Frisky in conjunction with Shake It Up

If I had to sum up the event in one word, that word would be ‘vibes', and, oh my gosh, there were so many!

Walking in to the club felt as if I had stepped off a jumbo jet on a tropical island. The heat was so powerful, as if the air conditioning hadn't been switched on for ten thousand years! Some of the ravers obviously thought the same, which was evident from the sunglasses propped on many of their noses!

We arrived shortly after 11pm and were greeted by a ‘Sticky' situation complimented by a live PA of one of his latest tracks, ‘More Weed'. The dancefloor was packed with party animals absorbing the moment. I noticed Sticky's tune selector as very familiar... as I got closer I realised that it was the one and only Jason Kaye! Once we'd found an industrial sized fan, cooled down a bit and got ourselves decked out with drinks, off we went to explore Vivid and Elite.

Next up on the decks was Masterstepz. Taking to the stage and grabbing a mic were Rankin (complete with Burberry sun-hat looking like he too had just stepped off a plane), Creed, Melody, Kofi B and Ultra. Birthday Boy Kie was standing on the entrance to the stage being greeted by numerous people and allowing more and more of his fellow friends onto the stage. Just as they looked as if they were getting cosy, they got pushed aside to make way for the next PA - ‘Dem Lott's ‘Ere Now' by 1Xtra's new signing, the Dem Lott Crew. They performed a different version from the one I had seen previously, and with only four of the members. I'd seen about nine on the earlier occasion. It still went down a treat with the crowd, and Demolition Man had them waving their hands around in the air like they just didn't care. ‘Stepz followed on from the PA by playing his personal dubplate of the same tune, followed by another personal dubplate, and another, and another! ‘Dubplates R Us' one could say!

Next was the set I had been waiting for. There's something about an EZ and B-Live combination that just does it for me. Put them together and they could light up a meeting about broad beans. Joining the ‘Terrific Twosome' were the ‘Diligent Duo', Sparks and Kie. After his intro track, EZ played the tune of the night - DJ Narrows' ‘Saved Soul' ... the place went MENTAL! I thought B-Live wasn't in the mood as I kept seeing him passing the mic and rubbing his throat. Little did I know... he was saving himself. Standing on the barriers to the stage, off he went, "Clack clack brrrrrrrr", hand movements and all! Once again, the crowd was giving off sooooo many vibes - they loved it! you could see it in each and every one of them. Sparks and Kie spat lyrics to each other back-2-back for a brief while and were happily chatting away on a mission... no confusion, when Major Ace arrived. Kie passed his mic to him, letting him have a few minutes, then it was back to my ‘Fabulous Foursome' - definitely the best set of the night. Everyone was having a good time - the horns that had been given away were being blown constantly, the place was packed as tight as a sardine can yet people didn't seem to care about the heat - they were still dancing their arses off! EZ proved to be a happy chappy bopping his head like HARDCORE! He was joined in the DJ box by one of the K2 Family as he played their new tune, and was dancing like a jolly leprechaun with his arms round ‘Mr. K2'... the two of them skipping along as if they hadn't got a care in the world.

The K2 Family congregated to one side of the stage while Sparks performed ‘Talk to the Raver' and Kie did ‘Flow'. Horns were being thrown into the crowd along with stickers, vinyl and CDs... I got nothing but a champagne cork as it flew out of the bottle that Kie's crew were opening and hit me on the leg!

Joining Major Ace were the rest of East Connection... K2 on one side of the stage, East Connection on the other. CK Flash and Bigga took over from EZ behind the wheels of steel and the stage was taken over by the crews, which I wasn't expecting as none had been on the flyer. In the midst of all the crew-style MCing, a refreshing break was Tubby T performing ‘Tales of the Hood' which has recently been signed to Go Beat. Everyone was singing along and winding and grinding with their partners. Dr. Psycho came on the stage with his stethoscope around his neck to tell everyone to go and buy his track and to wish Kie a very happy birthday. Then it was back to crew-time. Nikki Slim-Ting came on the mic and impressed the crowd with his vocal impressions of a record being scratched.

After that point I stopped enjoying myself. I had had really been enjoying the non-crew-ness feel of the whole night and the excellent buzz of the crowd. Once the crews arrived, there were still vibes, but a different kind of buzz. Leaving the crews to do their thang and the crowd that liked that kind of thing to enjoy the rest of what had been an excellent night, I made my move.

Many thanks to Stewart @ gettinjiggy promotions for a wicked night.