Well, the year is still young but I have to say that UD was the most enjoyable night out that I've had in 1999. It's been a while since the last United Dance due to the fact that the business changed hands since last year and also lost Stevenage Arts & Leisure Centre as a venue. However, the Slammin' Vinyl boys are now fully in control and seem to have waved a magic wand over the event. I must admit, I was a bit dismayed when I heard that Arena one was going to be Drum & Bass as I have always viewed UD as a mainly happycore event, nevertheless I was pleasantly surprised by the way the Hardcore Anthems Arena 2 proved just as popular as ever and I also spent a few happy hours bopping away in the House room downstairs. I arrived at the event at about 9.45 however, I was forced to wait outside for a tardy companion (Cheers Ross !) who didn't arrive until 10.30 - oh well, such is life! Upon entering Arena 2 I was treated to a very diverse set played by a personal fave of mine, DJ Hixxy. Apparently, each of the DJ's in this arena were supposed to play tunes from a certain year, but, being DJ's none of them had read the flyer and just played what the hell they wanted! Either that or, due to the fact they are professionals, they couldn't tell what year a track was from because their record collections are full of dub plates and white labels (alright for some!). A glance at my watch told me that it was 11oclock so I rushed to the burger van in the anticipation of meeting a good few of the USH cru, I was sorely disappointed, 4 blokes occupied the bench close by and, when I asked if they were there for the meetup, looked at me with confused faces which communicated to me that they didn't have a clue what I was talking about. Yes, that's right, I went to the meetup on my own and once I got there found that I had known myself all my life and did'nt have to meet at a rave. Slightly downhearted I returned to arena two... Ratpack soon lifted my spirits, so what if they play the same tunes in every set (ooh dark!) they are garunteed to rock the crowd and rock they certainly did! Next up Force & Styles alongside the vocal talents of MC Junior back from, well, if you don't know.... I had it large until about 2am when I ventured outside to search for some more of my friends who operate on a different time scale from me (I call this Cris E Manic time, anyone who knows me will know why, Christine will be late for her own funeral and will also wonder why all of her guests have got the hump! ). It was at this time that I did actually meet up with some of the USH cru so, hi to all of you. A few completely inane conversations later (these probably took about 2hrs!) I decided to have a bit of a jump about in the house room and was suitably impressed especially by the set hardcore DJ Vinyl Trixta put together including "Degrees of Passion" and many other old house favourites. All too soon we were into the last hour which involved playing a game entitled '101 things to do with...' anyone who was on the left hand side at the back of Arena 2 will now understand what that bunch of about 8 people standing clustered around a cardboard cut out of a Bacardi Breezer bottle were doing... ...actually, maybe they won't, I'm not sure I do! 6AM came and the sound melted away, literally - this is my only complaint about the night, the sound quality was not as good as it should have been and this is unusual for Bagley's, sort it out for next time UD and you've pretty much got close to the best rave around.
