Flashback
"The Definitive History of Drum and Bass"
20.03.04

Well it's been a long 5 months since Flashback was in Birmingham town. Back in town and bringing a history lesson for the Drum and Bass fraternity, taking us back on a journey from the past ten years of Jungle Drum and Bass.

Well now with doors of the Que club finally closed it looks like Flashback is to make its home at the Sanctuary, Digbeth, Birmingham. Arriving at the Sanctuary at 9:30 and was greeted by a fairly large queue with many people arriving, the doors didn't finally open till 10.

Headed directly to the main arena and was greeted by the sounds of the DR.S.Gachet alongside MC Ranski. The main arena had the usual Flashback drapings and inflatable's dotted around the arena, it looked like that one of the large balloons situated by the organ had deflated.

Having a walk around the venue and to find that the balcony of the main arena had been closed off. Walked downstairs to check out the oldskool and found that the dance facorty was closed, so had a look out the hardcore room upstairs and resident DJ Eon was on.

Back to the main arena and the place was starting to fill up, Gachet was playing a 94/95 set with tunes such as Babylon 5's Yes Yes, which is a favourite tune of mine just love the incredible bassline when it drops, played a few other blinders including a few Moving Shadow classics such as Terrorist, Lord of the null lines and the infamous Helicopter. Ranski was mcin for Gachet, an mc from the midlands a favourite with the old Pure-X crowd.

I popped back downstairs and found the Dance Factory was finally opened and found some old Quest favourites Nexus and Glenn Aston, playing an 89-91 set. Shame that the oldskool room wasn't as busy as it should have been.

Back to the main arena and DR S Gachet was finishing up playing the Formation classic Lighter. Well after him was Flashback's very own Mistress Mo she was playing a late 90's set and was accompanied by Lenni. She played some new tunes in her set along with some old classics such as Sight by John B, which went down really well.

Well I thought I'd catch the rest of Glenn and Nexus downstairs, was a few similar tunes from what Glenn played at Raindance a few weeks back including I want you (forever), Everybody in the place and also DJ Rap's classic Devine rhythms.

Back in the main arena and it was the turn of Undiluted recording's Brockie, he was playing a more upfront set as I heard System Check being played IC3 was mcing for Brockie as it looked like he's swapped sets with Fearless.

After Glenn and Nexus it was the turn of the Flashback residents Mistress Mo and Pilgrim, they were playing a more 92 set playing tunes such as Hi-tech music, Orca's 4am and a favourite of mine the Bombscare remix. Mo even sneaked in shaft's Roobarb and Custard.

Back in the main room and I found out that Grooverider and Rage were not gonna be able to make it was their car had broke down and Koollive's very own DJ Pace was on instead.

After Pace it was the turn of True-Playaz and also midlands favourite DJ Hazard. Hazard was playing last years drum and bass rollers, as he was booked for a 2002 set. He was joined with Birmingham's MC Biggie, it was good to see he had the Kool family as well with him too.

After Hazard it was the turn of the Dark Soldier Ray Keith he was joined with Fearless and Skibadee. Ray keith played one of my favourite sets of the evening playing a wicked classics set as most of the night the main arena dj's sounded like they were playing upfront. Ray Keith started the set with the Ganja cru classic Super Sharp Shooter, mixing in the V classic It's Jazzy along with the original version of Chopper and of course Dark Soldier. Fearless and Skibadee were hyping up the crowd into a frenzy going back to back, which was awesome as the crowd were loving it !!

It was a shame as I wanted to catch the whole of this set but it clashed with another set that I didn't want to miss which was Sy and Storm downstairs in the Dance factory.
Well this set was awesome as Ray Keith was playing the massive drum and bass tunes from 97, whilst Sy was playing the same years but for the hardcore posse.

Sy played a blinder from what I caught, accompanied by non-other than Storm. He played the Quosh classic Sensation along with Kick it, he also played Here I Am, Keep On Trying, and the remix of the Baby D classic I Need Your Loving along with another oldskool remix of Sweet Harmony, and finished the set with the Next Generation anthem Shooting Star.

Well after that it was the turn of the oldskool legends SL2, aka Slipmatt and Lime, from the sounds of things it seemed that Slipmatt is making new tunes as he played a new remix of Outta Space also the Altern-8 classic Infiltrate 202, its good to hear new oldskool. MC Odyssey accompanied them, as it also looked like Robbie Dee hadn't turn up either tonight.

I found out that Kevin Energy couldn't make Flashback and was replaced by a 2nd set from Eon, I caught quite a bit of this set. I enjoyed what I heard as this was the first time that I heard Eon scratch, and it sounded good.

Back in the main room and it looked like I caught then end of Kenny Ken as I heard him play Everyman. I quickly dashed back to the hardcore room and listened to another of my favourite sets of the evening, from the RSR crew Ramos and Supreme alongside Ronnie G and Marley.

It was good to set the RSR crew back again in Birmingham, hearing some classic tunes from Ramos and Supreme including, Life force generator, Incognito, Sun Always Shines, what a top tune from Hecttech records!! It annoyed me that the security had decided to cut the hour set to only 30mins so having to cut the set short the RSR boys finished off with the GBT classic Terminator.

Well back to the main arena I suppose and it looked like the Ratpack were finishing up. Only heard a few tunes from them including arsonist, Dread bass and Roni Sizes classic Trust me. The security allowed for an extra tune and well it was good to hear a bit of oldskool in the main arena as they finished the night with Brothers and Sisters (Sweet Harmony and Promised Land).

Well it was a one off to have Drum and Bass in the main arena, it was shame that the place wasn't filled to capacity. But still it was good to see some of the old Flashback faces as it's been along time. Fingers crossed for the next one, and it'll be back to normal with the music policy. But I wasn't happy about the security closing the arenas earlier than expected, as I was really looking forward to hearing a full 60 minutes from RSR rather than the short 30 minutes instead.

There were a number of sets that I really enjoyed, including the Ray Keith's classic jungle set, along with Sy and Storm and obviously Ramos and Supreme. I would hope that the RSR crew wont be put off and make a return to Birmingham in the near future.

Massive shouts to Mo and Jimmy, Lenni, Storm + Sarah, big shout to Supreme for playing Sun Always Shines, also to the rest of the RSR crew (Ramos, Marley and Ronnie G), Sy and Unknown, Glenn Aston, Nexus, Pilgrim IC3, Fearless, SL2, Eon, Scott Brown, Gammer, Everson Allen, Lipmaster Mark, Escape, Hazard, Biggie and the Kool Crew

Big shouts to the raving crew, Ed, Leanne and Shaun, Zoe + Collete, Astro, Wookie, Vicky, Lisa, Ross + Rob also to everyone else whose names I don't' know but faces I recognise.