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History Of Hardcore - The Fantastic Fourth Installment @ Jacks in London

Sat 24 Feb 2007

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Another great night from History of Hardcore!

shazzaspannered

It’s almost 20 years since raves started becoming popular, going back to the days when acid house parties made the national newspapers, when the smiley face was like the emblem of the ravers that attended them. Over those 20 years there have been a lot of changes, raves became more organised and legal events started taking place, the music has changed, the people have changed even the clothes have changed. Hundreds of promoters have come and gone, sometimes they fail and sometimes they succeed.

History of Hardcore is an event which is promoted and run by people who have been part of the rave scene for a number of years, coming from being ravers themselves to then trying their hands at spinning a few records, running an event and also now running their own online radio station. I think this is why the History of Hardcore events are so popular and well run because the people who are putting them on understand what makes a good rave. They want the people who attend their events to have a good time and enjoy themselves.

Held at Jacks nightclub in London Bridge the event has just had its fourth event. Having been to their previous three events I was really looking forward to this. It had the usual excellent line up with 2 rooms providing a good mixture of music from over the years. The club is a good size and holds about 900 people, has 2 rooms, a largish chill out area in the smaller room with seating and a smaller area in the main room with some seats but for most of the ravers sitting down is the last thing on their mind.

As the name would suggest the music policy spans across the whole board, from acid house to upfront bang up to date hardcore with a splattering of old skool inbetween for good measure. With top name DJ’s such as Sy,. Vibes, Seduction and Slipmatt alongside up and coming DJ’s such as Wink, Synpa, Jedi, Upfront and of course two of the events promoters Insane & Mind you can expect nothing except top quality music throughout the night. All for the bargain price of £12 too!

We travelled down to London from Milton Keynes via train, travelling to London Bridge is pretty easy and we were soon at the station and ready to rave. After a few swift drinks in the local pub, the Shipwrights Arms, we made our way to the venue to be greeted at the door with a smile and no queue. After a brief search and entering the club we quickly realised the reason for the lack of queue was because all the ravers were already inside having it large. The main room was very busy considering it was still early on in the evening (about 10.45pm) DJ Upfront seemed to be doing a great job of keeping crowd entertained and there were plenty of people already giving it some on the dancefloor. After queueing for a short time to dispose of our coats in the ample and well pirced cloakroom we decided to stay in the main room for a bit.

The room was filling up nicely and the crowd went mad when DJ Wink came on the decks, he started off playing a distinctive mix of classic Bouncy Techno then moving forward to some newer tunes. This being the first time I have ever heard Wink play out live in a club I was most impressed and it seemed that the crowd agreed with me as they all bounced about like kids on pogo sticks.

Time to check out what was going on in Arena 2. After passing the ample merchandise and balloon stall which is always popular at these events we entered the old skool room to find some quality tunes being played. This room was laid out slightly differently to the previous events with the dance floor area being separated with a camoflage style backdrop, this simple addition made the room look totally different and most people seemed to think it looked better like this. There were plenty of people enjoying a step back in time and the dance floor was very busy. I personally love this room but it does get very hot - the venue are apparently looking into providing some fans for future events to try and cool the room down a bit which will make a big difference and will be welcomed by the stomping crew. We decided to have a sit down in the chill out area where there are plenty of seats to rest your tired feet after jumping around on the dancefloor.

A brief trip back into the main room and Seduction was on the decks playing some of the new hard dance sounds that have become very popular lately. When you entered the room at the front next to the stage all you could see was a crowd of ravers totally loving it with their hands in the air. The crowd at History of Hardcore events are well mixed, with older ravers who are bang into their old skool and then younger ravers who are more into the upfront hardcore sounds. The one thing everyone has in common is that they are there to have a good time, there is no attitude and in my opinion it is one of the friendliest London raves around.

After a brief sit down and a catch up with some friends in the old skool room we made our way back into the main arena where Insane and Mind were just finishing off their set. Having made their way through the earlier happy hardcore sound through the years and finishing off with some more recent tracks my favourite moment was when they played “Cry”. Watching the crowd singing along and being hyped up by MC Rizla and then going mental when the tune kicked in was an amazing sight and showed that even after all these years the raver’s still love their hardcore.

Then up next with his first time playing at this event was DJ Cruze the baldcore master. Playing an energetic set full of upfront hardcore the up for it crowd loved every minute and he was well received. Tracks such as Entity Follow Your Dreams and Cruze’s new track Electro Hardcore which has been produced with DJ Breaks belted out over the good sound system and got the ravers moving. Nobody seemed to be tiring even though there were only 2 hrs left, most of the people in arena 1 were dancing with a few people chatting on the seating area and the 2nd arena was very busy with people chilling out at the rear and dancing on the dancefloor.

After Cruze set had finished we decided to go and rest our feet in the old skool room for a bit. This is when Nebula II came on. What can I say but WOW! They played an amazing old skool set with some classic tracks that bought back memories of the old days, the room filled up obviously a sign of the appreciation for the music from the older crowd. The old skool lovers were going mad on the dancefloor despite the heat, people were really giving it their all and absolutely loving the tune selection - I think this was the set I enjoyed most from the whole night.

Vibes and Livelee were doing what they do best and putting on a show for the ravers in the main room, after a long drive down from Bolton where they had played an earlier set they still entertained everyone in the style they are well known for, hyping up the ravers on the dancefloor. Massive respect to them for driving all the way down to play and still rocking the place!

As far as events go I think History of Hardcore is by and far becoming my favourite event, they get busier every time and always get a good crowd who are there to enjoy the music and have a good time. I love the fact there is a good mix of music styles and you can pick and choose between the 2 rooms, the drinks are reasonably priced and there is plenty of seating for those times when you need to chill out. If you haven’t had the chance to attend one of these then what are you playing at? Get your arse down to Jacks and see for yourself!

You can find out more about History of Hardcore by visiting their website www.historyofhardcore.co.uk and checking out their group on popular clubbing website Don’t Stay In http://www.dontstayin.com/parties/history-of-hardcore

Shout going out to the History of Hardcore crew for another top quality event – looking forward to the next one already!

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Posted Tue 06 Mar 2007

Triple-Ex-Promotions

love the review, mmm will have to check footage about wink playing bouncy techno...ewwwwww...techno....lol....

Reply Quote
Posted Tue 06 Mar 2007