Got to the venue around 9.45pm. Had a quick look around to check it out. The main room was a nice size and wasn't hot at all. When it got a little warm, the door staff opened the balcony door to let some cool marina air in, which was much appreciated by those on the dancefloor. The lighting rig was small but adequate, with effects such as twisters and roboscans. The sound was crisp with no distortion, even from the MCs in full flow. All in all there was a good level set up. 10/10 for audio! The décor was very basic with only a few backdrops scattered around, but overall it didn't spoil the effect of the night and to be honest, I didn't even notice what was on the backdrops! Then it was time to get the booze flowing. The first thing I noticed was that the bar had the facility to give you cash back on your debit card. I remembered thinking how naughty but nice this facility could be when you're pissed as a fart and low on cash! I must admit actually that I used the cash back service TWICE (they did a minimum of £30 cashback) but thankfully didn't spend the second lot. I think I was too drunk to remember I'd got it! The bar staff were pleasant and didn't keep me waiting for long for a drink. The security were also very friendly and actually smiled quite a lot – something that is far off the beaten track of normal security people at the larger events! The venue was quite empty but there was a very good atmosphere even at that early stage in the evening. Dave M was on the decks in the main room. He got everyone up by playing Euphoria and other uplifting upfront tunes. The people on the dance floor were giving it large and were well up for the hardcore! On the mic was MC Silky who had good lyrics and wasn't overpowering. His style complimented the tunes, just like an MC should. Next up was Jammin with Marley on the mic. He kicked off very jungly to start and Marley kept it rolling with his lyrics. Unfortunately I don’t think the crowd were ready for some DnB/jungly quite so early on in the evening and the dancefloor emptied out completely. There was literally one person dancing for more or less the entire set. However, true to DnB culture, everyone congregated around the sides of the dance floor and near the bar. I did expect Jammin's set to kick off into some 94-97 stuff but it never did. Unfortunately the crowd just weren't appreciating the tunes enough to get on the dance floor, despite Marley's best efforts to coax them. This was a predominantly hardcore crowd and this was reflected in their lack of enthusiasm to get on the dancefloor to this particular set. In the Sunset Room meanwhile, Tony Benn was playing a nice proper hardcore cheesey set with mixing that was spot on. On the mic with him were MCs Ronnie G and Ninja, with Ninja and Tony seeming to be working pretty well together. The sound system in this room wasn't quite as good as the main room, but nice and bassy. There was a good crowd on the dance floor for a small room. Tony's third tune, Rushing on Pink Champagne, filled the room more or less instantly! This turned the room into a packed out sweatbox and the floor was literally bouncing under our feet from being absolutely rammed. Ronnie G came on the mic with some wikkid Mcing and worked well with the tunes. The mic levels were very impression as they weren't too loud or too quiet. People really loved Tony Benn's set and as the room was so packed, they were even dancing in the corridor! His last tune, Set Me Free by Baby D caused absolute euphoric mayhem in the room with every single pair of hands held up hig h in the air, mine included! By this time the room was full to the rafters. Next in the main room was Vinylgroover doing an oldskool set with MC Smiley. He was able to get the crowd back on the floor, although there were still a lot of lurkers near the bar area. But even the lurkers managed to bounce gently along to the tunes. Smiley soon got everyone jumping while Vinylgroover rolled out the tunes and got the crowd packing out the dancefloor. It was getting pretty hard to move from one room to another at this point. Halfway through his set he dropped "Feels So Good" (the original mix) and the crowd went wild. Casper took the mic and picked up the pace even more. After a few more classics, Vinylgroover started to drift a bit into clubland (Camisra's "Let me show you"!!) but managed to bring it back with a remix of "Give a Little Love". Next up in the Sunset Room was Jedi & D-Lyte who were playing another set of classics. I was pleased to see D-Lyte on the line up as I hadn't heard him play or scratch since Oblivion in Bournemouth and again, I wasn't disappointed with his ability to scratch it up big stylee! Double L and Casper did a good job of keeping the crowd up from behind the mic too. Last on in the Main Room was Ramos & Supreme. I cant remember much about their set, except to say that I did lots of bouncing around and holding me hands in the air. Unfortunately I have no recollection of DJ Mitt in the Sunset Room (sorry!!). By this time both myself and Simon were more than a bit worse for wear due to excessive consumption of alcohol. However we did remember that it was a banging set to finish off the night. Wikkid stuff. I would definitely recommend this night to anyone. It has an extremely friendly atmosphere with a crowd who were definitely up for giving it large. I think the fact that the night finished at 2am made the crowd mad for it even more as they knew they were not going to have til 7am to large it. Simon and I both hope to make it to the next one, especially as we stayed in a hotel and didn't have to drive home the same night. That was a serious added bonus! Bring on Electrik 3!!
