When I first saw the flyer for this event I didn't think it was a massive event so I put it down as one that I might possibly go to. My mate Time said he wanted to go and would drive us there so off we went. We got a bit lost in Leicester city centre on the way there and got there for about 10:45. I had never been to The Playground before so I was curious to see what it would be like. The venue was an extremely underground one, to the point where it could be called dirty. The arena downstairs had cobblestones on the floor and there were even muddy puddles there. Whilst walking between the two arenas there was a leaking roof so I was getting dripped on even though I was indoors. However this did give the venue an underground no-nonsense feel and there was a very friendly atmosphere there. The first set I saw was DJ Storm. He played a good set with a mixture of trancey and happy tunes. At this point the MC's Storm and Whizzkid arrived. I got to speak to them both and I was surprised to find out that Storm occasionally comes on USH NET as well as Whizzkid and he said that he'd read my reviews as well. So the next time you think about criticising them on the discussion board remember that they might just read it. Seriously though they are both nice blokes, especially Whizzkid. That was the first time I had ever properly spoke to Storm and I was impressed by his attitude. I think as ravers we want our MC's to be like us. A chatty friendly attitude is more important than lyrical ability. Next up was VIT-C and he played a good trancey set. I was speaking to him afterwards and I gave him this website address so we might be seeing him on here soon. After that I went upstairs to see The Ratpack. Even though I'm not that big an Old Skool fan they still played the best set I've seen them do for a while and they got the room going. I then went back downstairs to see Breeze. Like Hixxy, Vinylgroover and now even Dougal he seems to have gone over to a more trancey style as well. He played a good set and got to play for an extra half an hour as Clarkee arrived late. I didn't see that much of Clarkee's set as I went upstairs to see a bit more old skool. For me the only disappointment of the night came in the following set. Vibes was booked to play but unfortunately he didn't show. I've been going raving for nearly two years and I have never known Vibes to miss an event he was booked for, even though other DJ's sometimes do. I'm sure that he must have had a good reason to do this. Clarkee played extra to fill in for him. The best set of the night came next with Sy and Storm. I think Sy is an amazing DJ. His mixing is razor sharp, his scratching incredible and he knows exactly what tunes to play. This night must have been remix night because Sy played new versions of "Space Invader", "Sensation" and "Virtual Dreams". For the last set I went back upstairs to see Sy play some old skool and as me and Time were both tired we left about 15 minutes early. Overall I had a pretty good night at Raindance. The venue was interesting, the people friendly and for a smaller event it was pretty faultless. I didn't get to meet anyone from USH NET there though. Hyper said he was going but me and Time didn't really know what he looked like and he didn't know what we looked like so we never met him. Were you there Hyper? I'll see you all at the massively anticipated Helter Skelter - Decadance.
