Fantazia The Legend Returns - Ravers Review

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The Legend has certainly Returned!! It was a cold and wet November evening...... when I happened to peep at the Fantazia website and find they were having another event! Having been to Fantazia '97 in Manchester and had a phenomenal time I was tempted by this.

Only 3 problems - firstly, I'm really not into hardcore of any sort (fairly housey generally), secondly never even tried any 'substances' and thirdly I live at completely the wrong end of the country.

'But it's Fantazia' thinks me, so have a look at Ryanair to find flights from Bournemouth to Prestwick for £25 return. Well, that's the second problem sorted - just a 40 mile drive to Bournemouth airport, jump on a plane, then rent a car and drive it 40 miles to Braehead. Go to the gig, then kip in the car and fly back the next day. Simple really. Went to Barcelona for a Saturday night out last year so why not Glasgow this year?

Hmm, the hardcore problem... well, phone a mate who's in the pub, ask him if he fancies flying to Scotland in January for a rave and he says yes (not really knowing what it is and being into hardcore even less than me), and decide that it's just got to be done. Book flights, hire car and event tickets and wait until January, getting a touch apprehensive as to what we were letting ourselves in for!

So (having worked Fri evening installing and running the lighting for a house gig in Southampton) along comes Saturday, off we go to Bournemouth, fly to Prestwick, pick up the Batmobile and off to Braehead. Takes a bit of finding doesn't it?!

In we go a 7pm after a quick trip to Sainsburys and picnic in the car park. No queue at that stage so straight in (past the cute little bow-wow that looked like it was putting the shits up a few of you! - no problems for us remember!).

'Hey, we've just flown to Scotland for Fantazia, and now we're here!'. Quick peep into Arena 2. Only about 15 people in there at that stage, and bit too hard for us so take a wander around. Find ourselves standing in the middle of the main room watching the world go by and deciding it was going to be a very interesting night... you're all mad!!! Decide that at that volume hardcore starts to sound bearable. Upstairs to Arena 3 to check out the house sound. Hmm, it's small isn't it! Familiar music for us though so felt like a nice comfort blanket. And great view from up there - more people-watching through the windows.

Off to get drinks tokens before the queue gets huge. Ouch, £10 for 3? Makes Homelands down here look cheap. And when you don't drink, it's taking the piss. But hey ho, captive market and all that so it's 3 tokens each then. Er, decide at the bar that it'll be a 7Up for me. OK kids, I know that's not very rock & roll but I needed the sugar!

Now can't remember (I'm old!) which order everything happened, but basically spent the night alternating between the main arena and the house room. Tried Arena 2 again for a few mins but still fairly empty. Slipmatt got the atmosphere going in the main room with a Top 40 selection (we knew those!) including Baby D, Prodigy, Terrorize, Camisra, Josh Wink etc. N-Joi performing 'Anthem' live was er.. anthemic. Various DJs in the house room kept us lightweights happy. Robo (the main Ringmaster geezer with the red jacket) seemed to be having the time of his life during his set. Saw the Shades of Rhythm embarrassment when their CD wouldn't play. Nicely 'live' then guys! The Rhythmic State started with Queen's 'We Will Rock You' and were greeted by a sea of clapping which amused me. Hadn't expected to hear that at Fantazia! Ratpack did their thing but think Dream Frequency had worn all you Scots out by that stage as there was a mass exodus (not sure who was in Arena 2 at that stage though). Abigail Bailey has a great voice and is very cute too. Finally decided it was time to go after Blocko played Alison Limerick's 'Where Love Lives'. House doesn't get much more anthemic than that. We were knackered and had no energy left (no substances remember!) and still had to drive to find somewhere quiet to kip in the car.

Highly randomtastic overall. Saw one guy looking drenched and well pissed off after the portaloo he was in had been tipped on its side... The guy doing roly-poly's on the floor in the house room... That stunningly gorgeously lushtastic girl in her thongy bodysuity thing (the one showing her arse guys)... 'We Will Rock You'... the guy in the house room who looked like he'd just walked out of Guns 'n' roses... 'Raving I'm raving' with some random guy at the top overlooking the whole main arena... All 42 of you who I counted touching my hair... And the countless others commenting about it and shaking my hand... Being amazed at how friendly everyone was compared to down south... Looking at the poor old guys picking up the rubbish, who were wondering why on earth they were there... Deciding we were probably the only people drinking coffee about 12.30... And the only people eating Refreshers (genuinely!!) to give us sugar... Being amazed at how much we enjoyed the music... How good was the main sound system?!???!... etc etc etc.

Anyway, found somewhere to kip a few miles away, didn't freeze too much (brought sleeping bags with us!), got up at 9am and took the coastal route back to Prestwick, deciding that Scotland is way more scenic than Hamphire, and had an incredible flight back - the best visibility I've ever seen from a plane - it was clear all the way back and even saw my house! Slept quite well last night...

Overall, Fantazia Big Bang 2 was superb. Shame it had been hyped up (certainly wasn't 'The Greatest Show On Earth' and where was the Big top Circus?) but it was still Fantazia and my true thanks to Charles Perkins and Robbo etc for putting it on. Can we have the next one a bit further south please? (Drove past Matchams on the way to and from the airport).

Cheesy I know, but lastly thanks to all of you who made it such a good night. You all rock!

The Legend Has Returned...!

by Storm-Productions