Earthquake

Location: Centennial Stadium, Redfern Rd, Minto

Date: 25th January, 1997

Rating: 7/10

 

This party was originally planned to be in an indoor skating rink, so when it was moved to Minto it was disappointing, seeing as so many raves have been at Minto already. But the rave overall was quite good. It was the last week of the school holidays, so the crowd was very very young. In the stadium itself, there were two big video screens either side of the DJ. Throughout the night, they showed another rave on the screen (not live). It helped create a bit of atmosphere though. All the lasers were on the right side, and there were a couple of blue/green lasers and a full colour laser. There were a few international DJ’s: The Prophet, The Predator and Darkraver, with the darkraver wearing a batman-style cape. A MC pumped the crowd up all night. Overall it was a pretty good rave, better than average, but not worth the $44 ticket

 

 

 

Utopia 4

Location: Indoor Sports Centre, Amax ave, Girraween

Date: 1st February, 1997

Rating: 8/10

 

This was an absolutely wicked rave. Atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere. That’s what it’s all about. As usual, the crew of Powerhouse productions put on an awesome Utopia rave. Always coming up with new venues, the crew found a great one for the fourth rave of the Utopia series. The room was divided by court net, which sort of created two rooms, with a passageway in between them. There were also two spots up higher, looking down on the rave, but later on in the night they were closed off. The main stage looked very futuristically atmospheric and had the apocalyptic world type of feel to it. Two full colour lasers shone over the crowd and was coordinated very well with the music. The lighting teams should be congratulated. Also there were flashing lights at the bottom of the stage and heaps more lights behind the DJ.

 

The sound quality was awesome, and the music was great all throughout the night. This was a memorable event. Only one problem: As with the last utopia, the time it took to get inside was way too long. There were only 2 friskers at the door, and hundreds of people waiting to get in. It took me 3 hours to get inside, but the event was definitely worth it. Waiting in the rain is never much fun, and if Powerhouse Productions fix up the queue problem, then they would be close to perfect. A truly awesome event that would have got 9 or 10 out of 10 if it wasn’t for the queues outside.

 

 

 

Pressure

Location: The Rooftop, Kings Cross

Date: 15th February, 1997

Rating: 3/10

 

A bit of a disappointment seeing as it was put on by Mark Dynamix, my fave DJ at the moment. It took a while for people to turn up, and when they did, there was still plenty of room. The extra room didn’t have a DJ, just speakers from the main room. As usual at the rooftop, it was extremely hot in the main room. If you didn’t dance you nearly collapsed of heat exhaustion (yes.. if you didn’t dance – funny that, but you don’t feel the heat much when you are dancing). The music wasn’t that good either, and the sound quality a bit poor. People danced in the second room anyway, even though there was no DJ there, and they had all the space in the world too. Lets hope Dynamix puts on a better party next time, since he is such an awesome DJ.

 

 

 

Hardcore Heaven 3

Location: Centennial Stadium, Redfern Rd, Minto

Date: 12th April, 1997

Rating: 2/10

 

What can I say. There is lots to say, but I don’t know where to start. Kids + Hardcore + Kids + Thump + Thump + Thump = Hardcore Heaven 3. The rave was FULL of people about the age of 14. I have never been to a rave that was so young before. I felt really old. Maybe I am. Ok, i’ll start with the good things, or should I say, the one and only good thing. The lasers were Awesome! Heaps of them, multicolored and you were allowed up on a viewing level, and the lasers came up into that too. One of the best laser shows at a rave. Now for the bad bits. Minto. I think we are all sick of it. Personally its the 4th time I’ve been to the same place for a rave – its a sign of a lazy promoter, or a promoter who only gets bodgy venues which cancel at the last second. 2nd Kids – enough said already I think. 3rd Music.

 

The name “hardcore heaven” was true to its name. The music was so much towards the hardcore end of stuff that I couldn’t stand it. And I’m not the only one. I heard heaps of other people saying the same thing. It was just repetitive bang bang bang, with nothing else in the background except the occasionally screaming swearing of someone. No feelings, no emotions, no deep music at all. I’ve been to parties with “hardcore” in their name before, and none of them have been anything like this one. If your under 14, and you like listening to trains going past, then this is the rave for you. Otherwise its crap. It gets 2 for the lasers.

 

 

 

Laserdome

Location: Netball Centre, Church St, Lidcombe

Date: 7th, June 1997

Rating: 7/10

 

This was a great party. It was inside a HUGE netball centre, with two big warehouse-style rooms. The main room had lasers galore, and had a laser screen for some neat laser-grafix. There were dancers on the stage, and the music was great. I stayed in the second room most of the time, as it was a hard house room, and it also had tonnes of lasers. There were thousands of people who turned up on the freezing cold night, and most were having a great time. There was also a nice chillout room upstairs, where you could look down on both rooms. Lasers: great. Music: great. Sound quality: great. Lighting: great. Amount of people: great. This was an amazing venue, and even though it was so HUGE, the organisers managed to fill every little corner with blasting sound, and awesome lights and lasers. This is a rave to remember. The only problem (and it was a big one) was the fact that you had to wait about 3 hours in the queue outside (with a temperature of about 10 degrees Celsius!). Its a shame that so many fantastic parties never achieve perfection due to the queue time. But queues aside, this was truly a great event.