When Uproar decided to put on its next party, the promotors decided to subtitle the rave "Colossus". The Oxford English Dictionary describes the word Colossus as "Of vast size, gigantic, huge", so with every major promotor desperate to put on the "biggest" party and take advantage of Hardcore's resurgence to the full, it would be interesting to see what Uproar could do to back up the grand claim it made about its latest venture. As usual, the finer details of the event were released when the flyer was. What really grabbed my attention was the way the picture of the venue was splashed all over the front. "This extra special event is being staged at a 44million pound, purpose built leisure and concert venue, The Nottingham arena" above and below an exterior picture of the place. It did indeed look big, as did the interior picture inside the flyer. IIRC, it was also the first time the place had been used for Hardcore too. Of course, a venue is only one half of the equation, a rave is nothing without DJs to fill it. In this case, th lineup was just as big as the location, with top of the bill being taken by event organisers Seduction and Sy, the latter going b2b with Unknown. Backing them up were the great and the good of the UK Hardcore scene, namely Hixxy, Sharkey b2b with CLSM, Marc Smith, Scott Brown, Breeze & Styles, Dougal and Gammer, as well as Flyin and Stompy. As well as that, a Maximum impact Live PA was also promised in the main arena. There were also two other arenas as well as the main one, Techno and Old skool on this occasion, with a good variation of DJ's playing in each. Producer and Drokz stood out in the "Uproar :HARD:" arena and Ratty and a rare appearence from Stu Allen being prominent next door. The whole thing screamed "Must attend" from the word go and ture enough, I was soon faced with a full car with plenty of people eager to jump in if other dropped out. In the end, it was Kas, Sykee & Emma who made the trip with me to the venue, a good two hours up the road in Nottingham. After blitzing up the M1 and threading our way through the back streets, we found a parking space and headed towards the venue. A monstrous queue presented itself but those with tickets through the post and not a sms text could go straight in. I queued for a bit, but the rave was calling and I knew it. I was inside one reasonable search later. Making my way round to the side, the first place I arrived at was the Old Skool room. It sounded good, if a little quiet, but I knew I needed to be in one place, the main arena. The doors to the right of the looked a fair bet. I opened them and went through. If I had a quid for everone who said "Fuck me" as they walked through those doors, I'd have 3000 quid. The flyer hype was, for once, true. It had promised "The largest Hardcore Main arena, ever" and it was firkin huge. It had also promised a main stage to "Give the impression of a large outdoor concert, but indoors", that must be what the monstrous affair up the other end of the arena was all about. Flanked by two monolithic stacks, a large main stage was flanked on all angles by lighting rigs, video screens, a few suspicious looking black boxes which had Tony Res written all over em, not to mention the DJ stand, surrounded on four sides by monitor speakers! Right in the middle of it all, way above the DJ stand was a big sign saying "COLOSSUS", I think the trades description people would be struggling to pin something on them if they saw the same things I did. However, that weren't the best thing about entering that place, it was the seething mass of ravers in front of the stage, going for it as only a Hardcore crowd can. The place was filling up still, but the party crew already in the place were soon to be joined by those in the queue outside. Combine the two and a very large crowd was about to get together. If that weren't good enough, CLSM and Sharkey were on stage when I got in. The original Newport Legend, Wottsee was complimenting them on the mic and the place was going off nicely as a result. Would be rude not to join them then. Making my way through the raving crowd was good fun, taking my tim to say hello to the familar and not so familiar faces in the crowd. A quick diversion to sort out my earplugs and I got myself where I belonged, near the front, a little to the left. Perfect. What made it even better was the way CLSM and Sharkz were working the crowd. These two go well together and always produce the good when needed. This was one of those times. I needed to get into the night and these guys were the catylst. As the system warmed up, it did so playing only the most danceable tunes. Specifically the upfront remix of timebomb, as well as "Music is moving". Not forgetting my personal favourite remix of "Dominator" and finally, finishing on another, fully interactive, autocue'd singalong of "World in union", complete with random sheets of paper stuck together with the words on it! Also worthy of a mention was MC Wotsee on the mic. Never one to let things get stale he dropped a new lyric I hadn't heard before which goes "Wottsee I'm just Wottsee, what you see is what you get, not a basehead or a cokehead or a smackhead high on ket" All delivered in his own inimitable, high energy fashion. Nice one. Next up was the 11pm set and I can think of no-one better to take it than Breeze and Styles going b2b with MCSquared on the mic. Although it would be an insult to the promotors to call this a "Kick off" set, what it definitely did was pull ravers onto the dancefloor. Within a few minutes the front of the arena was rammed out to bursting point with raver keen to get on it. The DJs and MCs obliged. With MCSquared in full on, double mic, lyrical attack, Styles and Breeze busted out tune after tune to get the ravers dancing. Keeping it as upfront as possible with lots of tunes I didn't recognise, the place was going off by the end of the set, mostly due to the inclusion of "Dark like Vader", "I believe in you", the remix of "keep on trying" and finishing on "Slide away". Therafter was the