Dance Planet @ The Sanctuary, Milton Keynes 11/11/1995

  

DJ Vibes

So far this year we've visited Dance Planet in Cornwall, Dance Planet in Birmingham and now we have Dance Planet at The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes.

It wasn't the first time they'd held an event there, the first was in 1993 and was actually before the first Helter Skelter event was held there.

We've seen the end of an era for several things in 1995, but I would say this event was heading towards the end of an era for Dance Planet. This was their final event of 1995 and they had big plans for 1996 including a big outdoor event. That never happened though and they only did 3 events in 1996. They started a weekly club night in Wolverhampton at the start of 1997 but by February they were finished.

When I looked at the tape pack and it's track listings I saw there was a set from Carl Cox in there and he was playing hardcore. I thought did they manage to bring him out of retirement one last time to play a hardcore set. It turns out they didn't, it's a set from 1994.

The set I've posted is the DJ Vibes one because I just think it illustrates how the music has changed throughout 1995. The breaks haven't gone completely but it certainly feels more of a kick drum led set.

Most of the tapes are hardcore ones, just a DJ SS tape, a Mastervibe tape with a couple of hardcore tracks and a part Groovrider set provide the drum & bass.

As a result not too many new for 1995 drum & bass tunes which are:

D-Power - Beef

Apollo 13 - Wobble

Phyzix - Down Wid Da Lights

DJ Rap - I Can't Stop

Maldini - Wake Up Call 

Plenty of new for 1995 hardcore tunes though:

Ultimate Buzz - Rock Da Bass

Casio Brothers - Partytime

GSI - Power Up

Two Ruff - I Want You

Piano City Productions - Set Me Free

DJ Isaac & Pagan - Up, My Way

DJ Isaac - Pump Up The Party

El Bruto - Heaven

Ferocious - Listen To Me

Jack D - Get Down

JDS - Rock The Disco

Ultra-Sonic - Make That Move

Bill & Ted - Rhythm

DJ Ham - So Damn Tuff

Renegade & Static - Scotland Is Rockin

Force & Styles - Fireworks

DJ Demand - 31 Seconds

Force & Styles - Get On Up

High Flyers Feat DJ Fade - Take Me Higher

High Flyers Feat DJ Fade - Can You Feel It

DJ Ten - Turn Up The Music

Happy Tunes - Volume 7

Jack Speed - Everybody Here Tonight

The 4 Beater - Let Go

DJ Ten - Rock The Discotek / You Make Me Happy

One of note is "31 Seconds" by DJ Demand which is essentially a hardcore version of "Valley of the Shadows" by Origin Unknown. Not the only time something like that has happened, but it doesn't work for me.

It's the last visit to Dance Planet for the year, but not the last visit to The Sanctuary. More on that when the time comes.

Dance Planet @ Aston Villa Sport & Leisure Centre, Birmingham 23/06/1995

 

Dougal & Vibes

Dance Planet previously featured in March down in Cornwall. This time we see Dance Planet return to where it all began for them in Birmingham.

Given the location perhaps it's no surprise to see this event was predominantly drum & bass in the main arena and on the tape pack too. Admittedly I would have probably avoided a predominantly drum & bass event in Birmingham at the time given the violence you'd get at such events, but let's not let that get in the way of this make believe 1995 raving journey.

We don't quite have as many new for 1995 drum & bass tunes as the March event, but still a decent amount:

Special K & Ruff Kut - Chopsticks

Firefox - Bonanza Kid

DJ Rap Feat. MC Hooligan - Hooligan

Cutty Ranks - Limb By Limb

L Double - Mad Funk

The Specialist - Garbage DJ

Dream Team - The Ride

Jazz Vibes - Lucky

Dillinja - Hoes & Tricks

The Specialist - Twisted Amen

Beenie Man- Gimmie Di Gal

Tarzan - Informer

S.O.S. - Space Funk

Alex Reece - Pulp Fiction

Q Project & Spinback - Rikers Island

Krust - Maintain

H.M.P - Runnin's

DJ Fallout - Major Respect

The Spice - Dimension

DJ SS - Niceness

Noise Gate - Noise Gate

Danny Breaks - Rollin

Shy Fx - Who Runs Tings

DJ Hype - On That Dust

Just Jungle - Very Last Drop 

The most notable of these was "Pulp Fiction" by Alex Reece which would be a pretty big record of its time. The most played drum & bass tunes were "The Lighter" by Sound of the Future and "Hearing Is Believing" by MA2 which both appear 6 times. Not the first time either have been the most played and unlikely to be the last.

