Transmission

It was such a whirlwind night, that I'm sure to forget something, or get some names wrong. There were so many DJs and MCs that played that night, that I'm having trouble keeping it all straight in my head, so I'm just going to lay it down as best I can right now, and come back and add things in once I get home and get my head on straight again.

Since we had gotten up early, and walked miles during the day, I napped for a couple hours at the hotel in order to be able to stay up for the entire party. Before heading out, I checked the directions, and they made it sound like the venue was just down the street from the tube stop, with signs the whole way. It was obvious I was going the right way on the tube, as every stop along the way collected more and more ravers. At the tube stop, there were scalpers selling tickets, and random ravers all over. They all hopped onto a bus, which I initially wasn't gutsy enough to do, since I had not yet looked into bus travel. I saw one sign that said Alexandra Palace train station was down a certain street, so I headed in that direction for about ten minutes, where I got lost in a rather scary, dark area of town. I managed to find my way back to the tube stop, and found some friendly-looking people at the bus stop to talk to. They told me that the palace was about a 15 minute walk away, but if I wanted to ride the bus all I needed was my tube travelcard. So, I caught the next bus, along with a few dozen ravers. We were absolutely PACKED into the bus!

I finally got to the venue shortly after 9pm. It's absolutely HUGE, and took a few minutes just to walk from where the bus dropped us at the back, to the doors at the front. They had set up oodles and oodles of barriers for people to wait in line, disneyland-style. Since I was a bit late arriving, it was just a matter of walking through them all to the front doors. There was a short wait to get through the security checks, but not bad. I had wisely decided to brave the weather and go without a coat, so I would not have to check it in and out. Once inside, it took me quite some time just to locate all the rooms, since the venue was so rediculously massive. The main entryway had all sorts of ferns and statues, and is mainly what you see on the Alexandra Palace website. There was then a main hallway, which had a couple rooms off to each side. The One Nation D&B room was off to one side here, and was absolutey huge. It had plenty of room to hold several thousand people comfortably, and at the peak of the night it was PACKED! One side of this room had been barriered off and was the Raindance Oldschool arena. I spent some time in here, but unfortunately it wasn't properly ventilated, and got quite hot. The next area was actually one big HUMONGOUS room, at least as big as a couple football fields, which had been divided into the hardcore arena, the house arena, the trance arena, and the carnival area (complete with rides and SlamminVinyl merch booths!). There were also bars scattered around, serving drinks (at rediculous prices, even water was £2). After getting my bearings, I went to the merch booth and bought a program, which had a map of the areas, as well as all the timeslots.

The sound and lighting systems were absolutely amazing. Each room had a huge laser system, and TONS of lights. I have never, ever seen lighting trusses that large or elaborate. The entire sound system was by Function 20 (I think) which I had never heard of in the states, but was quite impressive. The speakers themselves looked very futuristic and swoopy, and had loads of bass and volume. The volume was so high that I could hardly make out the sounds until I put in my earplugs. My ears were still a bit sore at the end of the night, even though I had earplugs in the entire time. Suprisingly, I was the ONLY person I saw the whole time that had earplugs (in the USA, a very healthy portion would have them in). Everyone there must be completely deaf if they listen to it like that every weekend. I also was amused at the amount of people with horns, which you NEVER see at american parties. Even whistles are disapearing, and were rather hated by much of the crowd anyhow. But, the british love their noisemakers at the parties, which really adds to the fun IMO.

By now Kevin Energy, Sharkey, and Marc Smith were just going on, which was the first act of the night that I was really looking forward to. I got in and managed to make my way nearly to the front just as they were coming on stage. I can't remember who the MC was at the time, but it was great to see Sharkey get on the mic through most of the set (and periodically through the rest of the night).

In fact, I saw a number of things that night that I hadn't heard in years, and I thought were only in days gone by for UK raves, most notably Sharkey on the mic during his set, and Brisk, Hixxy, and Slipmatt scratching during their sets. Even Dougal fooled around with a bit of scratching on a beat for awhile.

As I'm not much of a freeform, I used this time to explore and get a feel for everything. I also spent a fair amount of time in the Raindance oldskool room, since Billy Bunter was playing in there at the time. I was rather hoping he'd play some of his later '95-'96 stuff, but it was pretty much just ~'92 oldschool like everyone else in there played. Too bad nobody mixed it up at all; I heard a couple songs three or four times that night.

I made a point of being back in the Hardcore room for Brisk's set. He played a lot of newer stuff, a lot of forthcoming NG/BB material. Quality stuff, if not a bit more freeformish than my tastes again. But, there was definitely a hint of his cheesy roots here and there. I absolutely LOOOOOOOOOVE the new mix of airhead he played near the end; I rocked out and sang along to that like crazy. If I remember right Whizzkid was on the mic for much of this, and I really enjoy his MCing. This is one of the first times I've seen what he actually looks like, and I must say he's different than I expected. But, a class act nonetheless: he really works with the crowd.

