Slammin Vinyl presents
Tranz-Mission 2007
Alexandra Palace
London
Saturday 7th April 2007

Slammin Vinyl return back to the capital to host there annual Tranz-Mission event at one of London’s prestigious venues The Alexandra Palace. For those who haven’t been to the Alexandra Palace, the venue is a grand piece of Victorian architecture which is situated in north London and is surrounded in acres of vast Greenland overlooking the bright lights of London city.

The Tranz-Mission festival is in its 3rd year now and is one of the biggest indoor dance festivals under one massive roof. There was a collaboration of promoters from across the underground dance world working alongside each other. With arenas being hosted 1Nation, Hardcore, Raindance to name a few, you know there is enough variety to entertain any ravers taste buds tonight.

Having been to the two previous Tranz-Mission events finding the Alexandra Palace didn’t take too long as the venue is situated in north London in Wood Green. Parked up in the on site security patrolled car park and strolled through the grasslands to reach the queue.

A large snaked queue in the main outdoor courtyard greeted us, but this was moving quite quickly to get the party people inside. Once inside the building there was a 2nd queue where the searches were conducted. There were numerous search tables which helped shortened the searching time, after a thorough search from the security team we were finally ready to party.

Headed through the massive corridors and made my way to the Hardcore Heaven arena and was greeted by the Raver Baby sounds from DJ Breeze. The hardcore arena was situation once again in the mighty hall arena with the massive circular stain glassed window being the main spectacle of this arena.

At the front of the Hardcore Heaven arena was a massive stage with giant speaker stacks either side of the stage. Above the DJ box stand there was a large projection screen displaying different, visuals, patterns and advertising the fourth coming Southport Hardcore Weekender.

Whizzkid MC was entertaining the crowd with his lyrics getting the crowd involved whilst he bounced around the stage. There where plenty of Raver Baby tracks being showcased with Breeze playing ‘ When love becomes a lie’, ‘Report to the bassline’, ‘Gotta believe’ remix and ‘Every time we touch’ before closing off with ‘Slide away’.

Following up was a back to back special from Brisk and Scott Brown who where getting things stompier in the hardcore arena and definitely stepped up the pace. MC’s Wotsee and Rude were keeping the party people entertained.

At this point I took a wander back to the main corridor and headed into the West Hall to the 1Nation arena. Brazils finest DJ Marky was on entertaining a very busy arena. The West Hall was full to the brim and could feel the temperature soaring in here, the layout was similar to that of the hardcore with a massive stage taking the centre stage with speaker stacks either side.

Dynamite MC was doing a grand job on the mic hyping up the crowd as he does best. Marky was demonstrating his djing skills as he is renowned for deck wizardry and has been known in the past to pick up a turntable and scratch a record midair! Half way though his set Marky came away from the behind the decks and accompanied Dynamite on stage and sang one of his new releases live to the packed out 1Nation Arena.

Back to the Hardcore Heaven arena and in time for the 4 way back to back special as the Raver Baby crew battled it out with the Nu-energy Collective featuring dj’s Hixxy, Sharkey, Kevin Energy and Squad-E.

Hixxy started the proceedings as he opened up with ‘Power of love’ with the two record labels battling it out against each other, this back to back special featured lots of material from respective labels.

Hyping up the crowd was MC Storm, he was making full use of this massive stage working the crowd from left to right. ‘Good to me’, ‘This is hardcore, This is what I do’, ‘Sacrifice’ and ‘Techno wonderland’ remix.

Whizzkid took control of the mic as it was time for another back to back special from the award winning breakthrough DJ’s Re-Con, Gammer and Joey riot. Not only are these 3 great DJ’s but they are also releasing some of the hottest new tracks showcasing lots of their forthcoming tracks from their respective studios. Tracks such as ‘A new feeling (let it shine), ‘Life Force Generator’ remix, ‘Sure feels good to me’ and ‘Good to me’ where being played.

I decided to leave midway though the set to catch Andy C in the 1Nation arena when I got to the entrance with the arena being overly packed out security where redirecting the crowd to use the back entrance which was via the oldskool arena, so I decided to catch some oldskool.

The oldskool arena was hosting by one of the original long standing rave promoters Raindance ,to be honest this was one of the better arenas in terms of production. Standing from the back of the room the arena was illuminated with a bright green laser, the Raindance stage was decorated with a number of inflatables included the trademark Raindance man.

It looked like I had just missed the PA from midlands oldskool legend Nebula II, Billy Bunter and Robbie Dee along with Five Alive were on next. Billy’s set heavily featured plenty of nu-skool breakz with a number of remixes of oldskool mixed up with classics such as ‘Out of space’, ‘Let me be your fantasy’, ‘Such a Feeling’ and ‘Trip to Trumpton’. Robbie Dee was gong a great job on the mic working the crowd with Five Alive stepping in whilst Robbie taking a breather as the temperature was rising inside this arena.

Following on from Billy Bunter was another oldskool legend the godfather of hardcore Slipmatt alongside his partner in crime Charlie B. I really enjoyed the set from the oldskool legend, just like Billy Bunter, Slipmatt continued to play an oldskool vs nu-skool breakz set.

Charlie B complimented Slipmatt through the set been along time since I’ve seen these two back together a great dj and mc partnership. Tracks such as ‘Sweet harmony’, Snap’s ‘I got the power’, ‘Body Slam’, and of course ‘Ragga tip’ littered the set from the hardcore legend.

