Its been a long time coming but finally Raverbaby 3 is upon us. The night promises great things with a possible happy hardcore set from Force and Styles, an ESP Dreamscape set from the original happy guy Dougal and also a pre-party just 5 minutes walk from the club. Pre-party will be kicking off at 6 so we aim to get there for a little after that, a quick meet up at the services just down the road and we find ourselves at the pre-party. The friendly door staff tell us we can't come in with "work clothes" on, oh right the Hi vis ha ha okay. Inside we find some ravers already kicking down and some local DJs doing their thing, I wasn't really sure who was playing but both sets I heard kept the vibe going so it was all good. Met up with some DSI crew and some old faces too, looks like tonight is gonna be a goodun. We leave the pre-party later than most as Jojo and I have golden tickets so we can get in the VIP queue, when we get there its obvious we're not getting in for a while so we'll take this opportunity to get some spotting done, good old DSI always keeps us busy ; ) Looks like the queue goes round the corner, mind you this is Raverbaby so I'm not surprised, its coming up to 9 but its still light, lets get some pictures without flash, excellent! Back to the VIP queue and we find ourselves swiftly taken into a pretty much empty club, straight to the front and a quick kick down on an empty dancefloor, wicked. Within just a few minutes that place is packing out and the dance floor is filling up, the lights are down, the lasers are glowing, Project BOSH are playing a wicked set, getting the crowd hyped. Of course this being raverbaby there's not been an official kick off set yet but that doesn't seem to stop half the crowd and more kicking down like it had kicked off! The Raverbaby crew have kitted the place out nicely, last time I was at Brunel rooms there was disco lights, this time we have lasers, strobes, more lighting, decorations and more lasers : ) Bosh took us through all the way to the kick off set and then we were introduced to Breeeze, dance floor got even fuller and we were away. Breeze played through some recent Raverbaby hits like Jealous and Getting better and finished up with Slide Away, this tune always takes a dancefloor by storm, the atmosphere was once again hotting up. Next up in the main room was Jellybeanz crew, I had a quick wander around before heading downstairs as I was expecting the Ratpack at midnight, not quite sure what happened, either I lost track of time of times changed cus Ratpack were playing when I got down there before midnight and looked like they were in full flow. Lip Master Mark and Evenson Allen were doing us proud and the crowd were loving it. As they say themselves "And I originate, Ratpack don't imitate", highlight of the set was raving shoes with Evenson telling the crowd to hold one raving shoe in the air, pure class, made the song 100% better just for that. Just cus I loved the set so much I will reiterate their new website address to all the crew that can't remember last night ; ) www.ratpackmusic.net With Ratpack finished up it was time to find out what the legends that are Force and styles had in store for us, would it be upfront, will it be old skool... We weren't disappointed, Whizzkid on the mic and in drops Lullaby, the crowd sings along, they then take us on a musical journey through the classics, Here I am, Devotion and on we go. "Lets keep our love forever don't go away, its only when I'm with you makes me feel this way" The crew are in full swing, the atmosphere is electric. On and on we go with Higher Love then the seminal shooting star, all the time accompanied by the delights of the stage dancers, I reckon you were loving dancing to Shooting star princess you looked like you were : ) "We'll be Strong together, dadadadada dadadada" the sounds of eye opener then into Pretty Green eyes, te classic sing along. Feelin fine is playing out and the eternal lyrics "you have a heart of gold" get teased into the mix, the sound is brought down and Whizzkid asks for a round of applause for the masters, whistles horns screams, the ravers make it known they are loving this set! Heart of gold is dropped and its hands in the air time, the original Force and Styles playing the original heart of gold, this is what dreams are made of! One final track to finish off then its all over, but I'm already gone we have more classic core and I don't want to miss Dougal's ESP set! Altern-8 are finishing up and Dougal is setting up, Majika takes the mic, Dougal drops the tune and we're away, two songs in and the system started to distort didn't seem to bother some of the dancefloor but some peeps had to leave, it was physically hurting my ears so I took a quick chill to acclimatise. 10 minutes later its still distorting but classic tunes are being played so I can't stay away for long. There seems to be a bit of confusion on whether we are allowed on stage or not, a few of us up there seems alright, but then a few more and we all get kicked off, five minutes later, more peeps on the stage, these ravers eh?!? You can't keep 'em down! For the second time tonight Higher love is dropped and its just as good to hear it again, classic tune, never gets old, what a vocal! Dougal leads us by mixing in Together forever, onto sunshine and into Toy town : ) On we go, "Do you wanna go my way", Love of my life (seminal), "Driving me, driving me, driving me, driving me, driving me, driving me CRAZY!!" Dougal is finsihed up and upsteps Ramos and Supreme, on with the happy core! The RSR crew are here and we go again, guess what higher love gets dropped and here I am for the second time, don't matter though, not like we're counting. The distortion of the system gets the better of me and we're back upstairs greeted by the boss man Hixxy with Storm on the MIC. Its an upfront set with current classics, Bass fire and dropzone, save me mixes in and then storm calls for the rewind. I find my crew, this is one song you want to be with the ones closest to you. Hands in the air, sing along, you know the drill crew, it never gets old though, it touches your heart, this is going out to you Becka, loves ya hun : ) From the sublime to the ridiculous, from save me we are led into Suck my dick, time for a stomp then! Hixxy leads on to Scotlands most well known Hardcore DJ, it can only be Scott Brown! With the Whizz on the mic, Sarah and Sallie doing their thing and the Scott B we know we aint letting up yet! "This is how we do it, do it do it!!" Yeah maaaaaaaann, Whizz is in full flow, on we go "Bring me a higher love ohhhhhohhh, bring me a higher love". Scott leads us on, Elysium into All about you, two seminal tracks from the master of Evolution. 20 minutes to go til the morning glory, the dancers leave the stage, I wouldn't try and stage dance to Gabber I tell ya! Whizz is on form again "Who wants the darker side of hardcore" The BPM rises, the Bass gets sicker, the crew is stomping, 20 minutes of the darker side. Final track, what else could it be but Boomstick, this tune never gets old! We're nearing the end of our journey, I'm right at the front for the final hour, its the Sy and Storm show : ) Just a feeling, U R my Phantasy, the set starts in style, for the second time tonight, the tune I can never remember the name but is utterly euphoric is playing, the hands are in the air, the crew is swaying, waiting for the drop that we know is coming. Utterly electric atmosphere! The set carries on with the happy vibe, a remix of Save me which I really liked, into Cry and onto the classic "4 o'clock in the morning" you can feel the love in the air from the ravers, I was bounding around from left to right of the stage, front to back, wanting to catch as many peeps as possible before the end of the night. See the light followed by the classic Discoland, and to top it all off Sy is on true form with his scratching tonight, some absolutley mint technique, the guy is a god! Its 6 o'clock, we've just had the last tune and Storm asks if we another one.... hmmmm let me think.... Whistles, horns, screamers you know the drill! So its all over, we just have our memories and the pictures to remind us of one mental night, big up to all of you crew, you made it what it was and it was phat! Big shouts to: All the HTID forum crew (Jojo, Essexboy, Bugged, Molly, Fixxy and Sy, Wookie, Jo-Mental, Bandicoot, Carlos, Strawbs, Legget and Little Miss old school) The R2TG crew; keep on raving!! All the lads and lasses who held their raving shoes up high at Ratpack Hana-raverbaby and her crew Miss Bella and Hardcore Sas, , pre-party rocked! The one like Astraboy : ) Sam Eeles and all the oxfordshire crew in the house, bring on the next one! The RSI crew, esp. Lins, you rock hun : ) Clodhopper, I wish you all the best hun x x
