Right so its time for United in Hardcore part 2. The last one was the opener and what a night it was :) Ingredients this time around include the top names once more: Styles, Hixxy, Marc Smith, Sy, Bristols finest D-ice and Reality and the EP crew, Gammer and Dougal. Ably assisted by the vocal talents of Whizzkid, Storm, Smiley and Spenno. When you see Dougal billed as "Event 'Shit I hope this goes well' Organizer" you know your in for a good night! Scottie B and Mark JBZ are manning the codes so no time wasted and we're in :) First impressions are good, system is already kicking, Delicious, who rocked it last time with Compulsion, is leading the way. Theres a video wall with the last event streaming out, Dougals dad is once again walking round with his camera. Bar isn't cheap but the bar staff are friendly and one of them is even having a boogie, quality stuff. The merchandise stall manned by JBZs Bubble and Scottie B had the usual paraphenalia you could want, whistles, horns, glowsticks, flashing necklaces etc. No white gloves though (left mine at home) but can't blame them for that! Delicious keeps the pace going with well know tunes including Your Shinging and an up to date mix of Here I am. Finishing up her set with a hard slammin track that I couldn't ID. Accompaying delicious was an unbilled MC from Birckenhead, it looked to me like he just picked up the mic and went for it, if I was running the event and they were good, I'd leave 'em to it too! Fair play to the event organisers. This set the pace nicely for the next DJ, expecting D-ice and Reality but if memory serves we had just one half, Reality in control. Reality played a good mix of well known and not so well known tunes, including "Spirt is shining" and "Make me love you more" Smiley and Spenno did equal turns on the mic hyping up the crowd ready for the big names. First gripe of the night, once the club had started to fill up the place got hotter and hotter and the bar quickly ran out of bottled water too. If you had a bottle though at least they refilled them, I was expecting them not to as there was no running water in the blokes toilets, call me cynical.... May have been an actual problem rather than done purposefully though as the womens had running water (so i'm told ; ). With the heat it was time to take a breather, Marc Smith took centre stage and brought his unique style to the dancefloor. I couldn't ID most of the tunes but it varied from Uk hardcore to freeform and back again. What I can say is that technically the guy is a god, one thing the Rocket venue does have is a balcony directly above the DJ so you can admire their style, if thats your thing! Marc really impressed me with his mixing style and when he mixed out of a loop into Space Odyssey doubly so! Marc finished his set with Sensory vision and it was time for the scratchmaster they call Sy. Sy leads in with a fresh mix of U R My Phantasy, plays through more of the well known Quosh anthems, the first few lines of Set your body free are greeted with eruption from the crowd and a rewind. Storm arrives and the set is ready for phase 2. Sy and Storm, you know the score! Its gonna be uplifting its gonna be vocally, its gonna be fast. No exception tonight, "Give me a reason", "See the light", "Bass fire" and the trancey Skydivin get a look in assisted by Storms well know lyrics "Just accept it" and "Colours only skin deep". Bass fire is enhanced with a scratch battle between Sy and Storm. The whole place was rocking to this set, on the dancefloor on the balcony everywhere, wooot. The heat was getting bad again but thankfully the bouncers were happy to let us stand outside for a minute and catch some much needed fresh air, so thank you the Rocket for that :) What followed was my favourite set of the night, the man Gammer led in with some banging tunes including one of my current favourites 24-7, the harder mix. I swear this set had more tunes in it than an hour should, it just seemed to go on and on, tune after tune. With the Whizzkid on the M I C keeping us in check. I couldn't help but stomp and I know a lot of the crowd was joining me. 24-7 was slammed into Wake Wakey then quickly moved on again to "Let it go". Whizzkid never fails to impress me when he MCs and his singing of the ecstasy melody (if thats what its called!!) was something else, the man is talented to say the least. Cry into Still the on (again a harder remix) with Whizz lyricing Free at last, the pace was relentless. Only half way through and I feel like I've just danced to a full set! Gammer carries on the pace with Report to the bassline (choon!), this is how we do it, Elysium, all the tears i've cried, the list goes on and so did the crowd! Gammer even drops in that phat pendulum mix of Voodoo people which is greeted by accompanying whistles horns and stompers! This tune fits anywhere I swear! Finishing on the hands in the air Braveheart tune, Gammers hour was over, but what an hour! The heat started to let up, or maybe I got used to it, either way it was emptying out a bit, more clubbers leaving than ravers I would imagine. With the EP session over for a bit it was time for the main man of the RBC to take control. Hixxy with Storm. I don't know