Its been a busy day and it's Saturday night, there's a hardcore night starting at 6pm so lets do this. Questions questions questions, will the pre-party be a success, will Storm and Whizzkid turn up, will the bass in the old skool room hurt my ears, to be honest I don't even know who's playing and I can't find a flyer... Arriving in Swindon I pull up in the standard Brunel car park and I find Woody and Rich, result! The Pre-party at the flag has already begun and as we approach you can tell! Hardcore is pumping out the little pub. A quick hiding of the hi-vis jacket and a pint of Stella ordered from the friendly bar staff and we're away. Dandy Crouch is on the 1s and 2s and theres a small crowd already here, a bit of a kickdown, some hellos and picture taking and the place starts to fill. Danny plays upfront core and gets the crowd going, people are a bit reluctant to dance for some reason so the MC tries to wake them up. Seems we just want a pint before the rave! But wait more peeps have arrived and there bang up for it, the back room slowly comes alive with more and more people kicking down, Danny is replaced by Neo who rips it up with more upfront core. A bit of deft scratching and some crisp mixing and we're well on our way to having a party! 9pm comes and goes and its time to hit the main event. Thank you The Flag for a wicked warmup : ) By the time I get to the venue theres no queue which suggests that it's not too busy, we'll find out shortly I guess. I give my code to the guy on the door, "congratulations you're the first person to text, you get in for a tenner" Cheeky bastard ; ) Everytime I go to Fruit Club I can't get past the first floor, 'cause everytime there is some banging old skool or happy hardcore kicking out of it, this time is no exception a quick kick down is in order! I can't even remember who was playing at that point to be fair, all good though. Time to check the main arena, good to see that its already dark and the arena is well decked out with lighting, lasers and a big stage. Plenty of podiums to dance on, as ever, all good. Scottie B is on the M.I.C. and is doing his best to get the ravers off their arses, telling 'em they aint hardcore, lol. So what did this short journey and £10 get us, line up looks good but why did they put Styles on at the same time as Ratpack... Force and styles are playing old skool later so we'll get a bit of the Styles magic.. The main arena is hot as, I quickly had my t-shirt off as I was slowly boiling up, would of done for longer if one of the bouncers hadn't made me put it back on. Jellybeans with Scottie B are still entertaining the masses but 11 o'clock is on its way and I hear the old skool calling, DJ Dougal, Rat Pack and then Force and Styles, I don't care who's upstairs I know where I want to be, Seems I'm not the only one Dougal is setting up, Robbie Dee is shouting "Germany 3, Portugal 1!" something we are going to hear a lot of tonight! "Gotta go, got gotta go, gotta go, aaall the way, the small arena is filling up, smiles all around, we love a bit of old school! I loved it when he dropped Love the way you love me, mainly due to the opening sample, iiiiiiits the new style!! Maybe not new but still crisp as the first time I heard it : ) "You can turn wine into water..." ahhh what a sing along tune, the room is bouncing. The set finishes with another sing along anthem Shooting star, I can hear all around me as the crowd sings, I love moments like this, big smile, wicked atmosphere. One gripe which seems to be the case with the old school room at Fruit Club, the bass is not set right and it distorts and it can be painful on your ears, this isn't the first time this has been mentioned and I can't count the amount of people who asked me if they've turned the bass down downstairs throughout the night. On the positive side no one seems to mind that the stage is filling up with revellers, no security kicking them off this time, and this stayed that way all night as far as I know : ) So it's Midnight, the one like Styles is upstairs but Marky Mark and Everson Allen have just turned up and their armed with laser pointers and there not afraid to use them! Wielding them like light sabers they shine the bright green light across all and sundry, I don't know why this is cool but it is! Everson kicks it off by introducting a remix of Searching for my rizla, d'n'b style, this went down well with the crowd who kicked down good and proper. A quick reload of that one and we're on it again, Everson tells us that it just been released and cus I dig the Ratpack I'm gonna put a link to their site here http://www.ratpackmusic.net. The tune starts off with the ubiquitous "And I originate, Ratpack don't imitate!" Gotta agree with ya there boys! Marky Mark takes us through SL2 on a ragga tip and Let me be your fantasy, all with some absolutely filthy bass lines. The set's coming to the end and the crowd seemed to be ready, no sooner had the first note dropped half the crew were holding their raving shoes in the air! Fruitclub respect to you, at this point I was up on the stage and loving it, raving with one shoe on, one shoe in hand and double glow sticks in the other, quite an experience! Up next is the third hour of old school class in the shape of Force, kicking off