Fusion – A Match Made At Wembley
Wembley Conference Centre – 25th May 1996
On the 25th May 1996, ten thousand ravers gathered at London’s
famous Wembley Conference Centre for an enormous dance party
extravaganza. Never before have three different organisations joined
forces in unity to promote such a large event. This Bank Holiday
Weekend was to be different, One Nation, Fusion and Gism had come
together to celebrate the holiday in style at the venue of legends.
The queue outside Wembley’s Conference and Exhibition Centre was a
large one. With the time being around Eleven O’clock my companions
and I made our way inside. We got through the thorough, but friendly
security search and we were in, and ready for a party with a
difference.
Over the past few years, Fusion have gained an excellent reputation
for being top class party organisers and first impressions of their
arena proved how well deserved this reputation is. The Hardcore and
Techno arena was already bangin’, but before I got down to some
serious dancing I decided to go on a mission and scout around the
rest of the venue to check things out.
Arena two hosted by top Drum ‘n’ Bass promoters, One Nation,
London’s best. Arena three was hosted by Gism, catering for the
House and Garage massive. One thing that impressed me about this
party, was the line-up, never before have a collection of DJ’s to
this calibre been under one roof. This event catered for everyone,
having only the cream of the scene providing entertainment.
After a long walk around the massive venue we needed a sit down and
what better place than the small café arena that had been provided
in Fusion, serving up cups of tea and other tasty morsels. Sadly
there was no bar which left me totally gutted, apparently this is
because Wembley do not have a license to sell alcohol, but I decided
to make the most out of it and enjoy the night sober. Who needs
drink when there is a line-up like this to make your head spin?
So, on to the décor… Mmmm, the place looked pretty damned good. I
was most impressed by the rather savoury stage set up by Fusion
which had levels a plenty, including some enormous ‘Oscar’ statues,
I don’t think they’ll be awarded an Oscar for this event, but
definitely the Hardcore equivalent. I was even more impressed by One
Nations effort because it was a blinder. It had corrugated iron
covered in graffiti and there was a Police car situated at the end
of the stage which was a novel idea. This was to be later blown up
by fireworks, with a warning of “this is what happens to the Police
if they enter that One Nation arena!”. The Gism arena was stylish,
as you would expect from them, the atmosphere was wicked and
everyone was up for it, the sound system could have been louder but
you can’t have everything, can you?
Time was flying by and my legs were telling me it was time to party,
with a capital ‘P’, so on to the Fusion arena for a bit of a stomp
and who better to start the night off than the DJ Vinylgroover who
for an hour solid gave the crowd what they were making noise for –
Hardcore!
The atmosphere was as it should be, happy, friendly and smiley. It
stayed that way all night, with the help of one excellent host of
DJ’s including Ramos, Brisk, Seduction, Sy, Slipmatt, Supreme,
Vibes, Druid and many, many more, taking the crowd on a musical
journey to… infinity and beyond!
The sound system was something to be impressed with, although all
Georgia’s Mum would say is, “You’ll all be deaf by forty”. Most of
our parents think we are mad but I’ve met loads of parents at raves
and they want to know why they never had such fun when they were our
age. I don’t think Hitler would have been up for raving in his neck
of the woods, nor would Churchill come to think of it. I must say I
would be dead embarrassed if my parents ever came to a rave, but for
those who do… go for it and enjoy themselves!
The lasers were going ballistic, putting on a real good show. There
really had been no expense spared in this event, all the stops had
been pulled out to put on one hell of a party. I think that the Gism
room probably fell short to the production of that in One Nation and
Fusion, but nobody cared, everyone was enjoying themselves, that’s
what it’s all about. I managed to get an hour or so of Graham Gold’s
set, which made a nice change from the bangin’ in Fusion, and the
rollin’ in One Nation, to hear some nice Hard House courtesy of Kiss
FM’s Mr Gold. It was a nice breather, but sooner or later I knew I
would be back in the larger arenas where my heart and soul lives.
Now, I know there were a lot of rumours flying around about some
sort of trouble, I’m not sure exactly what happened but I do know
there was a lot of ‘attitude’ flying around the venue. This isn’t
what raving is about, and considering that Wembley is only stones
throw from Stonebridge Park (one of the roughest estates in London),
I’m glad the security did their job well in keeping a large
percentage out in the cold where they belong. Maximum respect goes
out to the One Nation security team who were scouting the venue with
the victims and collaring the culprits – what happened to them, I
don’t know, but I hope they got what they deserved. For the people
who caused all the shit, ‘Get a life or, stay at home’. That’s all
that needs to be said about that, I can’t be bothered wasting time
and valuable space writing about these arseholes, there was too much
good to be said about tonight’s party.
The music in the One Nation arena was top class, the line-up was
‘pukka’ with my personal favourite being Hype’s back to back with
Brockie which I didn’t want to come to an end – but it did, so I
decided after that it was time for another mission as I walked into
the Fusion arena. I realised how many of the hold Rhythm Station
were there, bumping into old faces, trying to remember names. Big up
the Rhythm Station massive!
By this time Force and Styles were giving a PA which I though was
absolutely amazing especially with the playing of their top tune
‘Wonderland’ and the other classic, ‘Heart Of Gold’. These two are
going to be larger than large this year, so remember where you read
it first.
The crowd were absolutely having it, the DJ’s were absolutely having
it, the MC’s were absolutely having it, and I even saw the security
having a good time. Junglists, the Happy crew, and the Housebods
were all under one roof just how it should be, everyone celebrating
dance music, no bad vibes, except from those who didn’t care about
what they were there for.
Back in the One Nation arena, the voice of Stevie Hyper was ringing
through the speakers was clear to be heard, “I said, Junglists are
you ready?”. They were, they’ve been waiting for this one for a long
time, and One Nation delivered it with fine style, those who attend
the events know the score with One Nation. One Nation, one vibe, one
love….
Notably good sets also came from Randall and Andy C, playing a
storming set back to back and Marvellous Cain. Best MC had to be a
joint award shared by GQ and Stevie Hyper. Mickey Finn and Darren
Jay, also playing back to back ripped up the dancefloor with some
Drum ‘n’ Bass which makes you go ‘Mmmm’.
Sharkey was, well, he was Sharkey basically, making sure the noise
never died down, and keeping the vibe in Fusion as ripe as a
Jamaican Banana. Sy scratched up a wicked set which had the crowd
begging for more and Slipmatt pulled off a wicked 4-Beat set which I
voted as best of the night. Good sets too, from Dougal, and
Seduction who did what only they know how and kept the largest crowd
I’ve seen since Dreamscape 20 content.
The dancers in both arenas were superb, absolutely wicked, I don’t
know where they get the energy from, but I wouldn’t mind having a
couple of buckets of it. How one person was expected to review three
different arenas catering for three different styles of dance music
is beyond me, but I gave it a go! I could be seen rushing around,
noting the good points, trying to note the bad points, already
discussed and at no fault of the promoter, but in the end I though,
‘Sod it’, hopefully I’ll remember, so I just continued to enjoy
myself as best I could without a bar.
All in all, myself and my mates had a mad night and after my first
visit to Wembley all I can say is… It won’t be my last!
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