Amnesia House Presents
‘A 30 Year Celebration Of Rave’
The Empire
Coventry
Saturday 1st September 2018

Amnesia House one of the legendary promotions from the Midlands hosting parties since 1989 that shaped and paved the way for today’s rave dance scene. Amnesia House was the first promotion that hosted legal parties during the acid house movement in Coventry at the Sky Blue Connexion and later the Eclipse. Some of the biggest names in dance music forged their trade here, travelling from all over the UK to play at Amnesia House.

From here it wasn’t long before they started to host large scale events including Donnington Park. It’s fair to say the most talked about party that Amnesia House hosted was in the summer of 92 ‘The Book of Love’ which featured one of the promoters from Amnesia House getting married live on stage in front of 15,000 ravers with Grooverider as his best man, an event which went down in rave folklore.

Getting to Coventry didn't take too long but that ring road could drive a few people insane, after a few detours I managed to find a car park and headed straight to the venue. I got to The Empire just before 9 and the party was in full flow as you could hear the thumping sound system reverberating on the walls outside.

The doors have been opened already for a few hours there was still a number of people queueing up outside, so I knew tonight was gonna be a busy night ahead. Once inside the venue the heat and condensation hit your face, giving you that oldskool nostalgic effect!

I’ve not been to The Empire before so was intrigued with the setup of the venue as it used to be an old cinema. There was a balcony that overlooked the packed dance floor giving you a real good view of the dance floor and stage. You couldn't miss the large LED wall in front of you displaying numerous visuals behind the DJ box, complemented with state of the art lasers and stage lighting. The front of the stage was littered with speaker boxes along with a massive set of stack either side of the stage. The production team really went to town tonight!

Jumpin Jack frost was in full control playing an acid house set lost of bleeps and bass being played including ‘Renegade Soundwave - The Phantom’, ‘Raze - Break for Love’ and ‘Orbital Chime’ which got the crowd jumping. He threw in a number vocal tracks which for those looking to have their karaoke moment with belters like ‘Joe Smooth - Promised Land’, ‘Ralphi Rosario - You Used To Hold Me’ and ‘Dionne - Come Get My Lovin’

MC Hi-Fi got on stage midway and toasted the set whilst hyping up the crowd, Fallout joined Frost with a techno influenced selection including Joey Beltram’s all time classics ‘Energy Flash’ along with ‘Fallout - The Morning After’, ‘ES - Rollercoaster‘ and ‘Cybersonik - Technarchy’ which I really enjoyed as this definitely got the crowd stomping before signing off with ‘Manix - Feel Good’.

Next up was the Godfather - Grooverider this was a set that I was very much looking forward to as I haven't seen him play an Acid house set before. Some nice gems where being played from him including ‘Clubland - Let’s get busy’, and two of my favourite tracks ‘Ecstasy Club - Jesus Loves The Acid’ and ‘Lost - The Gonzo‘.

Just like the old days of being in a field at an Acid house party the generator had ran out as we temporarily lost all sound and lighting.You could see the production team frantically running around on stage trying to sort the system as the dancefloor was pretty much full to the brim, these ravers weren’t going nowhere!

Once the power was restored Grooverider got the party in full swing dropping Todd Terry’s all time classic ‘CLS - Can You Feel It’ which had everyone's hands in the air, before signing off with ‘Awesome 3 - Don't Go’

Following on from the Godfather was Coventry's very own and favourite son Doc Scott, what an awesome set this was, littered with lots of stompers ‘D Shake - Techno Trance’, ‘Petra & Co - Just Let Go’ and ‘Isotonik - Different Strokes’. Amnesia House legend Man Parris was on mic duties doing what he does best sitting back letting the music do the talking. Doc Scott switched it up with some moody dark techno ‘The Badman Presents N.D.X. - Come With Me’, ‘One Tribe ‎– Get Hype’ and ‘Tronik House ‎– The Savage And Beyond’.

