Hardcore Til I die
In the Sun 2008
Colossos
Lloret de Mar
Barcelona, Spain
Friday 20th – Monday 23rd June 2007

After the phenomenal success of HTID in the sun 2007, HTID returned back to Lloret de Mar to present their 2nd instalment. This years event was set to be a bigger, better and louder than last years event.

Once again HTD packed their bags and travelled to Colossus, Lloret de Mar which was their base for seven days. This year each night had its own theme including a skool, beach party and UV party rather than promoters hosting their own nights.

There was a small increase in the price compared to last year but this was due to the week being in the peak holiday season, as it was £239 for the week and £145 for the weekend package. Once again flights and transfers where excluded but the cost included full entry to the madness inside colossus along with hotel accommodation inside a 3 star hotel with breakfast and evening meal in the holiday package.

It was quite a last minute decision for me going out this year as I decide to just do the weekend.

As we’d been travlling all day on Thursday and arriving quite late in the evening we decided to make use of the hotels facilities and enjoy some drinks before engaging on a weekend of Hardcore madness.

For those who have not been before club colossus is easily located on the main strip of Llorret, this had been the base for HTID during this week in June. We had to make our way here to exchange our booking confirmations for our wristbands. Our wristbands allow us access the club during the night and also receive some discount at various attractions located in and around the resort.

After we sorted our wristbands we made our way down to the beach to catch up with a number of our friends who had been here during the week to find out what we had already been missing. This year there where two official beach bars offering cocktails along with numerous beverages, also this was the official meeting point too.

Friday Raver Baby Event 10

Tonight Raver Baby touched down and hosted the night in club colossus.

Once I stepped into the club I was mesmerised by the quality of the production inside here. It looked like no expenses had been sparred this year, lots of inflatables hanging from the ceiling along with plenty of other visuals including a couple of projector screens. The sound system was banging there where a number of speaker stacks located at the front of the main stage along with a lighting rig.

I had just arrived just in time for the kick off set from the Raver baby head honcho the Boss DJ Hixxy. Hixxy was superb starting off with a few old classics before hitting the crowd with upfront belters such as ‘Clit Commander’, ‘Silver Waters’ and ‘Take me to heaven’ as well as dropping Jonny L’s ‘Back to your roots’

The MC2 duo of Storm and Whizzkid where back in action over the boss’s set a surprise to tonight’s advertised line-up. The Pair where amazing as they worked together getting the crowd in a frenzy with their combination of lyrics and crowd hype as they took full control of the stage in colossus.

Hixxy continued to play ‘Power of love’, ‘Doesn’t matter’, ‘Cry’ and Shy FX’s infamous Chopper remix which went down a storm along with ‘Disco lights’ which involved Storm and Whizzkid poking fun at Re-Con who appears in the music video for this track. Hixxy finally finished off with the ‘Raveheart’ remix.

After Hixxy I headed upstairs to catch the tail end of hardcore Ramos and Supreme. The oldskool arena this time round was located in the 3rd room of colossus. This room has not been used in my past visits to colossus it was located upstairs next door to the techno room. You could also get to the arena from outside in the courtyard via a flight of stairs.

Following on from the south coast legends was the turn of Nu-energy’s very own Kevin Energy. Kevin energy took us on a trip down memory lane to ’96 as he was playing a Dream FM classics set and was accompanied by MC Spenno.

Tune selection from Kevin was spot on, this was the first time that I’ve seen Kevin play an oldskool set and I was rather impressed. There were plenty of classics being played including ‘Forever together’, ‘Can’t stop raving’ and ‘Forever young’.

Spenno kept the ravers on their toes as they battled through the heat inside the 3rd arena of colossus, Sharkey joined Spenno briefly on the mic bringing his comical magic. Kevin continued to play ‘Hardcore Fever’, ‘Doesn’t have to be like that ?’, before closing of with the Hixxy remix of ‘Now is the time’.

Back downstairs and Raver Baby’s DJ Squad-E was finishing up in here closing his set with a few of his own tracks including ‘Feel like I feel’, ‘Doesn’t Matter’ and ‘Magic touch’ remixes.

