Ty Jacobs's review: "A union of 'oneness' was happening every five minutes it seemed. I have never been to parties like this, and if you are the sort of person who is interested in good vibes, then a Hullabaloo is for you. ..."
Douglas W. McClintock's review: "Overall, this party was great!! i definately understand why hullabaloo is sooo highly touted. ..."
Little Andrew's review: "I've never been to a Hullabaloo party before but it was a refreshing change. ..."
Sara Mills's review: "It is an 9 hour drive to Toronto from Boston and we couldn't have picked a better time to do it. ..."
Styles069's review: "I just got home from the party, and all I can say is that it left me very impressed! ..."
Vergel Evan's review: "hullaballoo once again was a party that had the least amount of attitude and frustration. ..."
This was my first Hullabaloo party. I'd only heard the rumours about Hullabaloo being the best rave company in Ontario (maybe even in Canada). I waited and waited for the shuttle bus, then in line for hours on end. My skepticism grew larger, I wondered if I was even going to get in. I could hear the sounds of Dominik through the large door at the back of the building and I was jones-ing for music more than I ever have.
Finally, at 2 am, I reached the front door and everything became clear to me. I knew immediately that all the waiting, all the cold was worth it. I had found heaven! Minutes into the party I could feel and see the aura of Peace Love Respect and Unity that every raver brought with them. All your loyal ravers were the most friendly and happy people that I have ever met at a rave. The light of day came far too soon for me that night that I stumbled on to the Shangrila of Raves.
It's Monday afternoon, and I can still feel the sheer energy and vibe of your party. The memory of Hullabaloo remains strong and will stay strong forever. Don't stop what you're doing. You've taken my bitterness that was directed towards commercial, money grabbing companies like Dose and Betterdays and renewed my faith in RAVE!
VENUE: Hullabaloo-'Electric Dreams,' Toronto, Canada Held at a nightclub by the Toronto airport. A rooftop deck, three dancefloors, and kewl-headed security. The only downside I found was the admittance of way too many people. Every corridor was a smoldering mosh pit without the dancing parts.
MUSIC: Happy Hardcore all the way, with a few early spinners throwing out electro-funk in the smaller room. Besides the usual HH M.C.'s there was a 'singer' of those uplifting anthems on stage for one set. I hate to say it, but she was not very good. This was because her mic was never working, not her fault, but she did little to ammend or at least fake it. However, I forsaw the genre opening up to provide many more 'performances' of this sort in the future. In a sense, the HH vocal anthems will become highlights performed by live acts.
FOLK: amazingly friendly (w/ or w/o e), and enthused youths dressed to outer limits in fun fashion. Furry overalls, primary colours, tons of toys, and a gazillion whistles-handed out free so that EVERYONE had one. A union of 'oneness' was happening every five minutes it seemed. I have never been to parties like this, and if you are the sort of person who is interested in good vibes, then a Hullabaloo is for you. This was my second, and they keep getting better.
VIBE: happy happy happy; never a need to 'look for your happy spot' when you can just take a piece of someones' overflowing cup
HIGHLIGHT: dancing to my fave all time anthems all in one set!!!
FINAL: 9.5, I await the next party December 5th to hit a 10. Granted, Toronto is far, but if you have the means...by all means check it out.
Props to Noch, AWESOME adventure. Props as well to Anabolic Frolic for continuing his vision, just mind the body count a bit! :-)
friday:
luis, anni, and i all got ready and hit the road about 5:00 pm our time.
the trip was pretty uneventful, with luis doing most of the driving. we
finally arrived in toronto at abooot (heh heh) 4:30 am our time.
we went to our friend danika's house and hung out for a bit and then crashed around 7:30.
Saturday:
when we woke up, we all got ready to go shopping. we
went down queen street, and hit most of the major shops. i picked up a
record at speed, and we browsed the clothing shops. we didn't get to numb,
but i got to drool in the windows.
after going back to danika's and chowing down on some VERY garlicy pasta, we headed off to sugar mountain, the premeire candy shop. we bought tons of candy and headed off into the night.