with Sensation and Devotion, the crew is quite small but we like what we hear, oi oi Astraboy good to see ya! With Styles finished upstairs we are joined by him and Robbie (Germany 3, Portugal 1) Dee himself, he bounces up on stage, "right we need to restart this set then!" Force and styles hammer through some classics including the second hearing of shooting star, looks like Styles has brought some friends from upstairs as the small room is packing out again, good good. Slowly but surely the crowd takes over the stage, by the time Pretty green eyes is on the stage is full, the place is kicking! In need of a quick rest I pop upstairs, the main room is still not very full but theres an united atmosphere here and the focus is on the stage, four dancers right now, the Dancing Princess, Little Sis, Birthday girl Abi and the one like Just Claire all giving it some, a quick few pics and its back to the old skool. Body body, body body, bodyslam bodyslam body slam : ) this followed by a tune I recognise and adore, some euphoric piano sounds and into the final tune we go. "Take all you need from me and we'll be strong together" What a tune, I see ya crew, you're loving this one and damn right, what a tune, it captures what its all about, Peace love and unity. With that three hour onslaught of old skool down with my feet are killing me! Slipmatt is on next but he's upstairs after that too so its time for a chill, see ya all in a bit. Back upstairs and I am greeted by familar sounds, expecting Hixxy and Sy b2b but it doesn't look like Hixxy is here.... still never mind the crowd don't seem to care they're kicking to the Quosh sound. Next surprise of the evening... Rich is on stage and showing that blokes can be stage dancers too! I got to get me some pictures of this for him if nothing else. Even when Sarah and Sis left the stage and left him to it he didn't phase, still dancing, big up yourself man, fair play! And big ups to Sarah and Sis for coming out and kicking it with the ravers, they are after all just one of us : ) With Sy all done its time for the second hour of the "Germany 3, Portugal 1 (see I told ya you'd see it again) Slipmatt with Robbie Dee set" I have to admit to liking Robbie Dee's minimalist MCing, let the music do the talking and occassionally shout out random comments, hardcore, its a laugh ennit ;) He's also quite happy to stand at the back of the stage while the dancers do their thing, yet again they look like they're having a lot of fun up there, switching from practiced moves, to high kicks to general messing about, as ever quality entertainment. Time to wander round and chat to peeps again, thats one thing I love about the hardcore scene, seeing the same people, catching up with 'em, finding out that more and more up and comings are doing well, thats for you Leggett, good luck man :) Its 3:30, I'm knackered thinking about going home when I find out that Scott Brown is on last, go on then you twisted my arm! 4am as always has come round to soon and its final set time, Mr Brown on the decks and "This is how we do it" slammin out, yeah love it! A bit of Neckbreaker & Wakey wakey, Sarah and Sis are back on stage, giving it their all, its the final hour! Taking it down for "Michelle do you remember" then into the seminal All about you, theres gabba coming but when..... Ah of course, the sing along favourite Elysium. Its getting near the end of the night but I swear its not even 10 to 5 when we get told its the last tune, maybe I got lost in the gabba who knows! So thats it for another month, just time to say goodbye to some peeps, pick up my flyers and then all I will have is my memories, and the hundreds of pictures that will be on DSI (Dekay ;) Shouts to: Sarah and little-sis, entertaining as ever, Rich for showing us that men can stage dance too, Abi (good luck hun :), Clare, the R2TG crew, Bob, Calv, Roo, S1. Bexi, The girl who did my awesome plait (sorry I'm terrible for names), the girl who joined me in some off the wall dancing (you know who you are : ), the geezer with the pigtails (who shall from now be known as Scott ; ), Miss Bella for once sorting out a quality pre-party, Astraboy and the girl in the pink hat (it looks better on you than me ;), the HTID Forum crew, Carlos and crew, Leggett, Miss Old School. DeKay for taking a ridiculous amout of pictures once again! Danny Crouch family and friends (hope you got through the night bud!). Finally shouts once again to Zoe and Rude for organising another wicked night, and to all the DJs and MCs for entertaining us (especially Robbie (Germany 3, Portugal 1) Dee) Good things about the night: Friendly atmopshere, Free refills on water bottles (always happy with that one) Friendly staff on the bars, cloakroom and merchandising. Dougal, Ratpack, Force and Styles in a row : ) Entertaining dancers male and female. Allowing revellers up on stage in the old school arena. Things that were not so good: The heat, made worse by being forced to wear a t-shirt and not just my hi-vis. The bass and tops in the old school room which hurt your ears at times. Forcing me to choose between Ratpack and Styles ; ) That braveheart tune (sorry I think its overplayed) See ya all at Digital Circus, hope ya enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, peace.
