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 The end of the year had come around once again and I
wanted to see it out in style. It was hard work
deciding where to go on New Years Eve as a lot of
the top promoters were holding events such as Helter
Skelter, Desire and Moondance. It must have been a
hard choice for any raver to make as all of them had
equally good line-ups depending on your preference
in music.
In the end I didn’t really have much choice on the
matter as I had been booked to dance alongside a
number of other dancers at World Dance. Obviously I
was not disappointed at this as I had heard that
last New Years Eve was brilliant, and every event
since had definitely matched up to that.
Like World Dance’s last event in November it was not
being held at Lydd airport but at Wembley. For me
this takes a bit of getting used to, as whenever I
think of World Dance I think of Lydd. I had only
ever been to one other event at Wembley and wasn’t
really all that keen on the venue and the area.
Wembley is sometimes known to attract the wrong kind
of crowd and I think some people were concerned
about that, but there was no need as WD. had it all
under control as usual. Of course I had faith in
them all along and I knew that the promoters Jay and
Chris would not cut any corners when it came to this
or any other of their events.
We arrived at the venue around 7.00pm when it was
set to start and I was surprised to see that there
was already people entering the building. There
wasn’t any queues which was good to see as it was
snowing and absolutely freezing. But as usual I like
to make life difficult for myself and decided to run
around the car park trying to sell two extra tickets
we had. It wasn’t quite as easy as we had thought it
would be, as everyone had come prepared. After an
hour of being snowed on I managed to sell mine for a
mere twenty pounds to a poor bloke who had been
standing around since three that afternoon, well
that was my good deed for the day!
We got inside at eight to hear Force and Styles
start up in the main arena who then went to play a
blinding Happy Hardcore set dropping their tune
“Pretty Green Eyes”. The main arena was starting to
get packed, so it was time for me to run off and get
changed into something more suitable for dancing. On
my travels we checked out the other arenas which
were Old Skool and House & Trance. There was four
arenas, all of which were huge, the Hardcore and
Drum n’ Bass being the biggest. The fourth arena was
an inside fun fair which looked brilliant, but I
never actually got the chance to have a go. It was a
shame as they were charging around two pounds a
ride, which isn’t really fair after you’ve spent
thirty odd quid on a ticket. But that didn’t stop
people from having a go, some spent up to sixty quid
just on rides!!
Luckily we had a changing room where we could leave
our coats and bags, but it we hadn’t I would
probably have cried. I have never seen queues so
long in my life. The queue for the cloakroom
stretched around the whole fun fair arena, and
people were waiting for hours. Even on the hour of
twelve people were still there.
Time seemed to fly by, it wasn’t until around
11.00pm I ventured back into the main arena. I don’t
know what I did between the hours of nine and
eleven, I was more than likely near a bar with a
glass of vodka in my hand (makes a change). In the
main arena I was welcomed by Grooverider and MC MC,
who played a hard step set, which isn’t really my
cup of tea but he did play some good tunes.
Finally came the hour of 12, the moment everyone had
been waiting foe, they had two large projections
screens above the stage where they were showing the
count down. I started to feel quite emotional as I
watched the minutes fade away, another year of my
life was over!
The tune was stopped and the crowd along with MC MC
started to chant (in my case scream) the last ten
seconds of 1996. As ‘one’ was shouted fireworks went
off on the stage and the whole arena jumped about
hugging each other. Everyone was on a really happy
buzz. I don’t think I have ever been at an event
with an atmosphere like that before. Once everyone
had calmed down a bit the tune went back on (a
Helicopter remix I think) and everyone got back down
to the brokking! To get everyone going a group of
choreographed dancers from the Fetish Crew came on
and did a brilliant routine. On came Ellis Dee to
take everyone into 97 with a wicked jump-up set, the
kind that I like. I didn’t get to hear all of his
set as I had to and get changed, as it was getting
near our time to dance.
As it got nearer to 1.00am butterflies in my stomach
started to flutter. I always get a touch of nerves
before I go on. I was really looking forward to it
as my partner and I had spent days getting out
outfits ready and now we wanted to show them off!
We went on stage to be welcomed by thousands of
happy ravers going for it. The stage was pretty big,
with the DJ in the centre, where we was dancing then
a smaller stage on each side. From the stage, the
arena looked massive, everywhere you looked all you
could see was eyes looking at you, the rapport
between the crowd and ourselves was brilliant, and
watching thousands of people enjoying themselves is
probably the biggest buzz ever. After twenty minutes
our set was over and I didn’t want to leave but we
had to make room for the next dancers who were to
come on. This meant it was time for a break, a VODKA
break!! Straight to the bar I ran with Nadia at tow
to down six Vodkas in a row! (It rhymes!). I was sad
to see that friends I had left hours before at the
bar in the V.I.P. area were still there, why come to
World Dance and sit at the bar all night when there
is a brilliant rave going on around you? Liven up
guys.
It is known to all women that when you go to a rave
it is a rule that you must spent half of you night
in the toilets, not going to the loo of being sick
but just chatting. I must of met some of the best
people that night in the girlies room. After pulling
myself away from the wonderfully furnished toilets
we went back to the main arena.; Sorry I haven’t
really spoken about the other two arenas as I am
sure they were equally as good but I only every
passed through them.
I heard Rat Pack in the Old Skool arena but at the
time I didn’t realise they were doing a live PA. I
wish I had known as I would of taken more notice, I
heard that it was good anyway.
Back to the main arena and of course it was still
heaving and very hot, but not too hot I must add.
The next two sets that were very memorable to me
have to be the Andy C and Hype. As usual they both
played pucka sets, keeping everyone in the arena on
their toes and asking for more. Hypes scratching was
bad, and there seemed to be a lot of it in this set,
thanks! These two are a pair that I am always happy
to see!
As seven dawned nearer it was hard to believe that
this fantastic New Years Eve was coming to an end,
the night had gone so fast. But as they say ‘all
good things come to an end’ and this night was no
different.
Thanks to everyone who made this New Years Eve the
best.
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