Helter Skelter – 7th July 1995
It does not even seem 5 minutes since the
last Helter Skelter. So this event seemed to
have crept up on us out of nowhere. Not that we
were complaining because going to any H.S. event
is a treat at any time. We arrived at the
legendary Sanctuary (Milton Keynes) at around
8pm. The queue was already quite large.
Congratulations to the geezer who managed to
somehow get himself arrested a whole hour before
the event even started, it will probably come as
no consolation to you, as you languished at her
majesties pleasure, but we all had a wicked
night. Any road up! Upon our entry into the
Sanctuary we were searched as usual. Our first
port of call the Main Arena. Although David had
more lights in the Sanctuary than ever before,
they were spread out across the Arena more. This
seemed to take the punch out the display for us,
maybe because a lot of the lighting effects were
quite high up or set away from the main stage.
Even so, this did not detract from the night’s
entertainment at all.
The main stage itself seemed well set out. The
DJ set up high in the middle, nice and visible.
The dancers had plenty of places to do their
thing, all performing to their usual standards.
The two lasers on either side of the stage from
Laserplay did battle throughout the whole night.
Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond Helter
Skelter’s control, the Video Projections
although booked and confirmed, did not turn up.
This obviously was a great shame. The promised
dance platforms did arrive but unfortunately
were not of the required standard and were
turned away. Again a great shame but the Raver’s
safety has to come first. I quickly followed my
best raving bud, who hurtled upstairs to a
destination known as the “TECHNODROME”.
Already it was frantic on the dance floor, the
early arrivals going for it. At this stage we
were slightly worried as the floor was already
flexing. Memories of the last event we attended
here came flooding back, with needles bouncing
for a few hours until things got sorted. Our
fears soon proved unfounded. As the room filled
up, the floor flexed more and more, the decks
stayed true, not one jump. PHEW! Many
congratulations to H.S. crew. Production in this
room consisted of plenty of backdrops, nice U.V.
Octopi? Plenty of seating for (Yes you guessed
it) lightweights. Excellent sound boomed around
the room and finally the best touch in the room,
the return of the mad strobe tube thingy. It had
not only returned but had also grown in size and
expanded around the whole room, fucking
marvellous.
DJ Dance kicked things off in the main arena and
did a good job of warming up the eager crowd.
Upstairs Jack Master Jay gave the crowd a taster
of what was to come later on. Following Dance
was Brisk who brought the atmosphere up to fever
pitch levels, the room still not totally rammed.
Did it take longer for people to get in?
In the “Technodrome” Destroyer of “Death Row”
fame played some awesome Gabba, certainly living
up to his name. Following this was a set which
could be described as more of a P.A. None other
than Eternity’s own Mr Mark E.G. What can we say
about this set (sorry P.A.). Not content with
ripping the fuck out of your brain with an aural
masterpiece, he also gave us a visual headfuck
which makes you wonder what goes through the
mind of this crazed man. In any event it did the
job BIG TIME!
By now the whole of the Sanctuary is rammed.
Always a little room to dance through, and being
a warm evening the heat everywhere was…ermmm,
hot. Better go outside to cool down a tad.
Everything out there was well sorted including
the bouncy castle, or chill out castle as it
turned out to be with people strewn all over it
in various states. There were seats provided and
tables along with an Anti-gravity machine – I
felt queasy just looking at it. The promised
refreshment kiosk provided soft drinks, food
etc. Finally the fun-fair ride catered for those
who wanted to come up quickly on whatever.
Back inside Easygroove played a mixed set to a
hyper crowd, the atmosphere was one of the best
I have seen dancing on the balcony we had a
wicked view of the whole room. It all looked
pretty mad from up there, smiles upon everyone’s
faces. They say this is going to be the “Summer
Of Love” early indications would suggest this is
a cert. Upstairs Madness played to the ever
enthusiastic nutters with a myriad of excellent
tune selection, definitely living up to his
title. This was followed by Warlock who played
some of the more funky Techno. This was
brilliantly executed at just the right time as
the pace had been furious for three hours or
more.
Meanwhile both Vibes & Dougal, who had swapped
sets, played two wonderful uplifting happy sets.
Dougal getting a tremendous response playing
massive anthems. Both Dj’s had the whole arena
with their hands up high in the air. Vibes
playing a slightly higher tempo set which went
down extremely well. Oh what an atmosphere!
In the Technodrome, Easygroove blasted out his
second set, total confusion now took me (Bri) by
storm. As the room slowly filled more and more
with smoke, the Techno got harder and harder.
The strobe tube thingy took me poor brain to
bits. Lovely! Eventually the security
temporarily cleared the room so the smoke could
disperse before letting The Producer finish what
Easygroove had started. Total Techno
Overdose….The Producer displaying the same kind
of enthusiasm as Mark E.G. Giving a kind a P.A.
type feel rather than a set. The crowd were
definitely up for it and he certainly performed
to please their every need. Due to extreme plot
loss of massive proportions, and only being able
to be in one place at one time, we both found it
impossible to drag ourselves away from the
wonderful “TECHNODROME” any further. So when
Mach 1 played the second session of the more
funky Techno, I was taken to another plane. Lost
in Techno! I had taken on a state known as
“SNAFU” (Situation Normal All Fucked Up). It’s
time now to give an award. The slightly famous
Bri & Ade Golden Stylus Award for Fuck Me That’s
Hard Techno.
In our opinion, even with ferocious competition,
the best set of the night (indeed so far this
year) goes to Clarkee. Excellent tunes,
perfectly mixed, hard as fuck. Nuff said. Sorry
to the last few DJ’s in the main arena, we did
try to see everyone but you know how it is!
Downstairs things had gone just as well, the
crowd giving as much as the Technodrome… If not
more! Fabio’s set confirmed as wicked by the
other members of Eternity that were present, the
whole event had been a total success!
All the M.C’s did a fine job in keeping
everything bubbling along nicely. To those of
you who couldn’t get tickets, H.S. parties sell
out, getting your tickets early is the only way
to make sure you’re going to go. Thank you once
again Helter Skelter. Your best event this year,
let’s see if you can better that one then.
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