Raveology
'1st Birthday'
Air (Formerly Code)
Birmingham
29th April 2005

Tonight Raveology were celebrating their first Birthday at Air nightclub. Featuring a Live PA from Liquid, performing for the first time ever in Birmingham. The main arena not only featured a full line-up of oldskool favourites but also included an upfront set from Logical Progressions LTJ Bukem and MC Conrad.

I arrived at Air around 9:30 and was greeted by slow moving queue, the queue didn't really start to move until around 10ish. After a brief search from the bouncers I was in. There weren't too many people in the club at this point, DJ Alpha was on warming up the crowd.

The main arena walls were draped in murals along with hanging boards with a banner coving the DJ box featuring the Raveology logo. At the front of the arena Liquid arrived to set-up their PA. on stage for later in the evening. Alpha's set was remarkable, playing a variety of tunes from 92-94 era. As he played ' We are I.E', 'Finest Illusion', 'Walkin in da Air (snowman tune)' Total XTC' he also dropped 'MDEMM - Get down' which is an amazing tune that doesn't really get played at many oldskool nights. I've never heard Alpha play much oldskool but I really thought his selection was spot on, as he didn't need to resort to bashing out the typical '92 anthems to be honest I was quite impressed.

After Alpha it was the turn of Quest resident DJ Nexus, Nexus started the set with the classic from 'Phantasy and Gemini - Ruff beats'. 'The Original Detonator Robbie Dee' accompanied Nexus, it's great to see Robbie Dee hyping up the crowd in the main arena of Air. Nexus played his own remix of 'Edge 1' and '40 miles' along with 'Hurt you so' and 'Playing with knives'. Nexus finished the set with 'Dinky Dink', which is, featured on the forthcoming Kat Whiskers EP.

Next up was Flashback resident Mistress Mo, Robbie Dee carried on MCin for Mo's set. With Mo and Robbie working together it reminded me of my old days at Flashback in the legendary Que club. Mo played a 91-93 set she played 'Star eyes', 'Nasty remix', Pandemonium', 'Roobarb and Custard', 'Don't need your love' and 'The Surgery'.

After Mistress Mo it was the turn of LTJ Bukem alongside MC Conrad. At this point I headed upstairs to the 'Legends of Dark Black' arena. MC Fearless was on here performing his new tune 'Bounce' which went down quite well. Dangerous D was on playing a heavy rolling set as he played 'The Burial remix' and 'Back to your roots'. With the drum and bass being in the Nitrogen arena of Air it does get well rammed in here with not much room to move bout, thank god for the air conditioning! After Dangerous D, Hazard was on with Bassman. At this point I headed downstairs in time for the live PA.

LTJ Bukem was finishing up in here, the arena was quite busy whilst these guys were on, as I do think Raveology are gearing towards more of a drum and bass crowd as the next event features both drum and bass mixed up in the two arenas.

Next up was Liquid, he was accompanied by his MC, Liquid played 'Sweet harmony' and 'Liquid is Liquid', my favourite of the two being 'Liquid is Liquid' a definitely underrated tune in my opinion.

Time for the Scracthmaster SY, SY started the set with the Prodigy classic 'Outer space'. Robbie dee accompanied SY for his set, SY carried onto play a more '94 set as he played 'Orca's 4am' and 'Ravers Choice 1' whilst showcasing his scratching skills throughout his set.

At this point I found out that they had opened the outside part and decided to have a break from the rave and grab a quick bite to eat.

After SY, it was the turn of the Raveology residents the mighty Ratpack. Ratpack started the set in true Ratpack form by playing 'Brothers and Sisters' along with 'Feel the heat', 'Found a Café' and 'Uptempo'. The Ratack played quite a number of nu-skool breaks as they played a remix of the R&S Belgium classic 'Dominator' which I thought went down really well. Ratpack finished the set with a Drum and Bass remix of their number one hit 'Searchin' for my Rizla'.

Final set of the evening featured Mickey Finn alongside Bassman, a classic DJ and MC combination. Mickey started the set with the Philly Blunt classic ' The burial', the main arena got quite busy in here, as it seemed that a majority of people came from the legends room for the final hour. Even MC Fearless was having a boogie in the DJ box

It was great too see Bassman MCin over some old skool jungle as it's been along time since I've heard him MC over an oldskool set, think the last I saw was December 2000 at Flashback. Mickey played a proper jump up set as he played 'Warhead',' 'Ready or not', 'Hearing is believing', and '2 degrees'. Mickey finished the set with his dub plate remix of Luniz 'I got 5 on it'.

Overall it's great to always hear some oldskool in the main arena of Air once again. The DJ's tonight played some awesome sets both Mistress Mo and Alpha played some quality tunage and didn't stick to typical anthems definitely the sets of the evening! I was quite disappointed that Dougal's set was cancelled with no explanation to why, as this was one of the sets that I was quite looking forward to.

Tonight's event was quite busier in comparison to the previous event back in February, as it was a great way to kick start the bank holiday weekend! It's a shame that the next Raveology is planned to feature both upfront drum and bass alongside oldskool across both arenas rather than dedicating one arena for one style of music. With Air already having a night that features up front drum and bass already there's really no need for a 2nd event.

Massive shouts to Fearless, Robbie Dee, Mistress Mo, SY, Everson Allen and Lipmaster Mark, Nexus, Alpha, Hazard, Devise and Escape.

Big respects to Zoe + Collette, Jon XLR-8, Glenn Aston and Will, Vicky, Brian BK, Chris and Amy and the midlands DNBA forum crew and everyone else whose names I don't' know but faces I recognise.