what it was about this set but it didn't quite do it for me, maybe after the slammin set of Gammer it was a bit tame in comparison. It certainly wasn't a bad set playing out 1000 kisses, "never forget these days" "spending my time". Connections 2006 was going down well with half the crowd singing along to the Marley lyric but it was rudely interrupted by cd skippage. Storm take control "Are you hot, are ya?!?" "Well so are the CDJs, you get me!" That told them. The end of the set went a bit harder with Just accept it, aided of course by Storm. The final tune though no one can fault, ending a set with the original field of dreams is pure class in a full glass. What a tune, what a stomp we all had and what a sing along, this goes out to you lil bouncer! Yet again the night has flown by with quality core flying in left right and centre. The final hour is upon us and we have not one but two of the top men of the moment. Sir Dougal and Sir Styles on the 1s and 2s, EP vs RBC. So when they lead a set with "You are now rocking with the best" aint no one gonna argue! Whizzkid back on the M I C for this one and we have ourselves a blinding set up. I am sure also that the system just got turned up, not what you expect at 3am, very welcome though. Dropzone is up next and the crowd loves it as well they should! Did they turn up the speed as well as the volume... I think so! Styles take us back a few years with Back to the old shool and Dougal fights back with Through the darkness. Whizzkid seems to have faded off, have the DJs turned him down, is it all about the music for this set? Report to the bassline follows into open your eyes. If theres one thing that makes my night its unrequested shout outs so when Whizzkid says he can see me I get me stomp back on! The set and the night are coming to a close, Save Me is filling the room, its time for the last tune. Wait whats that... is that a bloke dancing in his pants on the stage.... I think it is! wtf?!? I had to alert Whizzkid to this one, who responded with "theres no need for that mate" and then "shout out to the guy in the pants" I guess he deserved it really, takes balls that does, or a lot of drugs. Speaking of balls at one point the guy was doing some serious stomping and then stopped and looked embarrased, I'm glad I wasn't close enough to see if he slipped out! Am I being picky when I say I would have preferred an EP tune last, maybe I am. Don't get me wrong Cry is a good tune just not what I would pick for a final tune, know what I mean? So thats it for UIH2, another quality night just up the road, yet again the ravers main enemy heat was in effect but that didn't stop all of us! Venue: Good: Its only got one main room and the dance floor is not that big but it works. Also the two chillout areas are comfortable and shielded enough to allow peeps to chat. Those projector screens showing the last event, seeing yourself on screen while kicking down is a trippy experience even if you are sober! Not so good:Heat, it was too hot in there at times, I know peeps say its a rave and all that but theres hot and theres more hot, this was definitely the latter! they did open the fire exit near the end of the night which helped but I know a lot of peeps were uncomfortable. Also no running water in gents toilets, not healthy. System: No comlaints here, you could hear it anywhere in the club, in front of the DJ, at the bar, on the balcony, literally anywhere. Crowd: Some ravers some clubbers but no bad attitude that I saw. Drinks: Usual club prices, no pints which presumably keeps things cleaner so no complaints there either. Running out of bottled water in a hot club not good but giving out water and ice in glasses is so I'll let them off ; ) DJs and MCs: Top selection, the big names are guaranteed party pullers but big ups to the lesser knowns, Reality and Delicious. Also was gutted that Lisa who was billed couldn't make it down in time. Flyer promises: Bit of a gripe here, professional dancers, unless the bloke in the pants or myself count I didn't see any ; ) Rich was doing his thing and the guy is good but I don't think he was official. All the rest of the flyer was spot on though. Price £13 for 7 hours with some of the top hardcore DJs and MCs, no quibbles from me and the guaranteed entry once again ensures your place so nothing lost if you can't go :) Overall Top night, good mix of sets, good mix of MCs, good venue, friendly security, bar staff merchandise staff and laughing gas crew. Additional points It was nice of the UIH crew to text advising to bring ID, shows they care about us, sweet eh ; ) Shouts: Sam and Bexi for convincing me to go (even though you didn't expect me ; ), JB-C, all the Whos Hardcore crew including Sid P, Lil-bouncer (specially to you for stomping all night!), DJ Skyva, MC-Philma-and-LMT, (Skydivin goes out to you), Just Claire and Abi, Bobidibob, Sam, Calv and Roo. Lozzy, Skootz and Sallie, good too see ya all again : ) Rich, Woody, Mental Raver, Tessa, Hana Raverbaby, hardcore pussy, Odges and your missus and anyone else I have forgotten about! Big respect to Dougal and the UIH crew for putting on another stomping night, good luck with the next one we'll be looking out for it!
