| astraboy |
July 9th, 2004 11:54 AM |
Rave review, Hullabaloo "Funtopia 7" 03/07/04
Hi there.
I write rave reviews for a few websites and a scene mag over in the UK. I thought you would like to read the review I did for last Saturdays Hulla.
http://www.ush.net/board/viewtopic.php?t=126501
Sorry its so long. I tried to get it to as close to 2500 words as I could.
Cheers,
astraboy.
Quote:
Most ravers will know all about travelling bonkers distances to attend the raves they want to go to. Making daft road trips, often in excess of several hundred miles or more, to see the DJs they want to and experience something different is something any raver worth his salt can relate to. However, travelling 3500 miles for eight hours, across the Atlantic Ocean to another continent to go raving is something entirely different. Fortunatly, as these things tend to, the rave justified the trip.
Generally regarded as the most consistant Hardcore rave in North America, Hullabaloo was due to celebrate its 7th birthday with another of its annual "Funtopia" events in Toronto. Its Eclectic musical content, awesome atmosphere and and varied DJ lineup are all well known and acepted facts to both Canadian, US and in this case, UK ravers. As well as that, North American Hardcore has always intrigued me because of its lack of musical boundaries. There are no "Trancy" DJs or "Freeform" DJs who play their chosen genre to the exclusion of all others, it is all "Hardcore" to them. As a result, their sets are a colourful blend of every aspect of Hardcore music and IMO, their scene is all the better for it.
I had always wanted to experience a North American Hardcore rave and this time this one was within reach. Davespice was armed with a discounted travel ticket which meant I could get return flights to Toronto for £145 including insurance. The best Hardcore rave on the continent was touching down in the same town and Hixxy and Storm were headlining, as well as the best home grown talent. Quite frankly,it would have been rude not to.
It all saw me and Davespice embarking on a torturous 8 hour trans-atlantic flight to Canada, the Friday before the party. After regaining the use of my legs upon leaving the aircraft and attending a friday night pissup with some of the very friendly people from the www.hulla.info board,the day of the rave was upon us. As the party got closer, Dave and I could concentrate on little else. Mercifully, the start time approached and we cabbed it to the venue.
Outside was a small gaggle of Candy ravers and a very pregnant Mrs. Frolic who was armed with the guest list. Dave and I joined up with some familiar faces and I got busy with my illicit energy-drink-a-thon whilst the queue advanced steadily. When I came to be searched, it was thorough, but not too personal. Security were tighter than at UK raves (Removalof shoes was a common request), but they were politer than back in the UK too. No power trips all night from these people. After replacing my trainers and handing over my ticket, I was in.
It was like my first rave all over again, I just didn't know what to expect. The venue was depressingly small from the outside, but fortunately, as well as being one of the few venues in Toronto to accept ravers through its doors, The Opera House is also blessed with the same qualities as the Tardis. Of similar capacity to the Fridge, but more long and thin rather than wide and squat, it was a converted theatre with a bar area looking down onto a good sized dancefloor. An alcohol bar was available upstairs which you could only enter by showing positive ID, no matter how old you looked. To the left and right of the main dancefloor was a merchandise stand and the Toronto Raver Information Project, or TRIP for short. This stand was there to inform the ravers of the responsibilites, as well as the pleasures that come with drug use. They were alsotouting for MDMA users for use in confidential research, as well as having other things that a raver might find useful, such as a bucket of free condoms and the like. A good idea and all of it funded by donations as well. A worthy cause if ever I saw one.
Quite apart from this, the main stage was the focus of everyone's attention. Flanked by large speaker stacks and backed up by fluro draping and a lighting rig which was mostly located behind the DJ stand, the main portion of the stage was given over for the MC to perform, as well as the occasional stage dancer doing their thing.
Well into their set by the time Davespice and I arrived,Tika and Scoots were busy warming up the crowd. Having met one half of this b2b duo earlier on in the day, I knew what was to be expected. The 95 set was altogether a sound start to the evening and even though a few tunes did push the definition of "95" to the limit, especially with the Hardcore rip of Whigfield's "Saturday night", the rest of the set was a great introduction to the Canadian party scene with "Rush hour", "Discoland", "Shake that Shimmy", "Children of the night" and finishing on "Eyeopener". Throughout the set, the venue was filling up nicely and the dancefloor was getting steadily fuller.
Next up was DJ Tyco, who took up where the previous set left off by giving a respectful nod to the Old Skool with "Got the 99" before moving onto modern upfront Hardcore. As with most North American DJs, the tunes he played were not limited by things like date of release or what their percussion consisted of. Throughout the set, we were treated to UK, kick driven Hardcore, breakbeat tunes both old and new, as well as some nice tunes with with my personal favourite, loads of piano breakdowns. Simply listing the tunes will tell you all you need to know about the set's variety and diversity. I mean, you don't hear "Be a Star Tonight", "I'm in Heaven", "He never lost his Hardcore" and "6 days" within one hour very often, do you?
Towards the end of Tyco's set, MC Everybodies Daddy, or ED for short took up the mic. Billed as the best freestyle MC in the US, it was clear that he was also good at being a scheming bugger as well as an MC, a quality proved when he dragged two UK ravers out of the crowd and got them up on stage to say hello (Git.). We didnt stay up there for long, but we had a bit of a dance while we were up there. So much for being anonomous ravers then .
After Tyco had finished his set, Silver and Wolf were up next. Continuing the varied theme,these two got straight down to business and tore into an upfront set to be proud of. "Wicked MC", "Addictions", "and "Heartbeatz" were all amongst the early starters, but if you think this set lacked variety then you'd be wrong. For sheer bravery, I have to take my hat off to them mixing "Twist em out" into "Heartbeatz" and the rest of the set from then on in was just as diverse, with "No good (Start the Dance)", "Here I am", "Angel Eyes", and "Love of my Life" all getting a look in. But the best part of the set was the stage show that took place half way through. 12 Care Bears, cunningly disguised as laydee ravers took to the stage and and put on a dance routine that was not 100%professional, but was great fun to watch and very entertaining. Besides, I've never been "Care Bear Stared" at a rave before so it has to be good.
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