NORTH Review

North is the UKs biggest Hardcore Techno promoter and this was event was celebrating their 6th year at The Void in Stoke-on-Trent. This night was part one of a two part birthday celebration and was dedicated to the back room (Technology) sounds of Hard Trance and Techno.

As usual I headed up to Birkenhead to catch the coach with all the regular crew. Set off from B-head at about 9:30 after a bit of a delay because of people not being at the right pick up places but we still managed to get to Stoke for around 10:30. Headed straight into the Void and straight into the main arena which was to be the Hard Trance room, this arena was rammed, the busiest ive seen the main arena for a long long time!!

North promoter and resident Vortex was on the dexx playing a b2b set with another North resident Dolphin. They were playing a really tough Italian Hard trance set to a well up for it crowd. They played the Blutonium Boy remix of DJ Fishbones "Exploring" and "16" by Aud und Jorn amongst others in a really good, driving set. I noticed that one of the headline DJs DJ Mill + Manuel T were not on the line up time posters that were stuck up around the club and although I asked Vortex why they werent playing I cant remember what he said but they werent there which was a shame.

Next up was the Trancemaster himself, M-Zone, with myself alongside on the mic. Again he played a really hard Italian/Dutch style set and by this time the atmosphere was electric. I was sweating my bollox off at the end because I was jumping about in the dj box so much!!He played "Hardbass powah" by Dopeman, "Hardbass extreme" by The Beholder and Ballistic and "Im the master" by Krash in what was deffinatley my set of the night.

Due to DJ Mill + Manuel T not being there next up was Vortex and Dolphin again with Producer doing a b2b2b Techno set. This set started off decent enough but not being a fan of techno I soon lost interest and headed off for a wander around the club, the dance floor in the back room which was playing techno in all its forms all night was pretty dead and most people were using it as a chill out room. I decided to get a few beers in and get wrecked in the VIP room. Had only been in the VIP room for about 15 mins when I got word that a few of the lads I came down with had been thrown out for alledgedly smoking crack!! ha ha! and they wanted to get off. It was only 2:30 and the headline DJ, Uberdruck, had yet to play but the majority had voted against me so I had to go and say my goodbyes. Went back up to the Main arean DJ box and noticed that the crowd had almost dissapeared and there was quite a few people sitting at the sides. I think that most people had gone for the Hard Trance and that two rooms playing purist techno was a bit to much and this had contributed to the lack of crowd in this arena which was a shame as im sure Uberdruck played an awesome set.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I thought it was a really good night and a great night for the UKs underground Hard Trance scene. The next North event at the Void is part 2 of the b-day celebrations on April 18th and is dedicated to the "Radical" arena sound of Hardcore Techno/Nu-SkoolGabber/Industrial with a tiny bit of Hard Trance and Techno in the back room thrown in for good measure. If its anything compared to Friday then its gonna be a beast of a night! Ikon out.

id just like to say that the lads who got thrown out WERE NOT smoking crack. they wouldnt even condone the use of it.

if anything it would have been marijuana.

And no it wasnt me.

remember children "drugs are bad, ummmm K"

drugs are good ummmm k

ikon, who do you get the coach with from birkenhead?

grr sounds like i missed a belter!

Couldnt go cos im well skint :(

the thing was that their was a shed load of peops smoking reefas in the main room toilets so i bet the bouncers used that as a excuse for smoking crack

never mind

twas a wikkid night

Karl - "They wouldnt even condone the use of it" Ha Ha! you obviously wernt listening to the conversation we were having in Tug's then! :lol:

Techfunk - I go almost everywher with Tugie and his crew (Karl being one) if you ever wanna go anywhere that were going just give us a shout, and Im sure you could come with us no problem!

What happend with this crack buisness is that some bird that nobody knew whatsoever was floating in and out of the VIP room all night and had apparently gone up to either the head of security or the club manager and said that some one was smoking crack in the VIP room. So they stormed in and everyone apart from booked DJ's and MC's got throw out exept they got thrown out of the club aswell! Bastards!

where do the coaches go from mate, i used to be a regular at north, now none of my mates will go as they hate hardcore & trance....do you know lee hessler by any chance?

Yeah I know Lee H very well, he dont come with us anymore though! Think he's fallen out with a few of the lads!

The bus runs from B-head/Rockferry and a few get picked up in Bromborough. The lad that runs the coaches is called Chris Milner if you want his number PM me.

will do, nice one mate.

leighton, i was listening, i just didnt think this was the right place, to disscuss that kinda stuff. (ON THE INTERNET, ESPECIALY A PUBLIC FORUM)

ahhh well.

i would touch the shit personaly, but there you go, it not my ting.