Pandemonium - Andromeda 3 13/06/92 Review

Donnington Park 13.6.92

Having trouble getting into this venue via Queuing in past we thought we would venture up to the venue earlier than previous events we've been to here. Getting in before midnight was somewhat a relief. Upon entering the venue it was well and truly full of vibes coming from the crowd avin it to the music.

The lighting, stage and decor were as per normal for a Pandemonium event, Totally awesome as ever.

Man Paris, Lenni, Robbie Dee and Bassman were controlling the mic, the sound system was running at a level just about feelable through the body but not to loud due to previous noise complaints from events their in the past (amnesia/nemesis).
The venue was now filling up very well indeed and with pilgrim playing a set to lift everybody into a high perfectly for the next artist.

Simon Bassline Smith, again a wicked set taking the crowd to next level crossing over from a classic into a rocking jungle rhythm whilst being complemented by the Mc Robbie Dee.

Next Dj I remember being introduced was Brian G following on with some of the classics breaking into the hardcore not to far into his set to start sending the Ravers on a journey of Bass, Beats and bleeps.

Early morning now around 2am and I hear Mc introducing `Frankie valentine`, but he wasn't even advertised so I thought this would be a bonus as I've never heard him play at an event yet. How wrong I was!! this guy totally killed the place in the space of around 4 records!! they let this guy play for an hour and I just couldn't feel the vibe he was giving out at all and by looking at the crowd they seemed to agree!! very confused kinda look on everybody's face as though the beat was about to kick but never did, as though the dj didn't want us to rush whilst on a high. If anything this made everybody anxious to go mad to music but he was intent on playing some sort of military step beats that didn't have any depth!! Did the promoter think everyone was on a mad one and thought best to slow it down a bit in case of casualties?!?! who knows but he truly killed the the crowd for a full hour mid-event which didn't go down to well.

Anyway, fortunately what ever Dj was on next was surely gonna smash it.......

Ratty was next up and one of my fav DJ`s at that time, my heart started pounding again just at hearing his name being announced. Heading to the front of the crowd to immerse myself into the frenzied crowd who were in anticipation for what was to come. In total contrast to what the previous DJ did, Ratty totally took the roof off the place with his selection and awesome mixing. The crowd again started rocking like they wanted, with only 4 hours left it was time for a top-up of chemicals to take me on the final ride of the night. With the vibe, music, crowd and DJ all on the same level again it was now only a matter of `avin it til dawn.

With the likes of Topbuzz, Grooverider, Keith Suckling and Mickey Finn still to play everything was in place to finish this night in style. All the DJ`s rocked the Warehouse until the early hours with Top buzz as always smashing the crowd to pieces with tune selection and funny lyrics from mad P whilst then Grooverider took the place on a journey of darkness like only `The Rider` would. The only other set I remember is the Keith Suckling set and he again like most of the other artists took the crowd on a journey like no other, with a tune selection of rocking underground beats that any body under the influence would of appreciated, The crowd let him know their appreciation with utter noise of whistles and shouts during any breakdown.

To say the least this was a memorable night and 1 of my first with Pandemonium crew, but having been at the venue before and knew about the sound restrictions I knew in my heart they was never going to get away with a 100k system as advertised. Although the system ran at a decent level all night with the odd dip here and there it was never as loud as previous events but none the less it was an awesome event that stays in my memories for the right reasons.

The Pandemonium production was truly an awesome display despite their few problems, lighting, lasers, artists (all but 1) were all on form for the night.


`91 was the first 4 events at Donnington held by Nemesis and then Amnesia, because it was a new venue to use in `91 the early promoters rinsed the sound to the max but that obviously had repercussions for Andromeda 3 which was the 6th event at that venue, the 7th and final rave at the venue was very riskily held outside the venue by Fantazia-One step beyond but again had sound restrictions and because of this believe this is why no other promoters had interest in booking the venue for an event.

By Foo (for Fantazia)