Universe Tribal Gathering - Event Review - 1993

Venue : Lower Pertwood farm,  Warminster, Wiltshire
Date : 30th April 1993

The first thing to say about this party is that the flyer was just amazing.  A full on cartoon style affair. Very coo-el.

Me and my mate Dave had never been to a Universe event before, but we'd been caining various tapes from Mind, Body & Soul and Pleasure Planet for months and when we saw the flyer we just had to be there.

On the day I finished work at lunchtime and headed off to pick up various party items from a local travellers site.. a few snowballs, a couple of double splitters and a few Rhubard and Custards for good measure!!

Due to my car being involved in a small altercation a few weeks previously, my mum had agreed to loan me her car (a rather sporty (at the time) Volvo). pain in the arse was we couldn't smoke in the car...which became a bit of a nightmare when we hit the bazillion mile tailback that led to the venue. a jam that took about 3 hours to clear...a lot of which was spent in convoy, blatting up the wrong side of the road.

When we finally got to the place it just looked amazing.   The whole event was set in what looked like a giant bowl, due to the mist/fog it looked like it was on fire with all the lights.  I just remember thinking "wow! how fucking big is this party?"

There were no queues to get in - most likely due to the trickle flow of the traffic jam.   So we headed straight for the hardcore tent (good one universe for providing a map of the site!!)...which was already heaving with people.  I clearly remember walking into the tent at one end, between the dance platforms that were more like huge stages all round the arena. and everyone was going mental.   Dave and I decided to get a little closer to the action so left the tent with a view of re-entry at the other end near the stage...a walk that seemed to go on for ever due to the limited visibility of the fog. imagine our surprise when we walked in to a mirror image of where we'd just come from...the stage appearing to be at the other end now!! very bizarre moment that as we were just coming up on the first lot of beans. in fact it took a few moments to realise that the stage must be in the middle of the arena...which meant there must've been 10,000 people at least in the tent!!

When we eventually got to the front of the stage it was to find that Carl Cox was the dj in control...I remember very little but dancing my arse off for quite some time after.  Fucking awesome set.

Next memory is of leaving the hardcore arena to investigate the site a little...lots of smiling faces, a pyramid like stage covered in percussion instruments that people were banging and clanging, the most entertaining fun fair...oh and the free water...which seemed to be abandoned at various points round the place. like lost treasure waiting to be claimed!  Hehe I was really rather trollied by this point. we ventured into the house tent to see if we could find the 2 people we'd brought along, a colleague and a customer from work who weren't into the hardcore.  Anyhoo, we hooked up with them and had a bit of a boogie and a further investigation revealed a peculiar little tent.. we think it was the chill out but still aren't sure. all I know is it made us feel most uncomfortable at the time so we said goodbye, dropped another one each and headed off in search of the techno tent to see producer.

Evidently we'd got our timings confused as Colin Favour was just going on...and fuck me was it good. hard as you like and pounding. we never actually went into the tent proper, instead we spent the next hour dancing like loons outside. when producer came on it was just mental. i was rushing like mad and the sound of bombs, radios being tuned, sirens and other general assorted sounds came blasting from the pa - the sure sign of the start of a producer set. unfortunately it was all a bit much at the time so Dave and I headed back to the hardcore tent for something a little less mental. ha!

The rest of the night is a whirl of memories all tangled up : dancing on the platforms to top buzz and ratty. talking with a load of people from Essex on a tractor tire by the fun fare. lots of poppers. Fuck loads more dancing until the sun came up.  Meeting our friends we came with and leaving just after the last record had been played still wired to fuck!

Next came the mammoth task of finding the car.   Something that was achieved by me taking massive inhalations of poppers, spinning around and walking off in the direction I ended up facing - now that's what I call scientific!  Oddly this haphazard approach came up trumps on the second attempt!   Now all we had to do was find Leanne (my customer) who was off somewhere with some geezer she'd met. so leaving Dave to look after the car, Paul and I set off for Mat's (the bloke with Leanne) car.. no poppers required this time as Paul could remember where it was.

When we returned to the car it was to find Dave asleep in the back...with the doors locked and the keys inside! lots of hammering on windows required to wake him up...to claims he was "just resting his eyes"! ha.   Still a bone of contention to this day!

The funniest part of the evening now took place with me, still more than a little battered, and now starting to feel very tired, driving the wrong way out of the carpark.  Heading for Salisbury not Warminster and home!  Something that, due to reduced brain function, involved driving all the way to Salisbury and then round the first roundabout and back to the venue and off in the right direction...some hours detour!! none of the others knew though due to all falling asleep ten minutes in.   It was really odd driving back past the venue...the last people still filtering out, the place bathed in early morning spring sunshine looked just as striking as the previous night's arrival. The tents in the mist looking very reminiscent of Castle Morton.

a fucking brilliant night and one that goes down for me as one of the best raves I attended.

DJ Haze