I arrived at the Pleasure Rooms at about 11.00 and joined the fast moving queue. Now, from the outside, for those of you who’ve never been there, the Pleasure Rooms looks like a pub. I’m not joking either !!!!! But the outside appearance is very deceptive because once when you get inside it looks like anything but a pub. In fact it opens up into an impressive wicked venue with 3 large rooms and a smaller room at the back, very confusing !!!! Its just like stepping into another world !!!!!! Judging by the streams of ravers coming down Tottenham High Rd, I knew tonight was going to be a very busy night indeed. There was me and my mates thinking that all the ravers had gone to SV v HH, and Dreamscape would only be half full, but we couldn’t have been more wrong. In fact the Pleasure Rooms was packed to the rafters , all the dance floors were roadblocked all night, which made a very nice surprise :) Chatting to some of the people in the queue, a lot of ravers seem to be fed up with the Sanctuary, especially with the heavyhanded security and those notorious pissed up troublemakers who seem to get worse and worse every time. So coming to the Pleasure Rooms made a very welcome change. I have to say, I was very glad I decided to shun the Sanctuary tonight because this was one of the best nights out raving I’ve had in a long time. Anyway after a swift search by security, I headed straight for the hardcore room. The first DJ I saw was Slipmatt who smashed it up as per usual. I think Slipmatt has the right idea on where hardcore should go, as he plays a lot of the breakbeat based ‘ 95 sounding hardcore and doesn’t play too much cheese. All the whistle and horns crew certainly showed their appreciation for him. The overall production in the arenas was quite good, with each sound system supplying plenty of bassline. The decor was simplistic but effective ( more UV backdrops would have been nice though ). This added to the ‘underground’ feeling of the venue and certainly gave the feeling to the ravers that they were in a full on underground rave…..wahey !!!!!! Next up on the decks were Force and Styles alongside the Junior. The hardcore arena was now rammed full and really buzzing. Force and Styles played their usual predictable set, but who cares, they always get the crowd going mad and always get the maximum respect from all the crowd. The main man DJ Vibes followed up next and didn’t disappoint either, playing his usual selection of vocal uplifting tunes ( full on cheese basically ). The ‘ Forever Autumn’ tune which Vibes has made his own sent the crowd crazy especially with the MC Whizzkid ( a very underrated MC in my opinion ) alongside him hyping up the crowd. Time to explore I thought, the room next door was the drum and bass room which looked to be just as mad as the hardcore room. With DJs like Darren Jay and Swift doing some serious damage to those bassbins and sending the temperatures in here through the roof. In fact more air conditioning could have been a welcome addition in the venue because all the ravers were soaked in sweat all night, but security were alert enough to open up some of the fire exits to let some fresh air in. The techno / trance room was in the smallest of the rooms, but still had a wicked atmosphere as DJs like Energy and Kaos were getting down to some seriously good trancecore sounds. The next arena I checked out was the old skool room, I stayed in here for some time especially for Jimmy J’s set. This was a blinding set as he played lots of the old Kniteforce classics from 94 / 95 and got all the ravers stomping about. He even slipped ‘ 6 days’ in just for good measure, and immediately got the calls for the rewind from the crowd. The best aspect of the night was the crowd. Everyone came to dance and have a good time. No hint of attitude whatsoever, just lots of happy smiley friendly people.….just how it should be. Its been a while since I’ve seen this much PLUR at a rave. So respect to everyone who came. The Sanctuary maybe superior in production, lighting, staging etc, but in terms of overall friendliness and the general vibe, the Pleasure Rooms pisses on the Sanctuary from a great height. It’s always the crowd and the atmosphere that determines how good a rave is, not the production. Raving is all about the PLUR :) Back in the hardcore arena it was time for Vinylgroover who played a blinding set. He seemed to play a slightly harder set then usual and cut down on the cheese which made a nice change. Even though everyone was dripping head to toe in sweat, everyone was still having it major on the dancefloor. MC Storm was alongside him, screaming at the crowd and doing his vocal scratching party trick every now and again. The last set of the night was Sy and Unknown who always play absolute blinding sets and tonight was no exception. The arena was still packed full and everyone gave the respect Sy and Unknown deserved. Just a quick point about DJ Unknown, everyone recognises him as a wicked producer but he is constantly underrated as a DJ, its about time more promoters looked up to him and started giving him more bookings, especially at the major raves. Unfortunately the night came to close and the MC asked the crowd whether they had a good time at Dreamscape. The response from the whistles and horns crew was more then deafening which summed up how everyone felt about the night. Strange occurrence of the night was when I met a bloke who actually lives on V7 Saxon Street in Bletchley. Initially I didn’t believe him, but then he showed me his driving license to prove it, and he wasn’t lying !!! In fact he only lives 10 minutes WALK from the Sanctuary and can actually see it from his bedroom window !!!! Naturally, I asked why he didn’t go to the Sanctuary tonight with it being just down the road from his house. He said that he hadn’t missed a Dreamscape event in over 4 years and tonight was going to be no exception, so fair play to him !!!!!!! Overall this was a brilliant night and I’m sure everyone who came will no doubt agree with me. Everyone ( including me !! ) was half expecting this night to be a complete flop but instead it turned out to be a complete success :) The atmosphere and the vibe was on top form all night and this is what made the night so good for me. I hope the Pleasure Rooms will hold more one off big events like this in the future because I’m sure they’ll be just as good as this one. Big shouts and hellos going to all the USH crew who came and everybody else I met on the night ( where was everyone at the meetup ???…..me and my mates were standing there for about 15 minutes !!!!……or were we standing in completely the wrong place !!?? ). Over and out.
