Fruit Club
Battle of the Giants
Brunel rooms
Swindon
Saturday 3rd June 2006

Tonight Fruit Club presented ‘The Battle of the Giants’ featuring two of the massive labels in the hardcore scene Raver Baby and Next Generation to battle it out against each other.

Brisk and Ham’s Next Generation back catalogue spans nearly 10 years as there first release was back in 1996 with ‘On & On’. Where in comparison the Raver Baby label is quite young as their first release was in 2001 with ‘Welcome’

So it will be interesting to see what these two have for us tonight and also included in tonight’s line-up was an upfront set from the south coast legends Ramos and Supreme.

We left later than planned and arrived in Swindon for just after 11 and headed directly for the Brunel rooms. There was no queue outside the venue and after a brief search from security we made a b-line straight for the oldskool arena.

The oldskool arena was busy with MC Rude DJ’in alongside DJ Shaggy playing 95-96 classics set. Whizzkid MC was mcing for these two down here hyping up the party crew. A great selection of tunes being played from Rude and Shaggy as they played ‘Keep on tryin’, ‘Toytown’, this got the crowd blowin there whistles and horns in unison.

Whizzkid was excellent down here on the small stage rocking the crowd to yesterdays sounds, Rude and Shaggy continued to play ‘devotion’ and finally ended their set with ‘Cloudy Day’.

Next up was the turn of DJ Ramos, Ramos started the set playing oldskool hardcore as he opened the set with ‘SMD#1’ and ‘Higher love’ and then dropped ‘Incognito’ at this point Ramos turned direction and started to play some jungle to liven things up.

Ramos was joined by Supreme on the decks with MC Knight making a brief appearance on the mic. They played some classic jungle anthems such as ‘Champion sound’ ‘Helicopter’ and ‘Valley of the shadows’.

Ramos ended his set with Krome and Time’s ‘The Slammer’ and DJ Vibes was up next down here. MC Livelee was meant to be accompanying Vibes but MC Junior of Force and Styles fame stood in for him. It’s been ages since I’ve seen Junior but after two hours of oldskool I headed upstairs and was ready to stomp to today’s fresh hardcore beats

Hardcore legend DJ Seduction was finishing up with MC Rude, well it was time for one of the sets that I was looking forward to featuring Ramos and Supreme. The duo took to the decks and played an upfront hardcore set.

Ramos and Supreme hardcore legends in there own right may have taken a backseat in the hardcore but have always kept their ears to the ground. In more recent years they’ve been booked to play oldskool sets but these guys have gone back in the studio and making new tunes with their old chum Sunset Regime. Being a massive fan of Ramos and Supreme enjoying their previous work on Hectic and of course RSR and now Supreme launching his new record label THC (Turbulence Hardcore records) I definitely didn’t want to miss this set!!!

Plenty of upfront tunes from the south coast duo as they dropped ‘C u on the other side’, ‘Dance’, ’Look at all the ravers’ ‘Tantric’. Whizzkid was on mcing for these two, some quality mcing going on from Whizzkid hyping up the Fruit Club ravers. The production was slightly different from normal as they had barrier at the front of the stage and also there was laser in full effect lighting up the Brunel rooms.

Whizzkid and was briefly joined by MC Knight with the two having a short sparring session on the mic. Ramos and Supreme continued to play ‘True love never dies’ and ‘See the light’. Stuff mainly off Raver Baby and GEOS, was good to see these guys back playing upfront hardcore.

Well following on from Ramos and Supreme was the turn of Essential Platinum’s DJ Dougal featuring MC Wottsee on the mic. In true Dougal form he played plenty of vocally uplifting tunes to get the crowd singing as he played ‘Through the darkness’, ‘I need you’, ‘All the tears I cried’ and ‘Slide away’.

Wotsee was on getting the crowd rocking with many getting involved with his lyrics, Dougal continued to play ’Extreme’ and finished up with ‘Raveheart.

After Dougal it was time to let the battle commence as stepping up first was Raver Baby’s DJ Hixxy alongside MC Storm. Hixxy dropped a very upfront set with tracks like ‘Sound without a name’, ’Suck my….’ and ‘Dark like vader’. I was expecting Hixxy to showcase the Raver Baby back catalogue and to play few classics from this label, though Hixxy was playing a very upfront set with plenty of the latest material off his label being featured throughout, never the less this was a great set from the Raver Baby honcho.

Storm’s mcing was outstanding hyping up the crowd the way he does and Storm himself was spitting some new lyrics along with his classic chats to get the crowd chant along with him. Hixxy continued to play ‘Never too late’, ’What ever you want to be’, ‘Pull over’ and finally finishing off his set with ‘Save me’.

Next to step into battle and the final set of the night was the Next Generation supremo DJ Brisk. Brisk started the set with the intro featured on the Hardcore Heaven 3 album and unlike Hixxy he played a varied set featuring some upfront tunes along some classics from the past couple of years. Brisk dropped in ‘Space odyssey’ remix, ‘Angel eyes’, and ’Be happy’.

With this set being the Next generation showcase it wouldn’t be complete without MC Wotsee to represent Next Generation. Brisk went to play a couple of tunes from around 2004 with ‘Crazy love’, ‘24-7, and finished the night with ‘I’ve got a felling’

Overall I had a great night out, highlight of the night was hearing the upfront set from Ramos and Supreme. Great to see these guys back at the forefront of hardcore not loosing their raving bug for the newer sounds. Their oldskool set was definitely something different playing some jungle to mix things up down stairs.

Another set I really enjoyed was Hixxy’s set I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t showcase past stuff from the Raver Baby label, but his upfront set was raw playing plenty of up front tunes that no doubt will be smashing down the dance floors in the months to come.

Atmosphere from the ravers was top notch with everyone being up for it and having a great time, the club could have been busier as the smaller rooms were quite empty for the majority of the night.

Massive shouts to Zoe, Rude and the Fruit Club crew, Storm , Whizzkid, Hixxy, Brisk, Ramos, Supreme, Knight, Seduction, Vibes, Junior, Shaggy and Kevin Energy.

Big respects to Shaun, Mike Fraggle, John Buzz-B, Izzy, Sallie and Sara, Caddy, Scott Womble, Juicy, Rooney and the Shrewsbury crew, Claire, Xero, Nixxy, Charlie and James and also to everyone else whose names I don't' know but faces I recognise.