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 The first of March and World Dance: who could ask
for a better combination and after a stressful day I
was looking forward to chillin’ to the combined
house, drum n’ bass and old skool sounds.
World Dance have become one of the biggest promoters
around at the moment with tickets selling out well
in advance, but I’d never been ton one before so
this was an excellent chance for me to be part of
the World Dance experience.
After being stuck in traffic for hours and getting
completely lost in one way systems in the city, we
reached he docks. It was two hours since we left
home and we had arrived. I was just pleased that
some clever git at World Dance had the brains to put
signposts on the dock roundabouts otherwise I
might’ve turned around and gone home.
The car park at the venue was under the control of
excellent attendants and after a strict, but
friendly search, we were in the building and just in
time to see the beginning of the “Rush Hour” PA,
featuring DJ Spinback. It’s a PA my MC MC and his
crew playing instruments whilst Spinkback rinses out
the tunes. It was initiated by MC MC in an attempt
to recapture some of the old skool flava that he
feels is missing at events.
The set began with MC MC standing on the balconey at
the back of the arena in the spotlight asking if the
crowd were ready for the “Rush Hour”. The crowd was
definitely adrum n’ bass crownd and were buzzing.
Spinback dropped his first tune whilst MC MC and his
“Rush Hour” crew made their way through the raving
masses toward the stage. The main arena had a stage
covered by a dome of lasers which were beaming
across the ravers. Spinback was on the decks under
two lamps and was dropping more classics than Reebox
have ever made. The one that really shook the crowd
up was the remix of “Ready or Not by the Fugees”
(called Not Ready I think). This is a blindin’ tune
and one of my faves which the ravers rightly
appreciated blowing their whistles and horns in time
with one of the Mcs who was playing a trumpet, (and
quite well too). During the set MC MC introduced his
new tune “Fatal Attraction” which went down with a
bang followed by a mass rush to the stage by the
ravers to try and grab one of the pieces of precious
vinyl MC was throwing into the crowd.
Then Spinners dropped the tune that every raver
wants to hear on a night out…. Yep...31 seconds and
the ravers were jumpin around like there was no
tomorrow. I’m Just glad World Dance had chosen a
venue with a high roof!!!!! At this point three
scantily clad dancers appeared on stage much to the
delight of the male ravers. All respect goes out to
them for performing their routine and pleasing the
lads, MC’s and DJ’s and keeping the crowd happy.
Then it was time for the classics tracks like DJ
Raps “Spiritual Aura”, Omni Trio’s “Renegade Shades”
and “The Lighter”. Lighters were in the air and it
was like one of those sentimental moments where all
ravers became part of one crew, united.
Spinback finished the “Rush Hour” for MC MC with
“Pulp Fiction” by the Metalheadz. He’d played a two
hour set of drum n bass and had surprised a lot of
people, showing what a versatile DJ he is. Massive
respect goes out to him and the “Rush Hour” crew for
a wicked PA!! For those who missed it; bad lcuk.
You’ll have to go to Vertigo on the 4th April to see
what you missed.
Waiting for Spinback were Slammin Vinyls
Vinyltrixter and Rich Whizz whilse Dream FM’s main
man Fiaz could be seen walking through the crowd
with his girlfriend, but happy ravers like myself
were waiting or DJ Vibes to take to the decks. Vibes
was slightly late, but better late than never and
from my experience of getting to the venue I
wouldn’t be surprised if he’d got lost on the way.
Never the less Vibes took over from Spinback
dropping “Heart of Gold” by Force and Styles as his
first track. The Clacton boys are doing really well
for themselves at the moment and this track followed
by “Show Me Heaven” went down well. Vibes played
wicked set, but there weren’t enough ravers there to
give him the appeciation he deserved. After
Spinback’s two hour set the crowd disappeared and I
felt Vibes deserved better. He’s one of the best
DJ’s around, even without Lively. Andhe deserves
ultimate respect for playing to a smaller crowd than
usual.
By now we thought we should explore the other 4
arenas. I’d never been to the Victoria Docks before
and I strongly recommend for anyone who hasn’t been
to get their butt down there because it is a venue
like no other. Each arena is like a separate event
and you feel completely lost. We walked through a
happenin house room into another arena which looked
just like Bagleys. The ceiling was low, there were
wacky UV backdrops and some UV flies hanging from
the ceiling with spooky eyes. The old skool sounds
could be heard coming from a DJ placed in the centre
of the arena on a small stage and I knew instantly
from the voice on the mic that it was the Ratpack.
These two are the ultimate ravers and were rinsing
out some of the best tunes of all time like Nomad’s
“Devotion” and “Far Out” by Sons of a Lopp De Loop
Era. For old skool ravers this set must have been
the best of the night with nothing but pure classic
after classic. The Ratpack’s main man was on the mic
trying to hype the crowd up and after working
extremely hard he did get a bit of a raving
response. Tunes like “Your Love” and one I call
“Everytime I See the Girl” (Sorry I haven’t a clue
what it’s called) rolled out across the arena and
being two of the baddest old skool tunes, you
couldn’t help but go mental.
The Ratpack are making a major comeback at the
moment, not that they’ve ever disappeared from the
scene, and their set at World Dance showed they are
a force to be reckoned with.
Next we decided it was time for a drink so we headed
towards the bar. Fitting in with the style of the
arena, it was a big wooden bar with friendly staff.
Water was £1.50 which I thought was a bit steep
considering they have me a small bottle which they
had dug from the bottom of the bucket when they had
large ones on the top… Somehow I think I got ripped
off there!!!! Although the arena was big, it wasn’t
completely full so the atmosphere was slightly
dampened, but for me this was the room to be in.
The journey into the house room was quite a pleasant
one and it was here that we saw Dream FM’s Tom Thumb
and Livelee dancing to the house music; a drastic
change from the music Thomas usually plays. He
must’ve liked it though the way he was dancing…
yeah, I saw ya!!! Again the stage was at the front,
but it was much darker and the DJ was right down low
so you could hardly see them at all. The annoying
thing was that I couldn’t find a list of Djs and
their slots anywhere so when it came down to the
house arena, I didn’t have a clue who was playing.
The music was excellent though and the house massive
were stompin’. This arena also housed the
merchandise stall which was selling loads of World
Dance goodies at discounted prices. MA2 jackets were
reduced to £45 and record bags were £15 so it’s
worth waiting until you go to the event before you
buy your stuff. The best buy of the night for the
drum n bass shoppers was World Dance tapes of Kenny
Ken, Ellis Dee and Hype, which were only £1 each…
you can’t grumble at that can you?!!
Back in the main arena DJ Rap was up on the decks
dropping some stonkin drum n bass which everyone
seemed to be enjoying. I’d never experienced a drum
n bass crowd before and they were really into their
music. Rap is one of the few female Djs who has been
successful in the rave scene and being female
myself, a massive shout has to go out to her for
standing up and being counted in a scene where men
call the shots. She played wicked set and proved
that she’s as good as any man!!!
Back in the old skool arena another DJ had took to
the decks and was playing some hot tracks, but I
hadn’t seen him before and didn’t know who he was..
Sorry!! The set was good though and that is one
problem with World Dance. There are so many DJ’s
playing and so much to see that I can’t possibly
mention them all…it’s a mission impossible. There
was food on sale in the fairground area but I didn’t
sample that and I didn’t feel brave enough to test
out the fair rides.
World Dance had been an interesting night and no
review can do it full justice. There’s only one way
to experience it and that’s by going yourself.
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