Hardcore Til I Die
'The Hardcore Foam Party'
Air (formerly Code)
Birmingham
28th January 2005

This was the first major event of 2005 hosted by HTID, with all their events having a unique theme, tonight being 'The Hardcore Foam Party'. Not only was this event being filmed for the free dvd included in many of HTID tape packs, also for SKY BOX channel increasing the publicity not only of Hardcore Til I Die, but also for the hardcore scene in general.

All of HITD events hosted at air have sold out and this was no exception with all 1,600 guaranteed entry places being taken up by Monday 5 days before the event itself. So you know that tonight was a roadblock!

With it being a Friday night I decided to meet up with some friends up in Birmingham city centre for a few drinks before heading down.
We arrived at Air just after 8 and were greeted with a large queue with plenty of anticipated Ravers waiting eagerly. The queue system for this event was more organised compared to the previous events there was even a separate queue for paying people with only 100 places being allocated after 11:30.

After 9 the queue started to move, we were greeted on the door by MC Presha of Accelerated Culture fame, who was sorting out the guaranteed entry numbers. Whilst queuing there some crazy characters on stilts to greet members of the queue well after 9:30 and we were in.

First up on the decks was Chris Henry of Ultrabeat fame warming up the party, providing us with some very vocal 'Scouse House'. The room started to fill up quite quickly at this point. I've not really heard much 'Scouse House' but basically its old vocal Hardcore time stretched down with a house beat to it. Which is what you'd want as a warm up set to get things going as he played 'Pacific Sun' and many others.

Well after Chris Henry it was the turn of some nutters from Northampton' The Jellybeanz Crew' providing a full on visual assault with a live stage show. Behind the DJ booth was 2 large video projectors, they were advertising forthcoming HTID and Raver Baby events. It also gave you the chance to send a text message and shouts to be viewed on the large screens. Plenty of people were making full use of this feature and were sending obscenities too! DJ Scottie finished the set with an old Prodigy classic 'Rhythm of life' which is on the flip side of 'One love'.

Kevin Energy of Nu-Energy fame was on next playing a Freeform set I didn't catch much of his set and decided to have a wander outside. With all the HTID events you get a free funfair as part of the package. There were two-funfair ride's on offer tonight including a dodgems. Well I didn't spend too much time outside, as it was kind of nippy out here.

Back inside in the warmth and Kevin Energy was finishing up, he played the new remix of 'Have you ever' well it was that time of the night the Kick Off set. Hixxy and Darren Styles conducted the Kick Off set. The MC ² duo of Storm and Whizzkid with mic's in hand ready to hype up this crowd. The kick off set featured a new theme tune to announce the start of the 'Kick Off' set.

The Raver Baby duo played plenty of new material along with other tunes as they played 'Getting better', 'Crazy Love', 'Makin me wanna dance', 'You're my angel' and some remixes of other tunes such as 'Pacific Sun', 'Fly away' and Tantric'. Storm and Whizzkid were hyping up the crowd working off each other sending the crowd into frenzy. Time to unleash some bubbles as they switched on the foam cannon and released the foam into the crowd for a short burst of time.

During this set there was small incident, which involved Storm jumping off the stage and into the crowd dealing with some thug, showing how much love he has for the Hardcore scene and the Ravers safety. As Storm and Whizzkid warned other's that they and HTID will not tolerate this, as they will be shown the door!

I headed upstairs to the ' The harder they come' room which featured hard edged styles of music as Billy 'Daniel' Bunter was on playing a GBT classic set. His set was littered with plenty of gems from the past, which I've not heard for along time. Ribbz was MCing for this set with Billy Bunter taking the mic too. Billy played the '95 classic 'Sing it' and new remix of 'Body Slam' also he dedicated his last tune to the late great John peel as he played CLSM's 'John Peel is not enough'.

It was turn of Manchester's finest Stu Allen. Stu Allen was playing a 94-96 classics set. Playing plenty of anthems which could have been heard at Stoke's Club Kinetic.' The Original Detonator' Robbie Dee was MC'ing for this set getting the crowd jumping as this room was getting hot! Stu played some great classics as he started the set with the Ruffneck classic 'Jiiieeehaaa', 'Cloudy Daze', 'Rainbows' and the new 'Fly Away' remix which got the crowd bouncing.