midnight set and it was all Marc Smith's. This guy always takes the bull by the horns and in this case it was a roomful of ravers which had just been moved by the most popular in the business. Marc's job was to keep em on the dancefloor and while some of them did move off as he worked his way thorough his set, those who favour expending some serious energy instead of holding their hands in the air were in their element. That included me. Together with the essential ingredient to any top end BPM set, namely MC Odyssey on the mic, Marc cained the tunes he is known, loved and stomped in front of for, including another showing for the remix of "Timebomb", as well as "Blow the roof" and the leg shattering "Gravity". Finally, he finished on a remix of the classic "Powerjam" to bring his set to a close. The next pair on the decks saw me firmly entrenched in the main arena yet again. It occured to me that although I had seen Gammer not 24 hours earlier, it had been quite a while since Dougal had graced the decks in my presence. Gammer had already proved himself worthy at Bedlam the night before and I was sure Dougal could rise to the challange. With the peak time appearence of MC Rude on the mic to take them through their hour, it was an eager pack or ravers in front of them that got down to business while the DJs and MC fulfilled their part of the bargain. Playing a thumping party set designed to get the crowd moving as quickly as possible, the DJs quickly immersed themselves in their favoured style. Playing upfront, rushy and euphoric, Dougal and Gammer proved why they work so well in the studio by displaying it on the decks in front of the ravers. Dropping "Sensory vision", "Need more core", "Crack Whore", "Under the influence" and "Fade away" during their set, the only reason they saw to break this up was for Gammer to scratch up over the tunes. Not that I was complaining that is. The Real highlight of the evening was about to get underway after Dougal and Gammer had finished their time. With the inclusion of a couple of keyboards and the VERY welcome introduction of the one and only Vinny on the stage, the Maximum Impact PA was about to start. A pair of artists in MI tshirts took a keyboard each and played one tune each before making way for the next pair, together with MC Rude keeping things under control on the mic. Keeping it minimal on the visual aspect of the PA (With the aforementioned Vin and Sallie and Sarah being the notable exceptions) and concentrating on the music, a specially tweaked edition of each tune was played out to the ravers, with Gammer and Seduction playing "Put your hands up", Flyin and Sparky dropping "Energy Rush" and Gammer and Flyin caining "Thats how I roll" to bring the PA to a close. After a solid 4 hours of upfront Hardcore, I needed a bit of a change and the other arenas were beckoning. In Particular, the Techno arena and mostly because Producer was going b2b with Drokz. Having seen this guy near on cave in the sweatbox the last time he played in the UK, I wanted more of the same and I got it on more ways than one. This was because quite a few of the features of the old Santuary sweatbox had been reproducec upstairs in the Techno room. Upon entering the arena, the temparature jumped 10 degrees. A long thin room had been pressed into service, with the DJ stand in the middle. A thin layer of rave scum was on the floor, being agitated by a gaggle of topless sweaty technoheads, bunched round the decks. The only thing missing was moody security and a bouncy floor! But those were compensated by the insane tunes Drokz and Producer were coming up with. All I can tell you was it was Hardcore at the most extreme end. Incredibly fast and seriously aggressive I immediately got into things and in no time at all was as sweaty as those around me. Speaking of which, some of them had a better ear for the music than me and with that in mind, Lee UHF deserves a pat on the pack for informing me that the DJs were playing lots of "Old Destroyer stuff". I didn't need to be told what it was to love it for what it was though. Hard as nails and very, very fast. This was underlined when Drokz took his last tune to the end, then grabbed the radio mic off a sweat soaked MC Ribbz and demanded everyone put their middle fingers up. The crowd dueley obliged as Drokz returned to taking his tune from 140bpm to as fast as he could spin it round with his finger. Upon returning to the main arena, I saw Hixxy was on the decks. It was about time I made a return then, especially as Whizzkid had joined him on the mic. Another DJ to play an unashamed party set, Hixxy was determined to give the ravers the good time they had payed their money for. He did this by playing tunes that were guaranteed to make them dance. Even though the evening was wearing on, they were more than happy to uphold their end of the bargain. Hixxy was in his element at this point, with top tunes making dancing a compulsion rather than a choice. Going for a nice mix of upfront as well as remixes of several classics, Hixxy played "Keep on Trying", "Angel eyes", "Rock ya Hardcore" and "Feel so Real" for the first half of his set. Thereafter, Whizzkid was relieved of the mic by MC Storm who took put the second half of Hixxy's set to bed as the DJ dropped "Dark like Vader", "DIDO R.I.P" and the remixes of "I cant stop raving" and "Just get raw". Finally, he finished his set with the increasingly popular "Come with me" which saw me take off as soon as it finished. Not that I wanted to leave, but it had been too long since I had seen a set from Stu Allen and I weren't going to miss it if I could help it. When I got into the Old Skool room, Stu had already started his set, together with MC Nice & Easy on the mic, providing a competent and minimalist foil for the DJ's easygoing style. Not to mention beatboxing so well I honestly thought there was a third deck stashed away at one point. Every time I see Stu Allen, I leave with a big smile on my face. He has his own particular brand of old skool down to a tee and I just