Desire

This organisation put on a number of events in the London are in the mid 1990's.

Desire - Review - The Island, Ilford - 11th May 96

There’s no better place to begin a rave review than it’s flyer. Perhaps the reason no-one really bothers is because usually there’s not much you can say. In a rapidly conforming rave scene it can become all too easy to be like everyone else; to be just another flyer thrust in your face after a do – not really arousing too much attention. But the flyer for tonight’s Desire is the place to start this review – striving to deviate from the mainstream definitely paid off. A breath of originality with the Desire boys and Design Asylum, proving themselves one step ahead every time. Being one of the most respected and longer lasting raves on the circuit packing out venues such as the Roller Express, the Rocket, the Astoria, the Sanctuary, as well as being one of the first promoters to recognise the potential of Club UN and tonight’s destination – the Island, Ilford.

The theme for tonight’s event being Star Trek and the promise of an out of this world experience. The flyer explains the mission of the ‘Starship UK Desire’ being “to explore new acoustic and visual entertainment…. to seek out new sounds, new creativity…. to boldly give your what no organisation has given before….” A promise like this you can’t let pass you by!

The flyer also featured the faces of the DJ’s who were booked to play placed on top of the bodies of the Star Trek crew. Ellis Dee secured his position as the Captain, Gachet suffered a sex change, whilst Hype developed Doc Spock’s ears! A nice touch with Desire well and truly putting the fun back into raving whilst letting it’s customers see who’s controlling the decks in a slightly different light – wicked!

So with all this in mind, plus the added bonus of this being my first time at this venue, I was looking forward to a night of top notch standard.

We would have cruised past the Island in Ilford had there not been the biggest queue going right around the block (which indicated to us that this was the result of the Desire boys being in town). By the time we’d parked up though, the friend I’d seen relatively near the back of the queue was not almost inside the venue, no, this wasn’t the result of fancy footwork down the inside lane! It was a result of the security being pretty damned efficient doing what they had to do in the quickest possible way – pukka!

Once inside the next mission was to get rid of my big fur coat. Yes, ‘no queue for the cloakroom’, I though to myself. My hopes were soon shattered when I realised that there was no-one in the queue because it was full – I don’t know about anyone else but having the burden of carrying my coat about all night – or worse still actually having to wear it when it’s already boiling hot and getting hotter and more packed is enough to ruin my night. Clubs should try to sort this out so that there’s more or less enough cloakroom spaces allocated to prevent this problem. But this was overcome as there’s always someone in every group who becomes the bag lady who’s happy to have it in the same spot all night. Leaving them with the coats, bags, wallets, the works while you go off; checking on them every so often whilst still having that extra quid to buy a bottle of Fosters Ice! Saying this though it is important to remember the size of the event tonight and that it is loads harder to cater for a do on this scale.

So, this was the second time around at this venue for Desire, having totally packed it out on the 25th March last year. The Island had all the ingredients which make a pukka venue. For a start it is fresh and hasn’t been over used giving Desire the freedom to set the agenda rather than sticking with venues which have been done over and over making it harder to be different from competitors. Also, because it was formally a cinema the stage is visible from all parts of the main arena. With the upstairs slanted balcony not only providing a nice chill out but also giving a perfect view of the stage (which is where a cinema screen once stood presuming from how clearly it could be noticed all around). I’ve been a Desire regular for about the last two and a half years now and I’ve got say that tonight’s stage production was one of the best I’ve seen yet from them. I think was partly as a result of the layout of the venue which meant that you could really take full advantage as there’s no way that, as with many other venues, you could miss centre attractions like the stage. This was consequence of it being built with the purpose of being a cinema.
The stage was shaped in a semi-circle which looked really affective with all bright lights everywhere with the DJ box at the front for everyone to see (I was a bit puzzled why they weren’t made to dress up as their Star Trek counterparts!). However, I think the stage being shaped like this proved problematic for the Desire dancers who did their best having to settle for winding their waists in one spot which didn’t fully allow them to express themselves usual style when they hurl across the stage! They gave it their all thought knowing exactly what to do to keep the crowd bubbling. The falling curtain behind it showered with loads of bright lights set the stage off nicely, giving it a real quiz show feel. Either side of the stage were massive backdrops, there to keep the overall theme in the forefront of our minds as Star Trek legends were hailed up for all the Desire massive to see. As always the usual impressive Desire laser show was present lighting up the stage and beyond in a multitude of colours.

The venue itself reminded me of a massive Astoria, with a huge dancefloor and slanted balcony both of which stayed rammed until the end. Tonight wasn’t just a sell out it was a total success! My only grumble with this venue was that if you lost your crew you wouldn’t stand much of a chance of finding them again. This wasn’t solely because of it’s size either, because I’ve been to massive events and still found the crew. Maybe the reason was because the lay out was quite complex – the balcony being your average cinema seated affair packed full of rows of people either sitting down or standing up but into it 100% nonetheless. So, having to walk through this with the remote hope that you might see someone you recognise didn’t seem too promising! There was something almost anonymous about the Island which is just as much in it’s favour as it is it’s downfall. The impersonality of it cleverly encouraging integration amongst the Desire massive evoking the old raving unity vibe.

Other attractions came in the form of the Desire stalls. They knocked me out all the usual Desire merchandise as well as added extras like horns, lighters and sweets.

Blasting out of the main arena was some of the most up-front in Drum ‘n’ Bass right across the spectrum. The line-up or should I say the ‘main control deck’ being mastered by the likes of Mickey Finn who never disappoints the Desire massive always playing a spot on jump up set rinsing it totally, as did Ellis Dee, SS, Frost, Hype and Rap to name but a few who kept the crowd charged. There were a few alterations to the original voyageurs. Phantasy and Gachet were both double booked playing abroad but being quickly replaced by Andy C and Special K giving value for money not disappointing the Desire massive. Stevie Hyper D was also booked abroad (it’s a hard life!) and was substituted for MC Flux who spun the lyrics which got the crowd hyper, so, all in the tunes which pumped out of this arena were some of the roughest I’ve heard in a while.

Upstairs the second control deck was ruled by the likes of Desire favourites such as Matt Maurice and Tony Future taking us through favoured House and Garage classics. I lost a lot of friends to this arena which although considerably smaller in sizer in relation to the rest of the venue still generated the same vibe and excitement as that going on downstairs.

The overall vibe tonight was bubbling. With each DJ pounding out a powerful set with sole intention of creating a wicked party atmosphere. (Along with the help of the licensed bars!). For an event this size I was amazed at how little attitude there was, with everyone there for the right reasons. Perhaps the location of this event contributed to this. As unfortunate as it may be, it does seem that as soon as you take an event out of London, a lot of the attitude is eliminated – simply because of the fact that people actually have to make the effort to travel means that only those who are into it for the right reasons attend. It’s a shame that things have come to this and that I have to even waste time and space in a review talking about it as a result of the minority of small minded and ignorant idiots. Desire did it once again, pulling all the right strings to leave it’s crowd content, recognising when the need arises to move on. Tonight was a definite progression – Desire pushing things one stage further…