What do you mean that’s not enough, oh well I suppose I could expand a little, you’re probably only reading this ‘cos you were there, or you know me, in which case, hello, how’s it going?!

Fantasy Island live up to it’s name, I don’t know about the Island bit but it’s a definite fantasy world,. The whole place is amazing. It’s usually a theme park but lends itself very well to a rave. As you walk in you enter the chill out zone, which wasn’t very chilled when we got there. People were everywhere, bouncing along, meeting, greeting and generally sorting themselves out. Smiley faces all round. This arena held the fairground rides, refreshments, video games, cloakroom and many merchandise stalls. There was so much to see in this arena, we could have happily played there all night and thinking about it we probably did. Rides cost a pound a go but with some mad bouncy Techno playing on hte bumper cars no-one seemed to mind too much.

There were seats everywhere or you could perch precariously on the man made rock formation but they were a bit cold on the bum! There were also some artificial tree trunks dotted around, on which they could’ve put some signs cos we didn’t have a clue where each room was. The place is like a labyrinth, doors, stairs and passageways everywhere! Although the extremely friendly security were always on hand to point you in the right direction.

We were drawn up the stairs by some happy bass into a small arena which I later figured out must have been the Intelligent Drum n Bass. At the time I didn’t car, I was too busy brocking out to the sounds expertly delivered by Pleasuredome resident DJ Sound. This man was not on the flyer but easily made it onto my must mention list. He also made it around the venue a lot easier than I seemed to as ever arena I entered he seemed to be behind the decks. Another must mention star of the evening was DJ Cloud (shout to the Nottingham Crew) - he had an extremely portable record box and appeared everywhere when someone didn’t - if you know what I mean! Both DJ’s were excellent, flowing, you couldn’t spot the joins at all - if you know what I mean (again).

The House arena was, as promised on the flyer, pumpin all night. Best DJ set for this room goes to Thomas Tuft with a special mention to Bogey for playing some beautiful soul classics upstairs including Aretha Franklin’s - Say A Little Prayer For You! For me!

We entered arena two, Happy Hardcore and Drum n Bass sounds of Grooverider tearing it up, with I think GQ on the mic’. Next up was DJ Rush and MC Peta Pan looking particularly fetching in his purple suit! DJ Cloud stepped up to cover for Slipmatt who was stuck in the Old Skool room waiting to be relieved!! The Godfather of Hardcore kept the crowd stomping but the DJ set of the evening for this room must go to the fabulous Mickey Finn who played everything the crowd wanted to hear including his own ‘Bad Ass’, Amazon 11’s ‘King of the Beats’ and finishing off with ‘No Diggety’, We definitely ‘like the way you work it’ Mickey, wicked set.

Arena 1, the Happy Hardcore + Futuristic Techno Arena, I expected to see DJ Vibes as he was due on at 2am but Hixxy’s smiling face greeted us from behind the decks. Hixxy was supposed to play the last set, so panic set in, it couldn’t be 6am already could it? You know how time fly’s at a good party! The grumpy MC kept waving me away so Hixxy explained himself that he and Vibes had swapped sets. In the end Vibes didn’t turn up so Dougal came up trumps and played the last two hours along with Charlie B. The golden boy delivered an excellent set including I am reliably (?) informed by my train spooter friend Titty the original version of ‘Here I am’, Juice Cuts 5 remix of ‘Love of My Life’ and ‘Kick Your Legs In the Air’ only the tape packs will tell! Also worth a mention from this arena Grief & Strife(?) MC VC and MC Viper who were excellent.

In arena 3 (Hard Trance through to Gabba Techno). I unfortunately only caught M-Zone and MC Blitz so my apologies to all the other DJ’s. Ribbz must have played as I had a dance with him in the crowd but apart from that I haven’t got a clue! We tried to get in the Old Skool arena for Slipmatt at 10pm but it was completely rammed all the way to the outside. I don’t know who was in there to hear him though as I couldn’t find anyone who’d heard his set ‘nah mate, it was too packed, couldn’t get in’. I eventually got to see the inside of the room when DJ Fergus back together with his old pal Ferni were playing.

I think that just about covers it. Quick read through, yep every arena just about covered! if you’re fed up with slipping over at the Sanctuary, why not slip up to Skeggy, we travelled up from London and were pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t as arduous a journey as we thought it would be.

by Nicolette