Time to return to the main arena and check out the action in here, well it was time for the Ravers champions Sy and Storm. Sy played tunes off his Quosh label amongst others as he played 'Time to fly', 'Eye opener' remix 'Makin' me wanna dance',' Open your eyes to love', and the Oldskool classic 'Edge*1- Compeneded'. Sy was at his best, working the decks as he was scratching up the records with Storm matching his scratching with his vocal scratch, with members of the crowd looking into amazement.

After Sy it was the turn of Scotland's and Evolutions own Scott Brown. Whizzkid accompanied Scott Brown. It was good to see Scott Brown alongside Whizzkid, as it's been along time since I seen these two working with each other. Scott played his typical style as he started off playing Hardcore moving onto Gabba. He did start the set with 'Boomstick' and played 'Neckbreaker' remix, 'Rock you softly' and also 'Pro to*Plasm'

Next was Recon of Raver Baby fame accompanied by MC Storm. Recon is known for great studio skills as he more of producer but tonight I really enjoyed his DJ set. He played some top-notch tunes including the 'Really love you remix', 'Still the one', 'Cry' also a new remix of the Oldskool classic from Baby D 'Let me be your fantasy'. During this set more foam was unleashed into the crowd, though there was slight problem with the foam cannon as it started to leak. Recon finished the set with the Ruffneck classic 'Jiiieeehaaa'. Which went down a Storm in the main arena!

After Recon it was Raver Baby VS Essential Platinum as UFO went head to head with Dougal. MC's Whizzkid and Wotsee were MCin for this set, with this being the penultimate set of the night. I thought I'd take a break for a bit and visited the Oldskool room and chill upstairs in there whilst listening to RSR's DJ Supreme.

Back to the main arena for the Morning Glory set featuring Breeze and the MC² duo. This was the set to send the crowd home with something to remember Breeze was playing an Oldskool set which he doesn't play that often. Breeze played plenty of tunes from 98-2000 these must be his specialist years. As he was dropping classic after classic with MC's Storm and Whizzkid being on fire! I don't know were these guys get the energy with this being the last hour and the way they were on stage you couldn't really tell that they've been here all night. Breeze played some scorchers as he played 'Body Slam', 'Equation Part 9' (DJ Supreme), 'Don't go away',' Healing mind' and 'All systems go', which got rudely interrupted mid way through, as it was nearly time for us to go. Breeze finished the set with Hixxy's remix of 'Now is the time'.

Having to wait since October since the last HTID at Air tonight was truly worth the wait. I'm glad that they had sorted out the queuing system this time round as its not nice having to wait around outside especially in this cold weather. The sound system was spot on but that's what you can expect with a club fitted with JBL speaker stacks across the venue.

The foam party itself was a bit of a let down I thought, as it was more bubbles than foam. As when I went to Innovation Barcelona last summer the foam was up to my knees, as people were making foam angels in foam in Barcelona!
Were, as tonight it didn't even fill up an inch of the club's dance floor. But then again you don't want to be going home drenched in foam at 6am in January as its freezing cold.

The atmosphere of the night was great, as bad attitudes were definitely not being tolerated! Seeing how Storm jumped off the stage to sort out an incident. With the one in question being escorted out of the building, making sure that there was not going to repeat of this type of behaviour.

There were plenty of people up for it having a great time I was expecting lots of people leaving early with fatigue as this event was on a Friday as apposed to a Saturday. So Godskicthen are Saturday's busier than Friday?? I think not it's all about the music in these 4 square walls at Air, bring back Saturday night raving at Air!

Tonight I really enjoyed Stu Allen's 94-96 classic set, along with Breeze's Oldskool set. Those two sets really stood out for me tonight listening to some old bouncy classics at Air.

Massive shouts to Hixxy and the HTID crew, Storm and Sarah, Whizzkid, Brisk, Recon, Billy Bunter, Supreme, G Spencer, Breeze, Scott Brown, Sharkey, Kevin Energy, Ben and Katie, MC Rude, Wotsee, Robbie Dee, Ribbz, Uplift and Wizzbit.

And not forgetting the Ravers, Shaun and Leanne, Sangita and Rachel, Jon XLR-8, Bertie, Immz and the Bromsgrove crew, Andy and Craig, Charlie and James, Wookie and Emma, Damo and Jim, Mark Mervin, Quavers, Cruze, Dr Pete, Infuri8t0r, GT, Lisa, Bag and Gurning Girlie, Strike, Astraboy plus the rest of the USH.Net crew and everyone else whose names I don't' know but faces I recognise.