What a blinder of a night. Arrived about 9ish, to see a slightly chunky queue. We were waiting in the queue for arounds half an hour not really moving, then it picked up the pace abit and we were at the entrance about 20mins later. No complaining there really, I've seen alot worse. Unfortunately the girls got split from the boys so my girlfriend didn't get in for another hour. The security I encountered were remarkably friendly (although a couple of my mates said they got some attitude) - quick light search, chewing gum (?) but not inhaler were confiscated, and I'm in. All in all getting in was hassle-free.
Into the main arena we went, and fuck me was it buzzing. The thing had only just started and the crowd were already bouncing and smiling. The place was huuuge (I've never been to the stevenage venue before).
Before I did anything else I had to have a quick venture round the place. The two arenas had two passages between them using a one-way system which actually worked very well and kept the crowd moving (although later on in the night one of the passages did get a bit over-congested). Over to arena 2 where throughout the night the alternated between drum'n'bass (mainly), hardcore, and a bit of techno. This arena also fucking massive and was well decorated with the theme of an over-sized off-license (fuk knows why). One draw-back was that the sound system in this room was pathetic. Right in the middle of the room was a small stage with reenactments of Shakespeare happening - nice touch. The cloak room was in this arena and the queue for it seemed longer than the one outside. Decided to come back later when the queue had died down a bit.
Back into the main arena. There were massive inflatable stars all over the ceiling and flashing lights all over the place with a brilliant laser-system. We thought we'd get rid of our jackets and bags but coz of the cloak-room queue, we thought we'd just chuck em down in front of the main stage and stick em in the cloakroom about an hour or so later. I then noticed a little exit, next to the merchandise and face-painting stalls, leading to the outside area. Outside there was a small little grassy patch (where I found a few of my mates dwelling), some hot-dog stalls etc, a tent playing house-music (well there's always a few, aren't there), and of course, a gyroscope.
About 10:30 my pill came up and the next couple of hours were a real blur. I can remember having an E experience not like one I've had before. It all happened a bit too quickly. One moment I was perfectly normal, then suddenly I was so loved up I could hardly do anything. According to my mates I could hardly stand-up or even speak. All I could remember was stumbling around loving absolutely everyone and everything. Then, abouts an hour later it all wore off and I had a major downer. Another hour later I was fine, though I wasn't all loved up or as full as energy as normal. Still, didn't let that fuck up my night.
I can't actually remember much about which DJs played what when and which MC's were about, but the highlights of my night were the Force & Styles PA, and Sy's set. I wasn't even aware Force & Styles were doing a PA until I looked on the stage to see MC Junior introducing them behind their keyboards with Jenna on stage. I squeezed and squidged my way to the front (advantage of being so short) and went mad to the tunes of the twosome. After that Sy came on and lived up to his reputation as the Scratch-Master.
We had a little trouble when the wankers approached us, pointed out their mates and threaten to not let us leave the place on our feet unless we gave up our draw - so we obviously did. I hate these cunts, but I'm not gonna winge about it right now. Apart from that, the event seemed relatively attitude free.
By now I had lost all-track of time and it was getting hard to move in the main arena, so over to arena 2 I went. It was alot cooler in there as they had opened some of the doors for ventilation. There was also alot more space to move abouts in.
I was bouncing around in there for a while and was just about to return to the main arena when it was time for a new set. Time for the Vibes and Livelee show. I HAD to stay for that.
Don't mean to be so vague about the sets played, but that weird pill really did screw my memory and perception up that night.
Must've been about 5ish by now and up-stepped Slipmatt (with his "Slipmatt is united in dance" intro - and I do love personalised intros) with (if i remember correctly) MC Sharkey to finish the night off. And they did an amazing job. The final hour almost brought the roof down of the place.
One bad-point was that despite hardcore being deliberately repetitive, some of the tunes were repeated upto 7 or times in the same night, and there were alot of my favorites I didn't hear, (probably because I was in the wrong arena at the wrong time) such as discoland, broken wings, tecnowonderland, etc...
Venue: 9/10
Security: 7/10
Tunes: 8/10
Happy Atmosphere: 10/10
Overall: Will definitely be at the next U.D. Fuking corker of an evening.
By the way, did anyone who was there see the bloke dancer on the stage most of the night in the main arena with long hair and fluorescent green trousers (forgot his name)? This guy was the craziest dancer I've seen since I saw him at another event. He didn't stop jumping the whole night, and the bloke was (as he always is) on a natural! Loadsa respect to him.
Jumping Joe Retro can be mailed on microraver@p-w-u.demon.co.uk.
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