Up next was special back to back set featuring two hardcore legends DJ’s Unknown and Breeze. The pair rocked the crowd with their freshest beats including ‘Only your love’, ‘Only for you’ and ‘You’ll never see me again’ as Futureworld and Quosh records both went head to head.

Midway through the set I headed upstairs to catch DJ Phantasy. I was enjoying the set from Phantasy as his set was a mixture of old and upfront drum and bass set. MC five alive was doing the mic duties complimenting Phantasy’s tunes when needed keeping the vibe bubbling under the extreme heat.

Phantasy was dropping dropped including Ram Records monster anthem at the moment ‘Timewarp’ along with ‘Pulp Fiction’, ‘All that jazz’ and ‘Killers don’t die’ before closing the arena with TC’s ‘That girl’.

Saturday UV Raver Party

Tonight was UV Raver Party with the emphasis on everyone to come dressed in white. Not only was this the UV Party but also the 2nd arena played host to the Alternative arena with the DJ’s playing genres of music that you would not expect them to play, there was quite a few sets in here I wanted to check out including a drum and bass set from Hixxy!!

Re-Con kicked off the UV Party tonight I had arrived for the tail end of his and caught him playing a stomping dropping crowd favourites being played including ‘Music’s got me, ‘Ready or Not’, ‘Sure feels good’ and ‘Show me now’. The main arena had been decked out with UV cannons for tonight’s UV Party.

Near the end of the set I ventured upstairs to the alternative arena and got myself a space ready for Hixxy’s drum and bass set. Headed up here and there where plenty of ravers who were quite excited about seeing Hixxy play and drum and bass set.

DJ Unknown was finishing up an oldskool making way for the HTID supremo. Hixxy was given a big cheer as he stepped up on the decks as this was history in the making, accompanying him was the ever so versatile Whizzkid MC.

Hixxy opened the set with ‘Forum Fannies’ and continued to play a mixture of classics along side current dance floor slammers such as ‘ Mr Happy’, ‘3rd Degree gurns’, ‘Downlow and ‘ Machete’.

It was good to hear Whizzkid over drum and bass as it’s been such a long time since I heard him do a full on drum and bass set. I know he’s been itching to do something like this as the last time I heard him do a drum and bass set was in 2004 at the sanctuary closing party for Andy C and Hype.

Hixxy continued to play Hazard’s dancefloor smasher ‘Killers don’t die’ along with ‘Pacman’ and ‘Badass’ before closing the set with ‘Terrorist’.

Following was the oldskool residents Twista and Faydz, the duo are known not only for their oldskool sets but also their nu-skool breaks which always go down a treat. But tonight they were given the task of playing an upfront hardcore set.

Faydz was impressive on the decks showing off his turntablism skills, the tune selection from the pair was top notch playing a very vocally euphoric set dropping crowd favourites such as ‘Cruising’, ‘Sacrifice’, ‘ Beat drop’ and ‘Love comes’. A similar selection to that of Hixxy some record bag swopping going on tonight!

MC Storm was doing the mic duties keeping the ravers on their toes as they battled through the rising temperatures inside the arena.

With the arena turning rapidly into a sweatbox I decided to retreat outside to the outdoor courtyard to cool down. After a few ice cold drinks and rehydrated headed back to the main arena and Tommy Knocker was finishing up in here.

DJ Breeze was on showcasing material from his brand new Futureworld label, Breeze was accompanied by one of the hottest rising stars in the hardcore scene MC Static. Really enjoyed the set from Breeze playing a number of brand new tunes mixed with a few crowd favourites dropping ‘1 2 3 4’, ‘Burning love’ and ‘If I were you’.

Static was wicked on this big stage rocking the ravers, I thought he done really well mcing on his own and holding up the stage throughout. Breeze continued to play ‘Round & round’, ‘Tell you a secret’ before closing the set with ‘Sometimes’

Final set of the UV Raver Party came from the godfather of hardcore the one and only DJ Slipmatt. Slipmatt was playing a classic 96-97 set taking the crowd in the main arena on journey through hardcore. Slipmatt opened his set with ‘Let the music’ and continued to play ‘Simply electric’, ‘Passion’, ‘Higher love’ and ‘Steam train’.