The heat started to take its toll in here with the sweat dripping from the ceiling so I decided to have a wonder around to cool down. The Grand hall was home not only to the Hardcore Heaven arena but also the Frantic arena as the hall was split into three with the two dance arenas segregated by an indoor funfair.

Like all Slammin Vinyl events they were implementing a voucher system at the bars with 10 token costing £10. Soft drinks such as Ribena and Lukozade were 2 tokens and beer was 4 tokens a bit expensive but we were in London after all. The Slammin Vinyl merchandise stall was offering plenty of bargains with loads of merchandise at knocked down prices with some tape packs as low as £3.50

Headed to the 1Nation arena and caught the tail end of DJ Zinc it looked like Eksman had swapped sets as I had just missed Eksman leaving the arena. Nicky Blackmarket was on after Zinc and played a great set with lots of party tracks which were keeping the crowd rocking with the temperature rising.

The system seemed to have been turned down compared to when I was in here earlier for Marky’s set. There was plenty of party tracks from the Jungle veteran as he dropped ‘Represent’ remix, ‘’Get closer’, ‘Deep’ and ‘Nosher’.

Following on From Nicky Blackmarket was another veteran the Award winning True Playa DJ Hype. As the heat was reaching high levels the roof of the venue was lifted to allow cool air into the building whilst this was happening the music was stopped momentary for a few minutes.

On with the show and Hype continued to play lots of forthcoming material from the Ganja Records label as he dropped ‘Beast City’, ‘Tink your bad’, ‘0121’ along with various others such as ‘Screamer’ remix, ‘A bit Patchy’ and ‘Everyday’.

I didn’t catch the names of the MC’s that were filling in but to be honest they really didn’t do anything for the crowd not seeming to get a response and really didn’t allow the music to breathe much.

Fearless finally arrived with Mampi Swift, Fearless elevated the lethargic crowd with his party style lyrics and the aura he possesses on a big stage such as this, giving the party a much needed boost. Mampi in true fashion was double dropping lots of tracks and turned up the pace with tracks like ‘Blood Sugar’, ‘Busted’, ‘Voodoo people’ remix and ‘Holla’

Final set in the Hardcore Heaven arena came from the award winning Darren Styles and MC Storm. Darren Styles ensured the hardcore crew got a good dose of Raver Baby nourishment. Darren’s set featured plenty of euphoric and vocally tracks dropping the likes of ‘I say I love you’, ‘The way’, ‘Angel eyes’, ‘Hold me tonight’ remix,

MC Storm made sure no-one was left standing keeping the ravers dancing into the early hours of Sunday morning with his energetic style that he owns

Tonight finally came to an end well another sell out event from Slammin Vinyl at the Alexandra Palace. It has to be said that the sound levels across the venue wasn’t at its best with the arenas being at low level more notably in the 1Nation arena.

With the Alexandra Palace being close to a residential arena and receiving complaints at previous events due to the noise disturbance, the local authorities where ensuring that the noise levels were kept at a desirable level to avoid conflict to the local residents.

The arenas were getting quite hot particularly the Raindance and 1Nation arena as you could feel the condensation drip from the ceiling. It was good to have the music stop very briefly as they allowed the roof to be opened momentary for few minutes as cold air entered into the arena to cool down the venue particularly this arena.

There were numerous good sets being played across the arenas those I enjoyed included Slipmatts breakz set, even though there wasn’t much oldskool from ‘92 being played in here Slipmatts set was impressive very different to what I heard from him earlier this year. In the 1Nation Arena Zinc played a good set with some great forthcoming tunes from him as he’s been hiding in the studio as of late. The final hardcore set from Darren styles as another favourite of mine with plenty of uplifting and vocal tracks from the Triple Award winning DJ.

The event itself was a good night a nice atmosphere with everyone up for it all night. I was impressed with production especially in the Raindance arena stood out for me especially the lasers and lighting and also making use of the large stained glass window in the Hardcore Heaven arena.

Massive shouts to Grant, Michael and the Slammin Team, Storm, Whizzkid, Fearless, Hixxy, Re-con, Hype, Mampi Swift, Eksman, Marky, Styles, Dynamite, Breeze, Sqaud-E, Marc Smith, Lou Lou, Scott Brown, Brisk, Dougal, Lisa Marie, Wotsee, MC Rude, Seduction and Rob, Zinc, Robbie Dee, Krome, Charlie B, Slipmatt, Supreme, Sunset Regime, Joey Riot, Kev Energy and Sharkey, Ben, Sam, Katie and the Upthe cut crew, Ribbz, Charmy and Flyin.

Big Respects to Shaun, Sallie, Lozzy, Lisa Jo and Phil, Mat KoR, Legs, Danny smithers, John Buzz-B, Rude Boy Rob, Gillian, Uplift, Emma, Ecksta-C, Overlode, Rob Jps and Stacy, Gareth, Timmy, Nikki and Ronni, Tessa, Stu Gt, Hatty, Damo, Annabelle Lucy, Kat, Kelly, Heffers, JB-C Foggy, Kaite and the Burton crew, Turkish, Sharl, Chris Mental, Mark PleasureDome, Gsus, Astraboy, Maxx Vinyl, The DSI ravers, and everyone else whose names I don't' know but faces I recognize.