Fantazia Summertime - Review 4

Hi all, I cant believe its taken me this long to look on this site! I only went to one Fantazia event, Summertime at Matchams, I was 16 and it was my first rave...

I have kept a scrap book of that event, with the news cuttings from the Bournemouth echo, and a free local newspaper. Also my friend who came with me recorded the ITN news clip of the party as well....ahhh the memories!!

There were 4 of us that went in a car, but were part of a larger group of about 10. I remember bunking double Maths with my mate to get on a yellow number 23 bus out to Charminster to some girls house to pick up the tickets, we walked up the stairs and into her lounge and there were about 5 tickets left in the book; so I quickly paid for two and we left; not even realising the pungent smell was smelly African bush!

When we got back to school we went into the lunch hall and literally showed our tickets to everyone in the room; we were chuffed to bits! With the party only 2 weeks ahead we couldn't concentrate on anything else!

The day of the party came round, and I was at my mate at about 2 in the afternoon, we knew the weather was gonna be baking so it was shorts and t shirt style for sure...the car arrived with my mates in it at about 4 and we set off for Matchams...

Ill be honest, and say I cant really remember much about the journey to the party as I had my first go on a couple of joints and it was all one excitable blur, actually my memory is hazy from here on in, but ill recount what I can remember..

We got into the party and there was only about 500 people in there and the sun was still up, we wandered round the race track, and looked at stalls and they were doing sound checks and loud bass noises kept booming out of the stacks.

My mate kept going on to me we gotta score some pills but he didn't want to do it so I said to wait until it was darker and id see what I could find.. We met up with the rest of our group and hung around near the middle where the frame and balloon thing were, some of them were already coming up on wraps of speed, and were chewing gum; chatting so quick about who was gonna be playing and who they were looking forward to most!

I was so fucking excited people, me and my mate felt like we were not only part of something new, but also like we were lucky to be there...and we all know now that's so true! Daylight passed to dusk and the place was filling up....

We were dancing in the middle, there was still plenty of space, and the MC was doing a sound check, I think it was Robbie Dee. My mate kept on at me to get some gear sorted so I took 20 quid off him and told him to wait there and went for a wander. Some guy was shouting "E's Speed, Spliff, E's Speed, Spliff" so i thought "fuck it" and went up to him and asked him for two pills.

He looked at me like I was underage....for what???...pills??....so he put two in my hand and said "thirty quid mate, go easy"...I was all nice one nice one, and gave him the cash....I got back to my crew and my mate literally ran up to me saying "did you get them did you get them?"

I showed him what was in my hand, two pills, one fucking huge round one and one that looked like any normal capsule pill....a red and yellow....I said id take the big one as I felt more comfortable doing it than he did so we boshed them down and carried on dancing...

It was now night time and wed been dancing for about an hour, I remember looking at my watch and it being 10.15. I wasn't even sure if the pill was working and my mate seemed the same as usual, I kept asking him if he had come up; he was like "nah not yet not yet".

The next time I spoke to him was about 3am. I was completely off my head, waves of rushes had built up and totally engulfed me, When we did speak it wasn't words, it was a hug; and massive smiles....ill never forget it! Robbie Dee said they were gonna have to open up the sides of the party to let more people in, and I remember there being loads of noise as it literally felt like more energy was being poured into the party...

I had some guy crouched down next to me MCing away with 4 or 5 people listening to him and the music; he grabbed my arm at some point and asked me what I was on...and I couldn't say anything except big and round....I think he understood!!

I remember Robbie Dee on some bloody crane thing?? He was flying around and I thought that was so cool.... Morning came very quickly and I remember Ellis Dees set like it were yesterday; some people had left and there was more space to dance so we carried on until the end of the party....

We went into Bournemouth and crashed in the gardens for the day; I was exhausted, and felt so emotional about what I had experienced....something I still haven't forgotten....and just to fill in the gaps I have bought the unedited DVD to remind myself!!

Hope it wasn't too long and you enjoyed reading my memories....

DJ Merlin (forum member)