Whizzkid MC introduced the set before saying good night to the ravers, taking over from Whizzkid was the Breakthrough mc of 2005 MC Casper. Casper rocked the ravers into the early hours of Sunday morning. The godfather stepped up the tempo and the years as he began to drop ‘love & devotion’, ‘Discoland’ and ‘Eye opener’ before closing the night with the timeless classic from Force and Styles ‘Heart of gold’.

Sunday HTID 27 “Closing party”

Well tonight was the final night of HTID in the sun 2008, a farewell to Lloret de Mar till 2009.

There were quite a number of sets that I wanted to catch particularly upstairs in the oldskool arena. Opening the arena was the south coast legend DJ Druid who was playing a classic Rhythm station set. Joining Druid on the mic duties was another south coast legend MC Knight.

Druid was playing plenty of classics that would have been played at the infamous rhythm station in Aldershot dropping tunes such as ‘Let it lift you’, ‘6 days’, and ‘Roll the beats’. Knight was in his element as he rolled over druids set, Scottie B joined Knight on the mic as they went back to back.

The tune selection from Druid was second to none as he continued to keep it bouncy ‘Fuck my best friend’, ‘Now is the time’, ‘Tweedledum’ and ‘Follow the sun’.

From two legends to another as stepping up was the infamous hardcore duo Vibes and Livelee. I was very impressed with Vibes as him and Livelee took us on a trip down memory lane with a classic 95-96 set tune selection was something else!

Vibes opened up with the Force and Styles Classic ‘ Pretty green eyes’ and continued to play ‘Can’t stop’, ‘Hold me now’, and ‘Can’t stop raving’. MC Livelee entertained the crowd and had the ravers recite his infamous lyrics, whilst keeping the ravers on their toes as they battle through the intense heat. Vibes carried onto play ‘Forever young’, ‘Million miles’, ‘Show me heaven’ and ‘Autumn dayz’

Playing the final set in the oldskool till I die arena was the drum and bass legend that is Nicky Blackmarket. Really enjoyed this set from Blackmarket as he was playing more of a 98-2001 set

There were lots of big tunes being played by Nicky including ‘Turbulence’, ‘The beginning’, ‘Dogs on the moon’ and ‘Clear skies’. Five Alive and Random Concepts very own MC Presha where doing the mic duties working back to back keeping the ravers entertained throughout this drum and bass session.

After Nicky it was time to head down for the final set of HTID in the sun 2009. To close this year’s event was the world’s number one hardcore DJ and MC duo of Darren Styles and MC Storm.

The main arena was packed for the final set with every inch on the dance floor taken up whilst Darren Styles and MC Storm closed off this years HTID in the sun. Daren was showcasing lots of his material old and new throughout the 90 minute special. He opened the set with his remix of ‘This is a virus’ and continued to play ‘Sound without a name’, ‘Give me a reason’, ‘Follow me’ and ‘I say I love you’.

The week leading up to HTID in the sun Darren styles released his debut album ‘Skydivin’ which entered the charts at number 4 a magnificent feat for hardcore. Darren joined MC Storm on stage briefly to perform live one his tracks from his album ‘Flashlight’ to a packed out main arena.

Storm was amazing throughout this 90 minute showcasing keeping the crowd going rocking till the early hours of Monday morning. Storm took full control of the stage hyping up the crowd with his memorable lyrics even with the heat taking its toll as he took his top which caused a bit of excitement with the ladies in the crowd! Storm continued to battle through the temperatures right till the final second like a true professional that he is.

Styles rounded his set off with a number of crowd favourites including ‘You’re shining’, ‘Disco lights’ and ‘slide away’. Darren closed the set with his Beachball remix ‘cruising’. That was not enough for the ravers with this being the last night the crowd were screaming out for one more. The ravers where sent home with two massive anthems from Darren ‘Come running’ and his award winning 2007 track, ‘Save me’.

Once again HTID rocked Llorret de mar with a week of hardcore madness added with Sun Sea and sand!