The party:
when we arrived at the venue (which was out by the airport at a club
called news) it was around 11:30 or so. and it was packed. thew line was
all the way around the building, and was at least 10 people wide. we felt
that we would never make it in. luis left anni and i to fend for ourselves
as he checked out the ticket holding situation. apparently, there was no
such line for ticket holders, and we all had to wait in the same queue.
that was problem #1. after about 15-20 minutes, they opened up the side
door, and a surge of peeps were let in. we got in in another 15 minutes,
and entered right into dominik's set. (i wasn't searched...at all) he was
slamming it down, HH style. i was still a bit peeved by the line, so it
took me a bit to settle down. we immeaditely head for the bathrooms, and
tried to find our friend hannah. no luck finding her, so we headed back to
the main room, noting there was another area closed off to us, with some
ghetto booming from it.
we thewn tried to explore. and became part of the giant cattle herd in the main hallway. the apparent second room was putting out some breaks or something, and we headed to the roof. it was freezing, and after waiting for 30 minutes to fight the sea of humanity in the hallway we were loathe to try it again. but we did, and fought our way back to the apparent main room.
we stationed ourselves by the left speaker stack near the door in the apparent main room, and wondered how in god's name they would fit a ton of people in here... anni and i stood around watching the crowd, and tried to get into thwe vibe. this greta guy gave us some suckers, and we started grooving a bit. we watched dominik's set, and danced a bit. then OS/2 hit the stage. i was floored!! i stood there in front, trainspotting the heck out of his set, and even gave him a light for his cigarette. damn nice guy. and a damn good dj.
about halfway through his set, anni and i decided to get a feel for the palce, and we stumbled upon the REAL main room. apparently, the club had been open while the party was goin on, and then at 1:00 or so, we took over the main room!!! as soon as we walkedin, anni and i took off to the recessed pit and slid up front to play the part of indiana junglists to dj slip's set!!! brilliant, especially with the help of the MCs!! (and tell JD i saw him drinkin'...) teh best part of the set was when they dropped the jungle bros. track, and then when i was making the rock on symbol, and mc freaky flow came and touched my fingers to his...it turned into some ritual thing for the peeps in the crowd!!! :)
once the HH hit, we headed to the roof to cool off. anni and i froze our butts off, and headed to the trance area...we walked into the room and were seranaded with the sounds of SOS!! caught the last couple of songs he spun, and then i was promptly destroyed. not only by the frat girl who was rollin VERY hard and tried to fondle me oh-so-many times (much to the displeasure of my fiancee anni), but also by the boss dj M-Zone.
THIS MAN RULES. PERIOD. it was the best set of the night, bar none. i sat there in amazement as he dropped track after track flawlessly. anni and i were up in his face, bouncing away (since that was the maximum the room allowed). he stunned and amazed me with his skills, and his record collection. i was rather handicapped at that time, and had a bit of trouble remebering what the name of the braveheart track he dropped is called. if anyone knows this, please drop me a line. M-Zone let me look at the sleeve, but i forgot it...possibly DJ Atvin or something like that..entitled let's be friends or something.
anyways...M-Zone kicked...and even posed for a picture in the middle of mixing...very cool... when i was trainspotting, this very euro guy asked me for the name of a track, and he introduced himself as DJ elixir. nice guy! he even asked me to try and come DJ at TOGA up there on novemeber 14th...hopefully it will work out..
anni and i then headed back to the main room (which she says was indentical to the main room at last hullabaloo). the MC's were at it again, with some tight jungle tracks, and they even dropped the verve track!!! (two of my favorite things!!) after some more HH, anni and luis and i decided to head out...it was about 6 or so.
we drove to danika's and slept the morning away and headed bck to bloomington at 2:00 our time.
overall, this party was great!! i definately understand why hullaballoo is sooo highly touted. but this wasn't the hullabaloo i expected. not nearly as plurry as i had anticipated, but good nonetheless. perhaps my ideals were too high, but i still did meet alot of very cool peeps!
positives:
dj lineup in the second room
JUNGLE!! TRANCE!!!
the peeps...
negatives:
the lineup outside
the size of the venue (wayyyy tooo small for the crowd)
the asian dj who couldn't stand up and skipped all of DJ slip's records,
and then screwed up his own track, and then fell over...
the peeps...too many crystal kidz
the heat (at least it wasn't raining sweat...)
the water situation ($3!!! even if it was canadian money....)
the lack of the highly touted bouncy castle....
i'll go back, but just cause i like the scene up there...even though HH isn't really my thing, i loved the secondary lineup, and the jungle. and hullabaloo CAN still throw a party, even though they had a few glitches this time!!