Hardcore Til I Die
Event 17:
‘Heaven & Hell UV Raver Party’
Air (formerly Code)
Birmingham
Saturday 23rd September 2006

After the immense success of HTID 16’ The Summer Gathering 2006’ Hardcore Til I Die returned to Air as they presented ‘The Heaven and Hell UV Party’. Normally these two events are separated but tonight they decided to bring both of these two parties together for a combined event.

As usual all the guaranteed entries had sold out in advance meaning once again tonight’s party was going to be a roadblock. We arrived later than the opening time and got to Digbeth after 10pm.

The door’s had already been open for over an hour and there was still a massive queue which circled the perimeter of Air. The queue was once again split into two with a majority of the ravers situated in the guaranteed entry queue. We was greeted by Hixxy who was once again working hard and looking very stressful already with the doors whih had only been open for an hour!

We entered the venue via the side entrance and were straight through into the outdoor compound situated in the car park. The outdoor compound was busy with ravers meeting and greeting friends as they were anticipating on tonight events.

Headed straight into the club and Kevin Energy was on warming up the crowd. The main arena was busy with hardly any room to move, as it was filled wall to wall with ravers. The Oxygen arena was decorated with various objects hanging from the ceiling, along with the HTID Angel, there were HTID banners dotted around the sides of the venue too. The dance floor was lit up by a number of UV canons lighting up those dressed in white for this UV party.

The JBL system in the main arena was once again on form being really loud and crisp, located above the dj box was a set of projector screens displaying various text messages along with advertisements on the fourth coming Raver Baby and HTID events.

Kevin Energy warmed up the crowd with a selection of remixes of hardcore classics such as ‘Hold me now’, ‘Techno wonderland’ and ‘The theme’ interesting stuff very different to what he was playing in London a few weeks back.

It was fast approaching 11pm and Storm stepped up on stage and was greeted by a rapturous roar from the eager crowd, as was time for the ‘Kick off’ set. This hour was originally to be billed with DJ Sy, but he was joined by another oldskool legend, DJ Seduction as the pair went back to back.

The set was littered with crowd favourites including a remix of an old hardcore classic ‘Passion’ which went down really well with the ravers. The duo continued to play ‘See the light’, ‘Angel ‘and ‘Sunlight’. Near the end of this set, Quosh’s very own singer Lou Lou came on stage to perform a surprise PA of ‘Caught up in your love’, which she sang live. MC Storm controlled this stage on his own, hyping up the crowd and sending them into a sheer frenzy with his rhymes and hype.

Sy and Seduction carried on to entertain the crowd and played ‘Raveheart’ remix before finishing up with a new remix of ‘SMD#2’.

Next up was the turn of Dougal alongside Whizzkid MC, a great combination of a recent DJ and MC partnership with Dougal’s vocally selection and Whizzkid’s uplifting lyrics. Dougal’s set was very uplifting featuring the likes of ‘I need you’, ‘My direction’, ‘Please don’t walk away’, ‘Don’t want this night to end’ and ‘Open ur eyes’.

Upstairs in the Nitrogen arena and DJ Breeze was playing a classic ‘95 set. The arena was decked out up here with dancing podiums in the middle of the dance flooor which numerous ravers were making full use of.

MC Spenno was on the mic and was later joined by Whizzkid MC. Breeze’s selection was spot on with classics such as ‘Body slam’, ‘U r everything’, ‘Is anybody out there?’ and ‘Equation part-9’ (DJ Supreme), great tunes from 95-97 that were keeping the crowd bouncing. The Nitrogen arena was quite rammed and the temperature was definitely rising! Even the air conditioning in here wasn’t helping too much with amount of bodies raving away.

With the heat taking its toll I decided to retreat to the Carbon lounge for the South Coast duo of DJ Ramos and MC Knight. What an amazing set this was, having already missed the first 30 minutes I arrived just as Ramos was playing ‘New direction’. Ramos switched to an jungle session with tracks like ‘ Lighter’, ‘Helicopter’ and ‘Pulp fiction. Knight kept the crowd under control with his lyrics.

But it was Ramos’s extra 15 minutes that was the most impressive and stood out for me, with the following DJ’s running late Ramos dug into his record bag and was showcasing all the old RSR and Hectic classics. Dropping the likes of ‘ The journey part 1’ a timeless classic, ‘Sunshine’, ‘Got to believe’ and to finish off with ‘Knight raver’ remix another corker of a tune !

Up next was a surprise to the line-up seeing as Altern-8 had international commitments the duo was replaced by another set of oldskool legends in the form of the almighty jungle techno kings Topbuzz!