The atmosphere during my time in Llorret was something else with ravers travelling not from just UK but also across the Atlantic too and even from the Far East too! There was a good mixture of ages too with mature and younger ravers out here all here as one big hardcore family. Proving once again how international the hardcore sound going from strength to strength, with ravers willing to from all over the globe for a week of hardcore madness!

I did not see any trouble inside the club during my weekend visit nor was there much trouble around the resort unlike the previous year. This year there was a more of a tougher clampdown in regards to trouble makers. There was no issuing of red bands just a straight forward instant ban from the event itself along with their hotel too. So really it wasn’t worth getting into trouble as not only would you get kicked and you holiday cut short, but your group of friends would also suffer the same ordeal.

What I had noticed that HTID had listened to some of the comments from last year as there was a cold ice machine inside the Colossus as throughout each night this was blasted in the club to cool down the ravers. Also the number of top name artists playing during the week had been cut down to allow the future talent to showcase and also this avoided the repetitiveness of the previous year.

There were quite a lot of sets that I enjoyed throughout the weekend but those that stood out was Hixxy’s kick off set with the added inclusion of MC2 which was firing !! Breeze’s set n the Saturday night with loads of his new material being showcased along with Static’s mcing as he has been impressive the last few times I’ve seen him and keeps on improving, definitely one to watch out for over the next few years !

The alternative night produced some wicked sets particularly Hixxy’s drum and bass set, as we all know Hixxy likes to includes the odd drum and bass track in his Hardcore sets but was good to hear him doing a full 60 minutes of drum and bass. I was also impressed with Whizzkid over the drum and bass set, showing the versatility of Whizzkid, taking the set to another level.

Kevin Energy oldskool set as its not that often he plays oldskool and he didn’t draw for the big anthems either keeping it true to the classics once played on Dream FM. There was a few other oldskool sets too that I really enjoyed including Slipmatt’s classics set in the main arena. He might have played a lot of the big anthems but it really went off in here as it also gave the new ravers a bit of an education to where hardcore actually came from.

But the set of the whole weekend was Darren Styles 90 minute showcase which was definitely something else. Storm ended the whole week perfectly proving why he has been voted number one for the past 5 years. The pair really ended HTID in true hardcore fashion and sent the ravers home with something to definitely remember a perfect way to end the hardcore madness that hit Spain for the past 7 days!!

Overall it was good holiday in the sun and brilliant to see how massive HTID has become being able to attract like minded ravers from all across the world for a week of madness in the sun that were all up for it throughout the seven days!

Massive shouts to Hixxy, Joe Chris and Mark Lambert and all the HTID team, Storm, Whizzkid, Darren Styles, Knighty, Nicky Blackmarket, Wotsee, Slipmatt, Vibes and Livelee, Alex, Druid, Static and Vicki, Breeze and Jo, Five Alive, Sharky, Marc Smith, Kevin Energy, Phantasy, Chris Unknown, Re-Con, Squad-E, Chris Henry, Brisk, Ramos, Supreme, Marly Twista, Faydz, Gammer, Odyessy, Caspar, Enemy, The Doctor, Joey Riot, Kurt, Ribbz, Squidgy B, Scotti B, Spenno, Flyin and Charmy, Garry K, Presha, Ripper from Random Concept, Lloyd and Ollie from Innovation

Big respects to Sallie, Lozzy, Mat KotR, Lisa Jo and Phill, Michelle Whizzfish, Katie, Jemma, Joe and Foggy, Smithy, Hanna, Niki, Danny and Nick Smithers, Mark Pleasuredome, Chris Mental, Emma, Taha, Ortie, Charlie and James, Emma and Sarah, Mad Maz and Rachel, Gemma and Mitch, Clodhopper, Chris Smith, Roxy, Clare, Damo, Smithy, Dekay, Paul EP, Jon Brown, Chunky and the Southcoast crew, Kev Pikey and Laura, Ben Niacin, Nick Xero, Gsus, Carris, JB-C, Rave the Dave, Savage, Andy Sykee, Ush.net and DSI crew, and everyone else whose names I don't' know but faces I recognise.