Next up was Breeze and Styles, who played one new Raverbaby hit after another. Being a behind-the-hardcore-times american, I didn't recognize most of the stuff, but it was all quite good. I found it amusing to see Breeze having so much trouble mixing. He really butchered a couple, and seemed to have a lot of trouble the entire time. This seemed to me like one of the crowd favorites of the night, as everyone was going completely mental. MC Storm also made his first appearance during this set, and it was great to see him again. I got to play at a party with him in Seattle a couple years ago, and the energy he brings is unforgettable.

Sy & Seduction played B2B next, which I thought was an interesting matchup, but turned out to fit really well. Sy, as always, scratched like mad while laying down smoooooooooth mixes to bass-heavy tracks. He and Storm had a couple really great scratch battles, which I managed to capture on some video clips in my camera. And, it was a real treat for me to see Seduction, one of the very originators of hardcore. He's definitely getting up there in years, but still has an amazing stage presence and energy - as opposed to slipmatt, who to me always seems like he's really just fed up with it all, and wants to move on. But, Seduction and Sy were definitely a class act. Storm even ran off the stage down to the crowd a couple times to get people hyped up. I was hoping that he'd come down near me so I could ask for a shoutout, but wasn't that lucky. Others would bring pens and find scraps of paper or cardboard that they'd write their names onto, then hold them up towards the stage. He would pick a couple every once in awhile and mention their name. I had always wondered how/why people got shoutouts at these big parties, so it was interesting to see how it worked. Though, it was dissapointing for me, since I hadn't brought anything to write with!

Next up was Dougal & Whizzkid. Being an old cheeser at heart, I was a bit dissapointed to not hear some good old cheese from him, but it was a solid set of Essential Platinum stuff nonetheless. I spent a good portion of this time in the oldschool room... wondering why Ratpack wasn't on. But, Herman played a good set anyhow. He was another on my list to see that night, and I'm glad I did. Not sure who the MC was during his stuff.

I rushed back to the hardcore room at 3:45 to catch Scott Brown... but he was nowhere to be seen. He came rushing in at a couple minutes to 4:00, and seemed to have some big animated story to tell Dougal about why he was late. He took over the decks, and played a great set of trancecore and very gabbery stuff. Quite tasty!

During most of Dougal & Scott Brown's sets, I was right on the very front of the crowd near one side of the stage, and several times Whizzkid had pointed me out and smiled at me, because I was singing along to most of the songs and pumping my fist in the air (a common thing for people to do to hardcore in america, but nobody seemed to do it here). A couple times he even imitated me and pumped his fist right back at me. After Scott Brown's set, as Mark EG was going on, I ran to the barrier near the side of the stage and managed to get Whizzkid's attention as he came down off the stage. He came over and shook my hand, and I asked him if he was going to be on the mic again. He said he wasn't sure, but maybe a bit later. I told him that I had come all the way from the USA to be there, and wondered if I could possibly get a shoutout. He said: "Oh yeah, sure! Lemme go up and talk to the MC now. Wait right here!" He went up on the stage and talked to the MC for a bit, and pointed down at me a couple times. Then then MC (I'm not sure who it was) said "I want to give a shoutout to Shaun. He's come a long fucking ways to be here tonight, all the way from the USA. Maximum respect!" I gave a big thumbs-up to him, and as Whizzkid came back down off the stage I shouted for him, and he came back over. I gave him a big "Thank You!!", and shook his hand again. It absolutely made my night! I can't wait to get the tapepack of the night and hear my name!!!

I hung around for a minute to watch Mark EG's antics (what a nut!), then went in to catch the Ratpack in the oldschool room. I stayed for most of their set, which was great. Still a few tracks that EVERYONE else played that night, but quality stuff, and they are true legends. I had a good dance, and sang along to a lot of it. I stayed for the first bit of Slipmatt's set, as well. I had high hopes that he'd play some of his later stuff, but got to hear some classic SMD instead. I even got to hear him scratch some, which I thought I would never see live!

I then made it back into the hardcore room to hear Storm & Hixxy close out the night. I was suprised how packed it still was; in america, things start really thinning out after about 3am. It was getting a bit thinner here, but still going quite strong. Hixxy played a nice selection of new raverbaby, and actually scratched for quite a bit! Storm was absolutely classic as well. A great end to the night!

After the party, everyone cleared out quite quickly, leaving a very messy venue (there were NO garbage cans anywhere, but thousands of ravers drinking water and alcohol from plastic bottles). As I was coming down the steps, MC Storm stepped out and started walking alongside me. I told him I'd come all the way from the USA to see him, shook his hand, and thanked him for a wonderful night. I mentioned that I had my picture taken when I played with him in Seattle, which he didn't remember. I'm not suprised, he played multiple events every weekend! We talked for a few minutes as we walked about that party, and some Indian mask he got while there. He's truly a great guy!

I walked all the way back down to the tube station, and chatted with people along the way. I met some girl from canada, who was very cute and nice. I got back just as the rest of the crowd was getting up, then managed to sleep for a few hours before getting up to go around with them.

So, far I've managed to locate myself in one picture online. I'm in the red shirt all the way over to the left:
http://www.choons.net/v3/community/gallery/slammin260305/S3010108