When I first saw the flyer for this event I thought that it looked amazing and I really wanted to go. I knew that it would be difficult to convince my mates back home to go though because they are pretty much all junglists so I was doubtful that I would go. However I managed to convince a girl that I worked with called Vicky to go with me. She took some convincing but in the end she was glad that she did. We got the train down and sat down in the far carriage only to discover that it was absolutely full of Birkenhead. I told Vicky to keep quiet and explained to her what they are like, and eventually we got there. In the queue I saw some people I had queued up with at Energy 99 and Dreamscape so I was chatting to them for a while. I had to queue for about an hour and a half altogether. Sy and Brisk didn't turn up so I think the promoters deliberately opened an hour late so there would be no gaps in the line up. When we got inside I was impressed with the layout of the Sanctuary. I thought the boxing ring in the middle was really good, even though it had been ripped off from Fat Boy Slim vs Armand Van Helden. The first set was Unknown vs Breeze and that was a good set. They played a lot of good tunes, including "Virtual Dreams" which I never thought I'd hear played at an event again. Next up was Christian vs Demand. I had never seen either of these two play before and their set was okay but nothing really exceptional. After that was Force vs Vinylgroover which I thought was one of the best sets of the night. Force played all the good F&S tunes, leaving out the bad ones like "Feelin Fine" and "Higher Ground". I think that shows that all the bad vocally tunes they do are Styles' contribution to the partnership. This was further proved in the next set of Hixxy vs Styles when Styles played both of the above tunes. It was still a fairly good set though, with Hixxy playing some good stuff. After that I headed off to the second meetup. From the USH NET crew there was Kev, Peter and Emma (they make a lovely couple), Andrew, Charmy, Smithers, Shiva, Adidas Matt and Bug. Next up was Marc Smith vs Vinyltrixta. This set had not been scheduled on the flyer but they had been put together because Sy and Brisk had dropped out. I was very disappointed that Sy didn't show, especially as Storm was not there either. These two did a good set though. The next set was Sharkey vs Mark EG. These two both seem to be very popular at the moment but personally I'm not a massive trance fan. They seemed to play a good set though. Up until this point I was thinking that there weren't enough MC's there because it had been virtually all Charlie B but then Whizzkid showed up. He is probably my favourite MC now because he is such a friendly bloke. I was speaking to him at SV and when I saw him on stage on Saturday he gave me a big grin and a handshake. When I showed him my camera he did a big cheesy pose for me. A bit later on I went outside and I was talking to him for a bit. When I told him that my name was Chedda he said he had read my reviews on here and he thought they were pretty good. There's that shout out you asked for Whizzkid so where's mine in return? :) Next up was Vibes vs Dougal and this was my favourite set of the night. They both played a lot of older tunes than usual. Vibes was jumping around behind the decks as fast as any of the ravers who were there and that made me realise why he is such a good DJ. He really loves the scene and he has always got time for anybody who wants to speak to him. He is really friendly and there is no edge or nastiness to him at all. In a way he is like the man that never really grew up, because he seems to still be a kid at heart. After that was M Zone vs Energy and once again I didn't really get into this set because I'm not that big a trance fan. I like my hardcore cheesy with lots of hands in the air moments and bouncy basslines. Last set of the night was Slipmatt vs Scott Brown. These two played a selection of good tunes and it was a good way to finish off the night. Afterwards we were given a lift home by some ravers we had met who were from near where we live so that was really nice of them. I really enjoyed this event. It was a little bit empty but the music and the friendly atmosphere was there and that's what really counts.