love every tune he comes up with. This was no exception and despite the wheezy soundsystem in the place, the assembled crew and myself were having a great time. Not at all difficult with the tunes Mr. Allen was coming up with. Like I said, my kind of Old skool, with "Love of my life", "6 days", "Toytown", "Shining down", "Cloudy Dayz", "Sunrize", "The Noize", "Discoland" and finishing off with "Now is the time", as well as accepting a number of handshakes from the (numerous) ravers who appreciated his work. That was it for the rest of the arenas, they shut down an hour early in preperation for the final set in the main arena. Just where had the night gone again? Damned if I know, but its always an indication of a good night out if the time flies, which it definitely had in this case. For the final set of the night, there was only one way to do it justice. No messing about, Sy & Unknown on the decks, MDSquared on the mic. One good, solid, pumped up Power hour to look forward to, then hometime. The Sound system had finally found its equlibrium, the MC could be heard clearly, the ravers were ready to stomp their guts out, everything was ready for the final hour. I was where I needed to be too, surrounded by all my friends and having a great time. The Power hour was as it always is, the culimnation of the night. Not a time to scratch your chin, but a time to enjoy yourself and rave to your favourite tunes, both upfront and old skool. Both were forthcoming from Sy & Unknown, with the upfront handled with "Slide away", "Rock ya hardcore" and "makin me wanna dance", but it was the remixes that really stole the show. "Let me be your fantasy", "Free your mind" and "I'm ravin I'm ravin" were all dropped to an appreciative crowd, but it was "Pacific sun" which was perfect for the moment. If you were there you know what I am talking about, but if you werent, then imagine Sy dipping the volume on the vocal and 3000 ravers making him and Storm redundant by singing along to the vocals so well it made both the DJ and MC crack a huge smile and call for a well deserved rewind. It was an action replay the second time round as well, not to mention something which I'm going to remember for quite some time too. Sy seemed to feel the same way and chose to finish off the night with "Do we have to say goodbye". I know how he was feeling too. I know I didn't want it to end when it did five minutes later. Or at all now that you mention it. Things I liked: Venue - Yum Yum. Big, first time use for Hardcore and full of ravers. Cant ask for much more than that. Production and decor - Tony Res had promised something special when i bumped into him shortly after I arrived. I werent dissapointed either. Very impressive laser show, together with a balls out lighting rig and wierd visualisations on the screens (Scrunched paper crew!). As impressive as the venue? Its damn close. Stage dancers - What can I say. The, frankly, compulsary appearence of Sallie and Sarah was complimented by other female and male stage dancers, but the icing on the cake was the showing of not only Spencer , AKA "Thongman" but the return of the legend that is Vinny! Way too long since I saw him last, but tonight he proved he's still got what it takes to wipe the floor with everyone in the manic stage dancing stakes. Introductions - I've only ever seen pre-recorded introductions for the DJs and MCs at big Dutch Gabba raves, this was the first time I've ever seen em here, but I liked them, particularly the way they were voiced by the same vocalist that did the "John Peel" lyrics. Bar prices - Water 1.60 a bottle? Dont mind if I do. Techno arena - Reminded me of the sweatbox at the sanc. Was just as hot and full of technoheads too. I liked it. Set times - More of a set brochure this time! Free as usual too. Things I liked less: Security - I was cornered in the toilets by two security guys and told to turn out my pockets. "Its random, its random" they kept on saying. Bollocks. I was turned over for having the audacity to look at them as they did another bloke. Having said that, they were bang on it when the scallies kicked off near the front, so it weren't all of them that were on a power trip, it has to be said. Sound - When it was finally sorted out, it was very good indeed. it took its time though and then some. There were several occasions when you could barely hear the MC at all. However, in the technician's defence, he persevered and got there in the end. There were areas in the arena where it was better than others. You stood in the right place and you were blasted. I stood in the right place for most of the night. Sound in the other arenas - If the main arena was inconsistant, the other arenas were just plain quiet. Particularly the Old skool room. Heat - For somewhere with a 60 ft. ceiling, it got surprisingly hot in there. After it was all over, the ravers were quick to go, but what we are left with is a redefinition of what UK Hardcore raving is all about. In terms of specticle, occasion and a sense of something special, Uproar has definitely scored big points in putting on this rave. The amount of people who turned up was an indication of how well it captured the raver's imagination. Personally? I went away, not only with a big smile on my face, but with a sense of a successful gamble that paid off. I got the distinct impression that this was not a money making exercise. If it had been then we would have been back at a packed out Emporium, with a big "UPROAR" banner over the front door. However, we weren't. The promotors took a gamble and the ravers rewarded them by turning up in sufficent numbers to make sure this rave would be talked about for a long, long time. This is what made this rave so good. It was a clear effort to impress in every aspect of its production. Worked as well. This was definitely something to write home about. And then some. One things for sure, Hardcore Heaven are going to have their work cut out to go one better then Colossus. Uproar have got there first and to coin a phrase "The standard has been set".