From one Coventry hero to another as it was the turn of the Legendary Parks and Wilson a set of two contrasts as the first half was with a very much Shelly’s influenced a very uplifting house selection. Shock C was doing mic duties keeping the crowd on their toes throughout.

The second half of this set was a much more Eclipse style as the bleeps took over with classics such as ‘Friends of Matthew - Out There’, ‘LFO- LFO’, ‘Tricky disco’, ‘Jungle Brothers - I’ll House you’, unleashing the the monster track from Njoi ‘Anthem’. Parks and Wilson continued with ‘Mory Kante - Yeke Yeke’, ‘Lil Louis - French Kiss’ and signed off with ‘Guru Josh - Infinity’

Travelling all the way from New York City was the world famous Frankie Bones, the techno giant was playing a 90 minute set. Showcasing 30 years of rave starting off with the acid house era with tracks such as ‘Maurice - This is Acid’, ‘Marshall Jefferson - House Music Anthem’, ‘Frankie Knuckles - Your Love’ and ‘Carl Cox - Let the Bass kick’.

Frankie Bones started to up the tempo and play a remixes of some classic tracks including, ‘Goldie - Inner City Life’, ‘Baby D - Let me be your Fantasy’ and ‘Rhythim is Rhythim - Strings of Life’, before finishing off with his monster anthem ‘Call it Techno’

Penultimate set of the night came from the Jungle Techno Kings - Topbuzz, Mad P graced the stage with his infamous check one, check two the drum beats followed as Topbuzz opened up with the timeless Jungle Techno anthem ‘Living in Darkness’.

Jason kept a 91-92 vibe with lots of Topbuzz favorites including ‘Frequency - Kiss the Sky’, ‘Tic Tac Toe - Ephemerol’ and ‘Dave Charlesworth ‎– The Energizer’. Mad P was on stage hyping up the crowd with his lyrics with much of the crowd reciting them back to him.

Jason continued to roll out the classics including ‘D-Livin ‎– Why’ before getting a little dark with ‘Nasty Habits - Lets go’, ‘Doc Scott - NHS’ and ‘Egyptian Empire - The Horn Track’. Patrick closed the night with his rendition of stuck in the middle of you as Topbuzz bowed out with the infamous rave anthem ‘Liquid - Sweet Harmony’.

After Topbuzz was the turn of the new generation as Amnesia House’s very own Kayne Lynas the son of Bam Bam. Definitely one to watch as he has already caught the attention of Annie Mac and Hannah Wants. Kayne was playing a deep house / techno set that the dancefloor rocking into the early hours closing off a memorable night in style.

Wow this was an incredible night put on by the Amnesia House team returning back to Coventry, the city truly came out and dusted off their raving shoes tonight to celebrate 30 years of rave music. It’s been over 3 years since an oldskool party of this magnitude was held in Coventry really putting the city back on the raving map.

Great to see dance floor was busy from the get go, a very mature crowd out in force showing the new generation of ravers how to party, the dancefloor was still rockin in the early hours. Atmosphere was brilliant a very up for it crowd no trouble at all, everyone out having a good time partying like they once did at Lower Ford Street.

Was impressed with the production apart from the minor hiccup, during Grooverider’s set, freak accidents do happen occasionally, though this didn't really dampen the party.

Really enjoyed the DJ’s sets tonight as they were pretty spot on as virtually everyone who I heard really didn’t play anything past 92 tonight. Furthermore this was wasn’t your usual night of full blown rave anthems that have been rinsed to death, have to give credit to the all DJ’s as they really dug deep and didn't disappoint.

Big shout to Bam Bam, Nev, Phil Noizee B and The Amnesia House Crew, Shock C, Patrick and Jason, Fallout, Man Parris, Grooverider, Jumpin Jack Frost, Frankie bones, Kanye Lynas, Doc Scott, Kieran, Barrington, Jim Tang, LJ High, James from Suburban Sounds, Lucy, Jason from Jilted Generation, Sharpz and everyone else whose names I don't' know but faces I recognise.