Both Jason and Mad P were here tonight entertaining the crowd starting off with a 92 selection with the likes of ‘Sweet harmony’, ‘Music takes you’ Seal vocal remix and ‘Kiss the sky’.

It wasn’t until Jason started to play some oldskool jungle that Mad P was in his element hyping up the crowd with his infamous lyrics. Mad P was chatting away over the sounds of ‘Helicopter’ and ‘Dubplate’. When Jason dropped ‘Terrorist’ Mad P was in his prime going mental over the mic as Patrick chatted his ‘Pleasantries in my family…’lyric, great stuff from the oldskool legends!

Finishing off in the Oldskool Till I Die arena was a drum and bass legend in the form of Darren Jay, part of the original AWOL crew and a resident at the innovation events in London.

Darren actually got the set underway with a few upfront tunes like a new remix of ‘Fire’ and TC’s remix of ‘Warhead’, before taking the crowd down memory lane, back to 1996-’97, dropping the likes of ‘Special treat’, ‘Trouble’ and ‘Reach out’.

MC Juiceman of the Shadow Demon Coalition was on the mic toasting the crowd and complimenting Darren Jay, keeping the mic rolling with his own style. Darren stepped up the years and began to play ‘Dangerous’, ‘Spaced invader’, ‘Muderation’ and ‘Wardance’, awesome selection from the AWOL legend!

Seeing as Darren Jay played the last set in the Oldskool Til I Die arena I decided to head outside especially as I had been stuck in the oldskool arena for the past 3 hours solid! The outdoor complex was turned into a nocturnal village with plenty of ravers out here congregated amongst friends and with some of the artists of the night chilling away from the madness happening inside Air.

There were free funfair rides on offer along with a massive merchandise stall selling the latest tape packs from recent Raver Baby and HTID events along with packs from past events at knocked down prices.

After cooling off and catching up with some friends I made my way back to the main arena in time for the ‘Morning Glory’ set featuring Raver Baby’s Re-Con and Darren Styles playing back to back.

The Raver Baby duo entertained the ravers with their uplifting vocally set with tunes like ‘Cry’, ‘Feelin fine’, ‘Power of love’ remix and ‘Save me’. Whizzkid MC was mcing for the final hour, rocking the crowd for the final 60 minutes, keeping the ravers hyped up with his lyrics whilst bouncing around the stage from left to right.

Re-Con and Darren styles continued to play ‘Right here’, ‘Never too late’, ‘Give me a reason’ into the early hours with the ravers singing and stomping to the tunes. Styles and Re-Con finished the night with ‘Getting better’, which saw the ravers dancing away into the early hours of Sunday morning.

There were some great sets from the DJ’s tonight particularly that of Ramos and MC Knight especially their final 15 minutes. Along with the surprise PA of Lou Lou during Sy and Seduction, but it was Topbuzz that impressed me especially with them being a last minute addition to tonight line-up, though it was Mad P’s mcing that stood out for me especially as its been over a year since I seen these two.

HTID pulled the stops when it came to production tonight decorating the main arena of Air, with the theme of the UV party mixed up with the Heaven and Hell The atmosphere from the crowd was 2nd to none, up for it all night with a massive friendly and happy vibe which can be found at hardcore parties. There were plenty of ravers all dressed up for the UV party with many of them dressed up as Angels and Devils for the Heaven and Hell theme.

Once again another successful event from HTID selling out in advance of leading up to the night, proving the increasing popularity of hardcore with people travelling from all 4 corners of the UK.

Massive shouts to Hixxy, Joe, Chris and Mark Lambert and the rest of the HTID team, Storm, Whizzkid, Mad P, Styles, Re-Con, Ramos, Supreme, Knight and Sunset Regime, Dougal, Daz Wiillot, Lou Lou, Sy, Seduction, Robbie Long, Chit Chat, Spenno, Twista, Ben, Katie and Sam from Up The Cut, Jason Kaye, Darren Jay, The Doctor, Wotsee, Adam Harris, Squidgy B and Ribbz.

Big respects to Shaun, Mike Fraggle, John Buzz-B, Leanne, Lisa, Arwen, Hanna, Andy Legs, Sallie and Lozzy, Sara and Emma, Obie Michelle and Steph, Timmy, Gareth, Chelsea, Roxy, Kat (Happy birthday), Dave the Rave, Cruze, Daz Rampant, Roony, Kate, Zara, Sharl Caddy, Mat KoR, Saz, Izzy, Aidan, Hiney, Mozz, Charlie and James, Damo and Kelly, Mental Raver, Niki and Ronnie, Emma, Liberty, Kate, Rudeboy Rob, Astraboy, Sketchy and Spuddy and everyone else whose names I don't' know but faces I recognize.