Rave Special
HAVE IN!
The first all-night out-door dance event to get a licence this year is taking place in Scotland. Rezerection — The Event 2 is coming to the Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston on 30 and 31 July, and the line-up of 27 different acts promises a truly eclectic mix of styles.
Thom Dibdin examines how The Event 2 breaks down barriers in the dance world. On the following pages, Rory Weller looks at the importance of a top notch stage set to the show and we interview a few of the top DJs. If the latest dance floor lingo leaves you disorientated, chill out by taking a glance at our Bluffer’s Guide.
he dance scene has survived. Far
longer than the predictions of
pompous commentators who listened
to a few records. dismissed it as
tuneless rhythm and refused to visit a
club to witness the sheer energy and
vitality of a night out dancing. But that survival
has been at the expense of fragmentation. The
steady four-four beat of techno. once
omnipresent. is being challenged by the manic
syncopation and hip-hop derived rhythm of the
breakbeat drum ’n’ bass collaboration that is the driving rhythm ofjungle.
Mind you. fashion and taste have always
favoured cliques on the dance floor. Heavenly
house and garage types in their designer threads
'\ " \ .01 \ ,
and Wonderbras look down their cool noses at the trance crowd with their lazy crusty look. Clubs need to create their individual vibes to survive. promoting attitudes and snobbery with their door policies. Most punters are intelligent and broad minded enough to go with the flow of the club they’re dancing in that night. and leave the bickering to dance mag letter writers where the junglists and bedroom technologists hurl abuse at each other. The point is that it’s all dance music. Compare any kicking megga-mix from a techno DJ with that of a jungle DJ and you’ll hear the same eclectic collection of samples — from George Michael vocal lines to Hendrix guitar solos if you’re lucky —just mixed in over a different brand of heat. But for many dance floor purists the label is important. Paul Ludford. owner of Kitchenware which puts on the Rezerection raves at lngliston, relies heavily on feedback from punters to choose new acts and design future events, but not all I missives are coherent.
‘Kids write in saying “I hate jungle. I hate breakbeat”, and then go on to say that their favourite DJ is SS.’ according to Ludford. ‘Well DJ SS is one of the most serious jungle and breakbeat guys you can come across. so when you get that kind of information back that makes you think twice about it. It’s like somebody saying “I hate rock, but i love Nirvana.” What I would say about jungle is that it’s harder to get right because the breakbeat is so much of a focal point. So to mix it. you’ve really got to be on top form.’
As you might expect from the man who once promoted Prefab Sprout and now runs the only remaining major rave promotion company left in the country, Ludford has a pretty wide taste in music. While the philosophy behind The Event is strictly party — fairground rides, “ bunjee jumps and video arcades augment the two under-canvas stages for an all-round stonking night out — Ludford has also taken his cue from the festival ethic. Three years ago at the Luzern pop festival in Switzerland he was impressed that although there were two stages, there was no attempt to limit either to any ' particular style.
‘What we’ve tried to do is put together a show that has .. representatives from all aspects of
‘What we’ve tried to do is put together a show
that has representatives from all aspects of dance music.’
Paul Ludford oi
Kitchenware.
dance music,’ says Ludford. ‘I think that’s much more important than saying: “If you pop into that little tent down the bottom there. you’ll hear jungle all night.” That’s a serious yawn. Either nobody goes down there at all or it’s stowed out. which leaves somewhere else empty. I’ve called the two tents Klingon and Vulcan because if you had number one and number two, people would automatically stigmatise number two as being the lesser. The idea is to get everyone moving around. There’s a bit for everybody really and if they don’t like certain things they can pop across to the other tent.’ There certainly is a bit of everything for everyone. From the crowd pleasing rave anthems of local lads The Rhythmic State and DJ Tom Wilson to the breakbeat of DJs KMC and Marc Smith; the acid weirdness of Ege Bam Yasi and the trancy vibes of The Source to the dark underground madness of Ritchie Hawtin and manic gabba of Lenny Dee.
The bill for the 27-act line-up is an incredible £25,000 when transport and accommodation are accounted for and has consumed the time of Beccy White at Kitchenware since last March. ‘lt’s been very difficult, particularly with the European DJs,’ she says. ‘We would never have expected to get someone like Laurent Garnier for example and we’ve been trying to get Lenny Dee for ages. itsjust that they’re all in such demand. I’ll be far too busy on the night to dance at all, but it makes it all worth while when people send you letters congratulating you afterwards.’
One of thejoys of Rezerection is that unlike in your elitist club, you can meet anyone and everyone there. From the Edinburgh literati to burger bar cleaners, junglists to technologists, they mix and groove on the dance floor. And if the purists start dancing to each other’s sounds. then a battle has been won against the dance war. After all, its all dance music. Lets go!
Bezerection - The Event 2 takes place at the Royal Highland Showground, lngliston, near Edinburgh Airport from 8pm to 8am, Saturday night to Sunday morning, 30/31 July. A taxi from the middle of Edinburgh costs about 210.
Some tickets will still be available on the day by paying by credit card or Switch and collecting the tickets at the venue gate after 8pm. Phone 0661 844449: tickets cost £28 plus £2 booking tee. It is a condition oi the licence that no tickets are available tor sale on the doors.
The List 29 July—ll August 199411