After the good feedback from the last event, the LBS and THC crews decided that the 30th of June would be a good time to hold the next party. A crowd of around 350 were there before, and word had really got around about this one, with flyers, record shops and word of mouth doing the business on spreading the hotline details. Because of the large interest surrounding the party during the week (mainly due to students finishing college and uni, as well as the good weather), several potential venues were being rumoured to be the confirmed site. However, all of these proved to be untrue as the hotline message told party people to go down to Ranmore Common, a large wooded area just outside Guildford, about 4 or 5 miles from the last party.
The two sound-system vans arrived at 11:15pm, but could not get through the car park due to being held up by a mysterious parked car with somewhat steamy windows. The inhabitants of this car were having a quick 'rummage in the undergrowth' and departed sheepishly as one of the crew told them that there was a party going on and hundreds of people were about to descent on them. It turned out they were both fully starkers in the car and wanted to get changed, so the vans moved along to the next car park and drove straight in through a gap in the fence, followed by a convoy of around 20 cars ready and waiting to block off the car park. The site was only about 50 metres from the road, and the vans pulled up in a clearing to set-up.
This venue was probably one of the most blatant ones I've seen, but the 'hit-and-run' set-up tactics of everyone turning up at once seemed to work as by 12:30 there were a good 200 people on site. Unfortunately, the plod turned up soon after the music started, apparently blocking off the car park and giving parking tickets to all the cars parked along the main road! However, everyone managed to find a way round and the police had to retreat back to the edge of the car park and generally observe as around 500 people were milling around by 1am.
Both rigs kicked off nicely at about 12:30, LBS playing hard house and trance, and THC playing chilled D&B. The THC crew had clearly made a point of organising their rig better than before, and had also improved the sound and light, using scanners and more speakers to give a much-improved set-up. They opted to play out of the side of their van, while LBS set the decks up out in the open. By about 1:30am things were really starting to kick off, with around 600 people gathering around the two systems, which were separated by a large bush. This bush actually prevented much of a sound-clash for the most part, which was a bit lucky as the crews really did just turn up and unload straightaway. Again, the LBS was really rocking from the off with every DJ playing a quality set. What was noticeable was that the THC posse was almost able to match them, which was cool as both rigs had a large crowd of people dancing all night. The whole night was also caught on video camera from the top of the THC van - footage currently being edited. Both systems run a predominantly drum & bass and jungle music policy with a bit of hip hop thrown in for good measure, and although some of the techno-heads weren't happy, the majority of the crowd were really into it. A surprise appearance from Cause4Concern on the LBS rig was much appreciated by all, as was the Bluvision set on the THC rig.
One of the main problems on the THC rig was the amount of MCs, sometimes about seven of them were grabbing the mic from each other and were messing about with the sound levels. The crew were not too pleased and had a quiet word with a couple of them, although luckily the message got across and there wasn't any more hassle. I noticed at around 3am (during my DJ set) that it had been a tad quiet on the local constabulary front and was just thinking about cranking the tunes up a notch when the word got round that we had company. Environment health officers made an appearance and were none too pleased as the bass was apparently ripping through the house down the road, but only a warning was issued and the authorities all left the site on good terms with the one they call 'The Chief' at about 4am. The THC eventually shut down just before 5am due to someone (!) blowing the tweeters on their rig, so everyone headed off the other system to watch the night turn into day and dance to the last few tunes of the party such as 'Trip To The Moon' and 'Strings of Life' amongst others. The last tune was finally spun at 6am to a huge cheer from the crowd.
This was again a fantastic night, with both rigs contributing equally to the vibe. Also, the party people were much more generous than previously and a nice bucket of donations was collected. A few people did get marooned at the site, two girls and three guys after 'frolicking in a field' (?!) and losing their car keys, but we heard they all made it home eventually. For us though, it was off to the after party, but that's another story.
Thanx must go once again to both of the crews involved with the system, the DJs, MCs (most of them), everyone who contributed to the party in one way or another, and also the local police who took a back seat and let the party happen..nice one, we'll be back soon.
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