I've posted the only happy hardcore set to be both in the main arena and on the tapes which is Dougal & Vibes. The notable thing about it is that it's the first recording to my knowledge to feature MC Live Lee. The DJ/MC combination of Vibes and Live Lee became quite legendary in the late 90s and this is where it seemingly all began.

Amongst the hardcore DJs is Mastervibe who was also a drum & bass DJ. I read in an interview that he only played hardcore to bulk up the bookings and would have played drum & bass all the time if he got enough bookings for it. There is also DJ Bunjy who would be better known as a drum & bass DJ in later years.

Scorpio and Producer played a back to back set which really shows an ever widening gap between hardcore and gabber. I can't find a tracklisiting for the set. Likewise the Clarkee set shows a widening gap and tracklist has many gaps though does include "Love U More" by Paul Elstak so not completely separate yet.

Unsurprisingly the new for 95 hardcore tunes are much thinner on the ground, but there were a few:

Sensi Tize - The Anthem

Sub State - Take Me Up

Happy Tunes & Hixxy - Feels So Good

Knightvision - The Realm

El Bruto - Hypnotizing

Smile - Cut The Midrange

Lockjaw - In My Brain

Helix - N.D.E

Justin Time - Lose Control

Alchemist & Fade - Kick Your Legs

DJ Bass D & DJ King Matthew - Damn The Deejay 

There is no tune that's played more than twice, no surprise given the mixture of DJs pulling off in different directions that we have. 

The fact we could still have this variety in Birmingham of all places is one of the big reasons I look back on 1995 so fondly. OK for all I know the main arena could have completely cleared out when Vibes & Dougal came on, but if we let the tapes do the talking which is all we can really do then that's how it was.

Dance Planet @ Cornwall Coliseum, Carlyon Bay St Austell 25/03/1995

 

Scorpio & Producer

This week sees us going as far down the South West as we're likely to go. The venue as you may have guessed was in Cornwall and the event was Dance Planet.

Dance Planet started life in the Midlands but headed to the South West after an incident at one of their raves in the Midlands which resulted in the venues closure. Cornwall Coliseum was a venue that hosted many gigs over the years and closed in 1999, though the last Dance Planet at this venue happened later on in 1995.

At the big raves around this time, techno would often be found in the smaller rooms. At this event though it was the main arena. There wasn't a happy hardcore arena as such, though the techno arena featured Seduction which was a happy hardcore set. The 2nd room was the jungle room.

The beginning of this Scorpio and Producer tapes though will tell you that jungle was the more popular of the two because the MC says the 2nd room is full.

Furthermore I can find the tracklistings for the jungle tapes on the internet but not the techno ones. Whilst I've given all the techno tapes a listen, attempting to tracklist them all is too much and will inevitably have a bunch of unknowns.

Jungle wise these are the new for 1995 tunes which appear and there's quite a few of them:

 Asend - 12 O'Clock Drop

Chris Jay - Champion Sound

DJ SS - White

Dread Bass - Moods

Shy FX - Simple 'Tings

DJ Dopeski - Dope

Asend & Ultravibe - Just A Little

Desired State - Goes Around

Missing - The Box Re-opens

P-Funk - P-Funk Era

Danny Breaks - Easy

D4 - Careless

Mental Power - Red Hot Ghetto

Adam F - Burning Deep

Goldie - Jah The Seventh Seal

Pascal - In Da Meantime

Groove Corporation & Bim Sherman - Ghetto Prayer

Ed Rush - The Force Is Electric

Asylum - Steppin' Hard

Dillinja - Ja Know Ya Big

Digital - Why

In Between The Lines - We're Rollin

Source Direct - Bliss

General Degree - Papa Lover Jungle

DJ Fokus - Trigger Happy

Interception - Forever

Bay B Kane - Attack

Jaco - All The Ladies

Melodious - Bongo

The Halfbreed - Good Old Days

Stakka & K. Tee - Bad Influence

There's a tie for the tune that gets played the most. Both "The Lighter" by Sound of the Future and "Hearing is Believing" by MA2 appear on 4 of the sets. Also worth a mention is that Apache plays "Black Side A" by DJ SS twice in his set.

One of the DJs playing a jungle set was Lomas, a DJ who I've heard play techno a few times but never jungle before. There's also a DJ called Energy but I suspect it's a different DJ to the one who would become Kevin Energy. 

The journey to Dance Planet would have been a long one for those who don't live in the South West, but perhaps none as long as Joey Beltram who had flown in from America for it. That said there is no Joey Beltram tape so I don't know whether he turned up or not.

A DJ in the techno arena who definitely did turn up was Bass Generator who came from Newcastle which is almost the furthest place away from Cornwall in England.