Later Perceptions was responsible for Midsummer's Daydream, sponsored by Joe Bloggs Jeans, which was scheduled for the summer of '91, but which had the plug pulled on it when ticket sales failed to meet the unrealistic 50,000 target.

Chris Perception first delve into promoting was with James (founder of Fantazia),  together they put on small dance parties under various names in Cheltenham (notably Trance).   The first Perception party was in Bristol in a disused train station.  

Later Chris ran Fantazia Australia before returning to set up Devotion and finally the massive Gods Kitchen with Tyrone De Savory.

Perception - September 1991 - Review

It was an empty warehouse - a  car auction room, according to my mates, although I wasn't so sure.  Anyway, the venue had seemed like a million-mile drive from my home, in Nottingham.   Over the course of the seven hours it had taken to find the rave, we'd followed bogus direction after fake location, got caught up in a convoy of Volkswagens headed - although we didn't realise it at the time - in the opposite direction and joined in with an impromptu service-station bash just outside the Leicester turn-off of the M1.

Had this been any other night, we would have stayed, but this night was to be special.  It was a Perception rave, one of the best nights of chemically addled, house-drenched nights to be had in the country at the time.  And, apart from that, those geezers with that song with the cat on it were playing, and we really wanted to see them.  You know, to have a bit of a laugh at the pop stars.  OK, so we'd danced our tits off to the same tune only a few weeks before, but that was when it was strictly underground.  Now that it was in the charts, it just wasn't worth listening to.  This was the snobbery that surrounded the rave scene, seeping into its smallest cracks.  The Prodigy, we had decided, were just sell-out Essex boys.

Perception was an almost spiritual experience for the ever growing rave generation.  Fifty thousand people sharing an incredible buzz was like nothing else on Earth.  So many people in one location, unified in a search for that ultimate rush, high on house music, natural adrenaline and more illegal substances than the police could confiscate in the course of a year of inquiries.

Everywhere I looked, a different face grinned back at me, inviting me into the church of the hardcore raver.  Huge eyes projected onto the walls flickered and rolled with the beats.  Colours melted into the air as each nuance of the music leapt out at me, infinite details becoming one with the whole.  The bass seemed to take on a life of its own, running down my spine and connecting with my pelvis.  I leapt for joy, legs like rubber, heart pounding like a juggernaut.  Deep inside me now, the rhythm moved every inch of my body, synchronising me with the other 49,999 ravers.  I was completely lost but still so very much there.  I was in love with everyone I met.  I felt huge surges of lust for the sweating bodies dancing near me.  I saw the girl of my dreams - in the distance, just out of reach, but still close enough to feel her presence.

Suddenly, I became aware of that cat from the advert.  The whole place went in sane as 'Charly' belted out.  'Hardcore massive - listen up' came the shout of the MC.  I lifted my eyes toward the stage and realised that I'd been dancing to the Prodigy.  Probably for ages now, I just wasn't all that sure.  Onstage, a small geezer with long hair was dancing like a maniac, a court jester to the hardcore crew.  A basketball-player-tall black guy danced alongside him, with legs that seemed even more rubbery than mine and this MC, jumping on the spot, calling out to the crews, pushing the vibe to the edge.

In the middle of all this was a bloke behind some keyboards, producing these incredible sounds.  As the bass line pummelled my brain and the cartoon cat tickled the hairs on the back of my neck, I decided there and then that 'Charly' was one of the greatest tracks ever.  I didn't care who I told it to............... "     Martin James

The Perception Flyers & Photos