in a unique way and keeps the crowd on their toes – this guy needs signing up! He inflicted his fast and furious beats on the crowd with tunes like ‘Ready’ by Duncan Oatham, ‘Ruff Muff’ by 2 Damn Tuff and ‘No Way Out’ by Euphoria feat. Kristy. Whilst D-Lyte was blowing the roof off in the main room residents Tony Benn and X-Scape were filling the second room with old skool vibes. Tim Coe was next to take control of the main room with a hard house set on speed. It was great that the night provided a real range of different hard dance sounds under one roof. In the second room Ramos and Supreme were hammering out classic tunes like ‘Pink Champagne’ which still sounds fantastic to this day. Dougal was next to ram the main room full of eager ravers and they were treated to the best of both old and new. His set kicked off with ‘Shooting Star’ and ‘Heart Of Gold’ and then he went on to play upfront new tunes like ‘Taking Me Higher’ by Darren Styles. Next-door Jedi was taking the crowd back to the original sounds of hardcore with classic tunes like‘4’oclock’. He also realmed into the early days of jungle playing ’31 seconds’ which was a real crowd pleaser. My friend Keith who remembers the days of Jungle like it was yesterday, was a bit disappointed though as he didn’t think the sound system was up to it, saying: “It’s all drums and no bass and we can’t be doing with that!” To wrap the night up DJ Robbo played some fat UK hardcore with loads of euphoric build ups and vocal moments including tunes like ‘I Adore’ by Clear Vu, ‘All Of My Life’ by Aluna and ‘Future Shining’ by Breeze and Styles (for the third time of the night!). Highlight of his set had to come in the shape of his own tune ‘Everyday’ with the brilliant live vocals from Becks. It is absolutely fantastic to see live performances integrated into sets and especially at such a high quality with a great tune. Druid was last set of the night in the second room and continued the old skool sounds to wrap up an outstanding night. Marley was obviously really chuffed with the success of the opening night: “It’s wicked, we weren’t expecting such a good turn out especially the night after Homelands.” It is always really good when a local night is such a sensation so hopefully they will continue with more nights to shake your ass too! Next event from the Electrik crew is on Sunday 29th August so get yourself down to Southampton for a wicked night!
