Hardcore Til I Die
Event 28:
-‘The Summer Gathering 2008’-
Custard Factory & Rojac Warehouse
Birmingham
Saturday 30th August 2008

HTID returned back to Birmingham present a mammoth event ‘The Summer Gathering 2008’. The Summer Gathering is a festival of rave featuring 5 arenas of not only just Hardcore but also Hardcore Techno, Hard Style, Oldskool and Drum and Bass, offering a bit of everything for everyone.

With the event being held at the end of the summer there was an addition of a 2nd outdoor stage to the existing complex. The line-up was huge a who’s who of hardcore, featuring talent from across the board right from the top jocks to the stars of the future showcasing every aspect of the hardcore genre.

Typical to any HTID party the event had sold out a week before hand with all the guarantee entry codes being snapped up by any diehard hardcore fan! As you would expect the event was a complete road block with a massive queue that spanned right up Digbeth High Street. Ravers had travelled from every part of the UK travelling as far as the Highlands of Scotland right down to the ports of the coastal towns along the South of England.

The Custard Factory was totally transformed into a massive nocturnal raving village the production across the venue was mind blowing, from inside the Rojac Warehouse to the Outdoor Oldskool stage along with the main stage. What I liked about the main stage was the transparent marquee that covered the entire Custard Factory so had the elements been against us tonight the ravers were full protected whilst raving inside here.

Headed for the oldskool til I die stage and DJ Twista was finishing up, Hardcore hereos DJ’s Dougal and Force where stepping up and where accompanied by the Fusions very own MC Marley.

Dougal and Force got things rocking with the force and styles classic ‘Field of dreams’. The set was littered with plenty of hardcore classics from the 95-96 era being played throughout the set playing classics such as ‘Love & devotion’, ‘Pretty green Eyes’, ‘Love of my life’, ‘My way’.

Marley was excellent throughout the set keeping the crowd rocking with his lyrics as the ravers where bouncing throughout the set. Dougal and Force closed the set with the UK dance classic ‘Pacific Sun’

That switch was flipped and went down a drum and bass route as the Random Concept duo of Garry K and MC Presha were on next. With the transformation of styles in music there was a very healthy crowd out here who were enjoying the drum and bass switch.
This was an upfront set from the Random concept pair with plenty of current slammers being dropped such as ‘Pull it up’, ‘D for danger’, ‘Hurt you’ along with the current slammer from Birmingham’s very own DJ Hazard ‘ killers don’t die’

After this set I decided to venture into the Rojac warehouse and was just in time for the essential platinum head honcho Dougal who was accompanied by Whizzkid MC. Really enjoyed this set from the hardcore legend with him dropping some of my favourites that were featured on the True hardcore 2 album.

Whizkkid mc was immense on the mic rocking the crowd through the intense heat inside the warehouse. Whizzkid took full advantage of this massive stage as he ensured the ravers where kept bouncing from left to right.

The set was littered with plenty of uplifting and euphoric tracks such as ‘1 2 3 4 ‘, ‘Need you tonight’, ‘Every heartbeat’ and ‘all the tears I cried’, before closing with my favourite current hardcore track ‘Cry for you’

Back to the oldskool stage and south coast legends Ramos Druid and Marly were underway. Ramos and Druid started of the set with the remix of Nookie’s ‘Sound of music’ and continued to go through the various years of hardcore.

MC Marley was in his element throughout this set as these were tunes that would have been found gracing the stages of Helter Skelter Dreamscape Kinetic and Fusion where Marley once graced the mic.

Druid and Ramos stepped up the tempo as they played a typical rhythm station set with anthems such as ‘Peoples party’, ‘Wonderland’, ‘ Sunshine’ and ‘Get into love’ before closing the set with the Force and Styles timeless anthem ‘pretty green eyes’

Penultimate set on the oldskool stage came from the drum and bass legend that is Nicky Blackmarket. Fatman D joined Nicky Blackmarket making his debut at HTID and had a great response from the crowd with his fast double rhyming style mcing added with that touch of ragga. Nicky was playing a mixure of up front and classic jungle in his set as he dropped ‘Twist em out’, ‘Dual Voltage and ‘Buck rodgers’.

Half way through the set I had noticed the queue to the custard factory had clamed down and decided to catch the remainder of the hardcore godfather Slipmatt. DJ Demo was originally billed to go back to back with Slipmatt shame that he wasn’t here tonight

Whizkkid MC and Rude were doing the mic duties for this set, the pair were bouncing off each others lyrics as they kept the crowd hyped up, whilst Slipmatt laid down the anthems from the yesteryear including ‘Higher love’, ‘ sunshine’, ‘You’re mine’ and ‘Heart of Gold’. After his set and a long day I decided to call it a day and headed home.

What great show from the HTID team once again down at the Custard Factory complex. Production was truly outstanding throughout the complex, lighting and sound was spot on. Bonus of the night was the weather with it not raining and quite warm, perfect especially whilst raving to oldskool under the stars!

There were only a few small problems throughout the night one being the lengthy queues to get into the Custard factory as it has a small entrance to get to the outdoor pool. The other being the heat inside the Rojac warehouse even with the industrial fans it still was like an oven inside here with the intense heat.

Overall HTID proved how strong hardcore has become in the past few years, filling the whole Custard Factory complex to full capacity with over 4,000 party minded people congregating in Birmingham for one night. The atmosphere was electric that can really be found at a hardcore rave with plenty of smiley faces and friendly hand shakes across all arenas.

Massive shouts to Hixxy, Mark and Chris Lambert, Joe and the HTID crew, Storm, Whizzkid & Jade, Magika, Fearless, Knighty, Marly, Dougal, Ramos, Static & Vicki, Druid, Sy, Nicky Blackmarket, Hype, Marc Smith, Slipmatt, Brisk, Joey Riot, Gammer, Rude, Twista, Faydz, Presha, Spruce, Garry K, Ripper, Chunky Bizzle and the sidewinder crew, Alpha, Grant from Slammin, Phase 2, The Doctor, Sharkey, Flyin & Charmy, Enemy, Sc@r, Jock from Evolve

Big respects to Shaun, Julie (Happy Birthday), Sallie, Lozzy, Katie, Matt KoR Joe, Foggy, Sarah & Emma, Ortie, Michelle, Rude Boy Rob, Little Lisa and Seb, Karris, Wookie, Tina, Emma, Powertoolz, JB-C, Mad Mazz, Mandy, Mozz, Izzy, Clodhopper, Cat, Sarah, Sharl, Emma, Rachel, Mark Mervin, Andy Sykee, Savage, Luke, Mark Pleasuredome, Ben, Andy from Birkenhead, Mini Smithers, Nelza, Nick Zero, Charlie & James, Smithers, , Jon Brown, Gemma, Mitch, Upfront, Wilfee, Dionne, Sketchy, Brian BK, Damo, and everyone else whose names I don't' know but faces I recognise.