I knew before I even set foot in Bagleys that this was going to be a wicked night and I wasn’t wrong either. This was the first big event for ages so there were a lot of rave hungry people just waiting to go mad on the dancefloor. It was the second time that United Dance has held an event at Bagleys and after the success of the first event, there were even more ravers who came to check what United Dance had to offer. Me and my mates arrived at Bagleys about 10.15 and were greeted by a long queue which indicated that tonight was going to be very busy. In fact Bagleys was rammed full right to the rafters all night, which was very heartening to see. To get inside, we had to walk through metal detectors which I’ve never seen at Bagleys before, but it also meant that the bouncers didn’t bother to search us which made a nice change. All that bloody time I spent trying to find cunning places to hide my chewing gum was a complete waste of time but....heh....who’s complaining :) Now to get to the cloakroom, you had to pass through to the garage arena ( boo hiss !!! ). But when I looked up at the decks, it was a certain Shane Levan aka DJ Vibes was who playing the garage. But nobody was dancing and to be honest the idea of Vibes trying to make it in the garage scene is a complete waste of time.....stick to what you know best Vibes, stay with the hardcore. First stop was the hardcore arena, which was situated in the middle arena like before. The DJ and MC was situated on a stage which was situated against the wall facing the exits, so all the ravers could get a clear view of who was behind the decks. When I first stepped inside the arena, I thought to myself....god the music is bloody quiet in here !!!! In fact the sound system in the hardcore room was poor to say the least. You could bearly hear the vocals on the songs and the kickdrum when it came in was very hard to pick up.....a complete lack of bassline. As a result a lot of the songs sounded all the same. To rub salt into the wounds, the garage arena had a much better sound system which had loads of bassline. United Dance really gave the hardcore ravers a raw deal. They seem to have got their priorities all mixed up, completely forgotten their raving roots....sort it out next time !!!!! Politics aside, the first DJs I checked out was Force and Styles who played their usual predictable set, how many bloody times have I said that before !!!!. They dropped their usual selection 'Feelin fine', 'Paradise and Dreams' etc....but still everyone lapped it up. The crap sound system was getting on my nerves a bit and I was finding it very difficult to get into the music. So I decided to head for the drum and bass arena which was situated in the main room. It was absolutely rammed in here and I mean RAMMED, you could hardly move sometimes. But still Mickey Finn was on the decks and played a wicked set. Absolutely tearing down the place. In fact Mickey Finn had to do very little mixing because everyone song he played got the calls for a rewind immediately. Vibes fresh from his meaningless garage set was up next in the hardcore arena and played his usual selection of vocal uplifting tunes and got the packed hardcore arena fully buzzing. The 'Forever Autumn' tune certainly sent the whistles and horns crew into a wild frenzy, absolutely wicked. Whizzkid was on the mic hyping up the very sweaty crowd and did a very good job of it as per usual. It was supposed to be Seduction up next, but when I looked up at the decks it was a small guy with glasses, so it clearly wasn't Seduction. In fact I had no idea who the DJ was. I asked about 10 different people and nobody knew who it was either. But still, the DJ played a blinding set dropping tunes like 'All I need' by the Visa label which is a bloody top tune !!!! Respect to that mystery DJ :) I was feeling a bit hot ( like everyone bloody else !!!! ) so decided to go for a wonder around. First stop was the house room which was situated downstairs and was playing some very good tunes. Some banging hard house certainly proved very popular with the ravers. I wish they put a hard house room upstairs instead of a garage room, I’m sure it would go down really well. There was even a old skool jungle room further downstairs which made a nice surprise because it wasn’t even listed on the flyer and it was also quite busy in there too. The decor throughout the whole venue, I thought was a bit lacking. There was a lack of UV backdrops, inflatables, drapings etc....but this was compensated by the atmosphere. The atmosphere was good in the whole venue, lots of happy smiley people and everyone was out to have a good time. Everyone was chatting outside making new friends and the unique Bagleys vibe was very much in effect. I was chatting to 2 very friendly Birkenhead girls, one of whom claims to be good friends with the infamous troublemaker 'Taffy'. She reliably told me that Taffy who funnily enough is now a proud father of a baby boy is considering to be giving up raving. I’m not sure whether this is true but lets hope Taffy really has hung up his stripey t-shirt once for all. Meanwhile back in the hardcore arena, it was supposed to be Hixxy b2b with Vinylgroover. But from what I saw, it was just Vinylgroover. Bah...nevermind...nevertheless Vinylgroover still played a wicked set. Dropping some hard trancey sort of stuff alongside the odd cheesy track now and again. Everyone by now had lost about 2 stone in weight due to prolific sweating but still everyone was going mad on the dancefloor and still loving it. Next up was Slipmatt who played the set of the night for me. Starting of with 'On a Ragga Tip' remix which certainly send the crowd mad, with the whistle and horns crews drowning out the music ( which wasn’t very hard !!! ) on many occasions. Storm was on the mic sweating his usual bucketloads and screaming at the crowd but still the crowd responded well to him. The only complaint I could have with the hardcore DJs was that they didn’t play enough of the newer hardcore tunes. Most of the tunes being played were mainly from 1997 / 1998. Wicked tunes they may be, but if the scene wants to progress we need to hear more of the new stuff, not get stuck in the rut of playing the same tunes over and over again. Moan over, and the last hour was slowly creeping up. The hardcore arena was still rammed and fully buzzing. It was time for Sy and Unknown who I think are always the best DJs to close out the proceedings. Dishing out tunes like 'Discoland' and the 'I need your Lovin' remix made it another classic set from the dynamic duo. It was brilliant way to round of the night. The night was over and the ravers were greeted outside by glorious warm sunshine making sure everyone went home in high spirits. Overall I had a brilliant night and I’m preety sure everyone else did too. If United Dance give the hardcore ravers more respect next time around and give us a decent sound system, you’ve got yourself a bloody good rave !!!!!!! Big shouts going to everyone I met at the meetup and everybody else I met on the night.....I can’t be arsed to name all of you but you know who you are :)......hello to each and everyone of you :) !!!! Over and out.
