Well, we travelled down to Birmingham for Hardcore Nation with high hopes for an amazing night as after reading the flyers online and the hype about it, it sounded amazing. We were in for an unfortunate surprise....

On arriving at the venue, it took ages to get in, but that was ok as we imagined they must be doing very thorough searches and this was the reason for the long wait. We were wrong. I wasn't searched at all and my boyfriend Lee had a brief pat down of the side of his stomach and that was it. Slightly worrying I thought but nevertheless we were glad to get in there at long last. We finally got in and found out that the venue didn't have a cloakroom open yet and so had to carry our coats everywhere, which was a complete pain. It did open later thank god.

The venue was a nice size but what was also worrying was the fact that there was only one exit that I could see of. This was also the entrance. There were doors situated around the venue but they looked like they were locked. I instantly thought, if there was an emergency, would everyone be running for the same exit? Not a reassuring thought, I can tell you.

We also noticed that they were giving the drinks out in glass bottles which I thought wasn't right, in most events/venues I have been to, they have given drinks in plastic containers for safety reasons, and I thought this would have been put into practice here too. Obviously not. Whoever's idea it was to put sand in the Sundissential arena needs their head checking in my opinion, it was horrid to walk on, even worse to dance on and a lot of sand got carried outside near the entrance/exit resulting in a sloppy, muddy, sand filled giant puddle when it rained. Lovely.

There was also signs advertising WKD but surprise surprise, it wasn't being sold! What on earth is the point advertising it then? And when I asked the bar staff, a couple of them also agreed that there was no point advertising something they didn't sell. I got hassled to buy drugs everytime I went for a drink at the main arena bar, and the men that were hassling me were ironically stood right next to security. Who did nothing. Strange. I got so sick that I started going out to the bar in the Sundissential room to avoid having some bloke coming over and shouting "pills, pills for you" repeatedly in my ear. Oh yeah, and to get to the sundissential room, I had to go through the loos. This was because I couldn't get through the door without waiting ages and it was nearly ankle deep in muddy sand in some places.

So with regards to the night in general?? I have to be honest, I had a fantastic time, the doormen were nice, there was no attitude from anyone whatsoever and all in all it was great. That only lasted until 2am though!! By 2am the venue was so packed that you couldn't stand in one place without getting pushed and shoved all over, never mind dance. They crammed the place so full that in the main arena, people were literally dancing in front of the exit/entrance, you had to push your way to the loos, that is if you could get in there at all and it took 15 minutes to get from one end of the main arena to the other. Surely this is a health hazard?!! I kept imagining someone collapsing and just being stood on, or some sort of emergency occurring and there being a mad rush for the doors and it being complete and utter, disorganised chaos, with too many people trying to get through one door. This frightened me. In fact we got so sick that we left at 2.15am/ish.

Yes I had a good time, the people I was with/met were fantastic, I got drunk, had a stomp, heard the tunes I like and everything was great. But that only lasted till 2am and I had to leave. I had anticipated my night would last longer than that. All in all I thought the whole event was a disorganised mess that should have been planned a damn sight better.

Judging by the amount of people, this would have been better in another venue. That or not so many people should have been let in. I'm not saying this is the same for everyone, I'm sure a lot of people had a great time all night, but for me, it could have been so much better and a lot of people I spoke to agreed that it was badly organised, filled to full and that security should have been better. Sorry for the negativity guys, but I feel completely let down by this event and quite frankly, would have rather had spent my money on a different night. I hope next time that some of my points will be taken into consideration and the event will be a whole lot better.

yea it was rite beside the stage pertrudin through a blow up wall he is ok but has damaged his clothes worth £150 hes more pissed off about that

Shame he didn't break anthing hahah

i know yea lol i did plug the bouncy castle and got a pic of it have u seen it was funny

you did what? Where's the pic? xx

Haha!

lol

hey yeh i agree proper shit I well wel excited bout that wot a let down, but hey theres always da next rave WoopWoop! xxx

bonus about friendly door men, that is something that can make a night hassle free. I hate being starred at all night long like I'm a criminal!

But the over crowding!!!!!! That sounds hellish! I am going in a few weeks, I really hope they don't do that again. Its a problem iv found in most places now. x

a year later lol.

well this was the first review i came to. have you been since?

Nope.