I'll start with the obligatory anti-Milton Keynes rant. V7 Saxon St may have cemented it's place in rave history but what a horrible road to walk down. 10-15 minutes after getting off the train I could still see the platform I'd just come from. Then every sign you walk past says Stadium MK 1 1/4 miles. Finally seeing the Marshall Arena where this event took place ahead you still have to walk half a mile across a car park to get there.
All in all it was 45 minutes between getting off the train and getting inside the venue. Given the last train was at 23:12 it meant no Scott Brown or Mark EG & M-Zone but I'm not overly concerned about the former and I saw the latter last year with MC Ribbz who I prefer to Squidgy B who was MCing for them this time.
The latest set I could see was the Force & Styles experience which is Force without Styles accompanied by MC Charlie B who would MC for them when MC Junior was in prison and vocalist Jenna. However I would of missed the last 15 minutes of a 40 minute set to catch the train, would this be worth sticking around for?
I bought an early doors ticket meaning I'd have to arrive in the first hour. With Ellis Dee in the 2nd room at 14:30 I was more than happy to do this. However at 14:30 there was no activity in the 2nd room. The technodrome wasn't due to open until 15:30 so my only choice was DJ Rap in the main room.
Some jungle classics such as "Renegade Snares" and "The Lighter" were played and lifted my spirits following that horrible walk to the venue. With no activity in the 2nd room still at 15:15 it seemed like Ellis Dee hadn't turned up so I saw out the DJ Rap set and stayed in the main arena for Ramos & Supreme.
The question was would it be the mid-90s happy hardcore or late 90s trancecore version that turned up. In the beginning it was just Supreme that turned up and he started with they Force & Styles remix of "Gotta Believe" which set the tone. Ramos did eventually turn up and was a good set which included "All Systems Go" by Force & Styles. I felt following this there was no need to stick around for half a set from half of Force & Styles.
Next up was Nicky Blackmarket & Brockie which I stuck around for. Again it was an enjoyable set and good to have some drum & bass following a hardcore set like it used to be.
Then we had Hixxy where the question was would it be a 90s Hixxy or a 21st century Raverbaby Hixxy. The start of his set suggested the latter so it was off to room 2 where Simon Bassline Smith was playing. Whoever I was seeing next I was only seeing 30 minutes of but with the main arena running behind schedule it was more 20 minutes. As I walked in I was hearing "Renegade Snares" for at least the 2nd time.
At 17:30 in the 2nd room came the moment I'd been waiting for, Jimmy J. He was my favourite DJ back in the day but by the time I started raving he was winding down before retiring to Spain. He's recently come back and at 60 years old now you don't know if this opportunity would come around again.
The only downside is that we didn't have the late great MC Ruff with him for obvious reasons and when "99 Red Balloons" dropped I was muttering some MC Ruff lines I'd heard him do to that tune on a tape I've listened to countless times. We got plenty of classics from both Jimmy J & Cru-L-T and Triple J and ended with "Follow The Sun". It was worth the 30 year wait.
Back out in the main arena tributes were being made to the rave scene figures who are no longer with us and that list of people seems far too long.
It was then Fabio & Grooverider who are still big names in drum & bass to this very day and I've heard they don't do requests. When they started the set with "Lock Up" by Zero B I could tell it was going to be a good set and it was. A mixture of breakbeat hardcore and early jungle made the set spot on.
Slipmatt & Dougal were on next and again it was a solid set with some 90s classics. The problem from my own perspective was the repetition of tunes we were now getting. Inevitable when everyone was doing an upfront set back in the day but with 13 years of the Sanctuary to cover hearing the same tune 3 or 4 times was a bit overkill.
With this in mind the question was how much longer do I stay? I knew Vibes & Live Lee would mix it up but their end of set time didn't align with the trains very well plus I'd seen them last year plus it was only a 40 minute set that may be even shorter given we were running behind schedule.
On next in the main arena was Breeze. It seemed almost inevitable he'd play the 21st century tunes as this was when he went from opening set DJ to headliner. Into the 2nd room I went to see DJ SS, again decent enough but playing some tunes I'd already heard multiple times that day.
Then the choice prior to Vibes & Live Lee was stay in the 2nd room to see Kenny Ken who I heard played modern rubbish including Becky Hill last year or go into the main arena to see the remainder of the Breeze set.
After 6 hours of being there I felt I'd got my moneys worth and thought sod it I'll go home.
