Pandemonium - Andromedax - Review

At last, somebody has finally organised an all nighter in a large, wicked venue in the more northern end of the country.  There’s plenty of smaller all nighters which I enjoy just as much, but we just haven’t got any large events like this, and who better to host it than ‘Pandemonium!’.  I arrived around 10pm so unfortunately I had already missed Sy, but I’m sure the Scratchmaster had delivered his usual smooth and skilful set.  As we walked into the arena DJ Rush was taking to the decks and by the look of the already heaving crowd, Sy had done a wicked job of warmin’ the place up. 

Rush delivered a happy set rather than his more renowned style of Jungle!  Due to never having heard Rush play before, it his Happy Hardcore sets are anything to go by, his Jungle sets will definitely be worth listening to!  Sheffield Arena is a wicked venue and the sheer size of it holds great potential.  The sound system was situated at both ends of the arena, and produced a loud, clear boomin’ production of sound which shook your ribs as your walked across the dance floor.  There was a balcony above and around the whole arena, looking down you could see an impressive dance floor, full with happy smiling ravers bouncing around.

There were rows and rows of seats situated around the whole arena disappearing up to the ceiling, but unfortunately most of these seats were not in use so people crashed out on the dance floor.  The lasers - well what can I say except that they were enormous and breathtaking.  These lasers and the whole light show were a talk piece of the night.  There was also huge glowing/flashing globes hanging from the soft high roof situated right above the stage.  The stage housed the DJs, MCs, dancers and other performers, who all delivered a magnificent stage show!  The high stamina dancers, especially the two females with the matching costumes entertained the crowd to the max, wearing you out just by watching them go for it during the whole 9 hours.  The DJs and MCs were situated right in the middle of the stage, the DJ booth was a section cut out of the stage floor so you were only able to see the top half of the DJs body.  Next up on the decks after Rush was Junglist Easy D, who did a great job of keeping the Hardcore cru as well as the Junglists in the place.  This was probably due to his fine selection of Jungle/Drum ‘n’Bass, also the fact that this was his home town gave him a great boost!

After this satisfying smooth selection from Easy D came a hard, harsh, fast set from the ever popular Bass Generator.  The whole of Bass Generator’s hour was as if you’d been picked up by a whirlwind with manic dancers, giant robots gracing the dance floors and a teasing Techno female warrior complete with grinder on the stage.  This superb show continued throughout the surprise live PA with Chill FM.  These talented guys travelled all the way from Scotland to give the Pandemonium crowd the chance to witness their versatile talents!  The whole PA was excitingly energetic with the leadman shouting out to the crowd, drums, keyboards and what appeared to be live samples.  The stage show they brought with them was one I will never forget, with dancers, a guy chained up in an electric chair, a fire eater, bursts of flames on the stage and the use of pyrotechnics.  Chill FM performed brilliantly showing their many faces from Trance to Techno to Happy Hardcore.  When Chill FM began the ever famous tune ‘Strobelight’ the crowd went absolutely berserk, this tune has so much power and when it’s dropped by a jock the massive love it, at the best of times, so you can only imagine how well it went down live!  Chill FM ended on this happy vibe which blended perfectly to a happy selection of tunes spun by Seduction.

Brisk was schedules to play at the time Seduction took to the decks, but unfortunately due to car troubles he could not make it.  Although this did disappoint people (including myself) we all have to understand DJs are only human and Pandemonium did do their best to compensate for Brisk not being able to make it!  DJ SS graced the decks next and all the famous SS flavours flooded out of those powerful speakers with great skill.  But unfortunately the Pandemonium crowd just didn’t seem up for it, the dance floor mellowed out and I heard lots of people suggesting going for a drink!  There was a special area of the venue set up for refreshments etc, but again no seating arrangements, which produced a sea of ravers crashing out again on the floor - which actually was an amusing sight, seeing all those people with one important thing in common, the love of our scene.  The vibe changed drastically with the next DJ, Stu Allen.  Personally, for me, this was the best set of the night.  He spun most of the happy vibe anthems, which again got the massive going for it and the whole atmosphere picked up again.  Judging by the renewed vibe in the place it wouldn’t surprise me if Stu Allen’s set wasn’t most peoples favourite of the night.

Dougal & Slipmatt both managed to keep up this vibe for the next two hours, both separately spinning a fine selection.  Dougal played some Hardcore tunes with Acid riffs included which blended well together and Slipmatt delivered a mixture which kept the massive on their feet.  Throughout the whole night MCs Stixman, Double Zero, Magika, Ranski, Peta Pan, Rush, Man Parris and Steppa rotated the mic, all complimenting the DJs to the max.  Respect to you all! Although there were some complaints about this night, we must look at the reasons why these occurred.  Most of the complaints were about the large presence of police and security and maybe the over heavy-handedness of them.  After speaking with Mark (one of the Pandemonium promoters) he explained that the seemingly large presence of security had to be in ratio to venue having its absolute maximum capacity.  Secondly, due to the nature of the event, Pandemonium were only licensed a 3,700 capacity.  The event only attracted 2,200 people so there appeared to be a very large presence of security.

Mark also pointed out that he had spoken to people involved and if they wanted to hold an event again at this venue, it may be possible that the capacity could be raised to 5,000 which would mean a smaller person to security ratio.  Other complaints included Brisk, Vibes, Kenny Ken and Hype not turning up.  As I explained earlier Brisk has unplanned car troubles, Vibes was in Australia.  Eternity have spoken to Kenny Ken & Paul at Pandemonium to confirm the reasons for these DJs non arrival.  Kenny Ken told us that he was cancelled the previous day and Pandemonium confirmed the same statement regarding Hype, they tell us that they needed the additional money to pay Chill FM who were the special surprise PA on the night.  Personally, overall, I had an absolutely wicked night, with a fine selection of DJs and MCs, spinning wicked tunes, in a venue which has been voted the best for the past 4 years, a sound system to die for, a magnificent stage and light show and the renowned happy vibe flowing from the crowd at an event of this nature.