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 Following my visit to the last event I became a fan
of World Dance, due to the standard I felt they were
providing. This event was not a night for review,
but simply for the enjoyment of going to a quality,
class event. However, I received a letter from one
of our readers and must agree, some of the points
raised were things I have already discussed with the
World Dance crew and we decided to let you know in
case you had been wondering the same, also we always
try to be fair in letting everyone have their own
view.
Rather than explain things myself, the letter was
passed to World Dance and the reply follows from
them, giving a clear explanation of the problems
they face, making you realise they do their possible
best providing you with the best possible night, at
the best possible price.
My own person opinion about this event is the stage
they used this time, a centre stage, was a good idea
but I did prefer the one used at the last event. The
one used previously seemed to be a better focal
point, where as this time one side was good but the
others were a bit of a let down. Apart from that I
thought everything else was excellent and everyone I
spoke to whilst walking around was friendly and all
enjoying themselves saying they would return. Anyway
it’s the turn of Darren Taggart to have his say, so
here we go…
   This promised to be one hell of an event. Some
friends of mine went to “Out of Darkness” and they
all said that it was the best ‘Rave’ they had ever
been to. With their recommendation I travelled to
Lydd airport. At their last event, there was a
problem with queuing due to the breakdown of their
security’s coach, but it was promised that such
queuing would not occur again. So after arriving at
about 10.00pm extremely pissed off that I had
already missed two hours, I was very disheartened to
see a huge queue. However, I waited to gain entrance
to the event, hoping that the queue would shift
quickly. Half an hour went, and then another, and
then another. Yet another half an hour passed, and
after politely but tightly being searched I gained
entry. The time was now 12.30 and I have missed one
third of the rave.
It took you about three quarters of an hour to gain
my bearings and work out where all the attractions
were. I am pleased to say that everything that was
mentioned on the flyer was present, including a mad,
free, fun fair. I soon ventured into the main
hangar, where DJ Hype was spinning some excellent
tracks, combining these with his usual scratching
technique. The first thing that I noticed about the
hardcore area was that the sound system wasn’t
particularly loud. In fact, my local rave
(Reincarnation) has a 20k sound rig that is louder
than World Dance’s 80k. I also felt that the lasers
and the lights could have been much, much better,
especially after all the blag on the flyer (blah,
blah, blah!). One thing that I was pleased to see
was that someone had pinned onto the entrance of the
hangar the times all the DJ’s were on.
The event nearly had the right atmosphere with most
people being extremely friendly. However, one of my
friends, who had dressed up for the evening, was
given a lot of hassle for the clothes that he was
wearing. Do you really need this type of attitude?
However he is adamant that he created a long lasting
impression on the 6000 or so people at the rave.
Does everyone remember the young man with the
sunglasses, tuxedo and the stars and stripes
trousers?
   It might sound like I didn’t enjoy this event, which
isn’t true. The music made the evening, with
Slipmatt playing the most amazing uplifting set. Who
can forget the noise when Slipmatt dropped Pure
White’s 4 AM dead on 4.00, surely the highlight of
the night. Grooverider also played a really good set
but I was disappointed with the last hour, played by
Mickey Finn. He played quite hard, when he should
have been playing happy hardcore. Didn’t he get the
idea that people wanted happy when he played Return
of Nooke (Sound of Music) and everyone went ape
shit. When he put on the last track of the night
(yet again 4AM) I was so astonished that he didn’t
even play it out and he cut out halfway through the
track, bringing the evening to an abrupt end.
World Dance’s next event is on New Years Eve, and I
shall be back there for a second time. All the
organisers have to do, is sort out the queuing (the
biggest downer of the night) and to boost the level
of the sound and the whole thing should be much
better.
Now the chance for World Dance to have their say:
After queuing problems at our July event the last
thing we wanted was to have a repeat of the same
problems. Although we have arranged for security to
arrive early, due to torrential rain and flooding,
travelling time increased greatly. We have had a few
letters from members about the queuing and in future
we will be doubling the number of entrances and
search areas at Lydd.
Sound system volume is now strictly monitored and
limited at all large all-night events. This is a
condition of our public entertainment license and is
not negotiable, however, we are determined to
achieve the clearest and loudest sound levels
permitted by the Environmental Health Department.
People who have been to our previous events will
know that the sound system layout has changed, and
the number of speaker boxes has increased at each
event, this is because after each event we sit down
with some of the best sound people available and
look at ways of improving the next event. Remember
are talking about a giant tin aircraft hangar not a
concert hall.
As for the lights and lasers that you felt “could
have been much, much, better”, you’re right, but the
ticket price could have been much, much higher. We
know for a fact that we spend more on production
than anyone else would for an event of that size and
more than some companies have for events of 25,000
people plus.
Next you say “the event nearly had the right
atmosphere”, well we know that there were nearly
7,000 who would disagree with you and we could pass
one some of their letters if you like.
As far as the music is concerned, in particular
Mickey Finn’s set, all the main DJ’s at World Dance
are voted for by members, so it is them who decide
who play. If you have a comment on how you think a
DJ should or should not play direct it to him not
us.
The abrupt end to the night you mention was once
again due to Environmental Health and not us or the
DJ’s, this was 8.10am not 8.00am!
Finally, we would like to say that while some of
your points are valid, some are not and if you had
called or wrote to us you would have received a
satisfactory reply from us direct without having to
complain in a national magazine. If we had not been
offered the opportunity to reply in this issue your
views would have been printed without our side of
the story. In future if you have some constructive
criticism let us know and we will look at it. If you
are still not happy then go somewhere you think is
better.
PS To all our members, October’s event sold out in
advance and so our next event will be for members
and their guests only. This will be the last time
non-members can get tickets and membership so book
early.
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