Reported on Friday, Jan 03, 2003 by orpheus_sun
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To all the people that spent their night at Utopia's last NYE event at Utopia, it was
full of many things that rubbed them the wrong way. Many people spent up to two hours in
lines, missing out on the countdown. Many people got felt up by the unfriendly security
as they entered, and many people choked on the dirt that was thrown up into the sky in
the main arena. This year every single one of these problems were non existent. The
security check was friendly and quick, it took five minutes to move from the back to the
front of the line and there was no dirt or dust in the main arena and there were extra
rides and another arena for the partiers to enjoy.
In words of Hunter S. Thompson, there was no conventional way to cover this event. There
were four rooms, too many good DJs and thirteen thousand happy faces to contend with.
There were no pretensions though, every single spinner was dedicated to offering the
young crowd what they wanted, (or needed), good music. Yoshi got a big ups from the crowd
as he filled his set with every single one of best tracks, pumping the early dancers to a
frenzy, not even missing a beat when either the speakers or his vinyl caused a small
hiccup in his flow. Moving along to the Hardcore arena where Team Rocket pounded out some
very fast and hard tunes, strangely throwing in some Gabba that was somewhat lacking in
the use of the "F" word. In all the arenas, the DJs seemed to be set on working the crowd
up to an explosion of emotion as the new year crawled closer and closer. The first
international of the night, Brisk, first got the Overdrive arena charged, along with the
help of MC Da Herbalist f
reestyling over his beats, then moved to the main arena later in the night and continued
to give track after track of excellence.
The New Year was both metaphorically and literally brought in with a bang, the main arena
filled to the brim as the numbers flashed up on the screen. Fireworks exploded all over
Wonderland as the New Year came, lasers flashed and Nervous spun hard and fast. As far as
the lights could reach, they shone on a hug here or pash there, the whole of Utopia
getting it on to usher in another 365 days.
The music was great, but there also was the presence of the rides that also had a hefty
amount of people impressed. All of Wonderland, bar the children's area, was open so there
was the Demon, Space Probe and Bush Beast to add even more of a thrill to the night. There
is nothing greater than hearing the DJs in the main arena play while spinning around and
around on the Tasmanian Devil, a surreal twist to an otherwise tried and true formula.
The international acts that Utopia offered helped add some variety to the night, with
definitely different styles putting a fresh turn to the night. Anabolic Frolic, while
being an excellent producer, has been given lacklustre reports whenever he has played
live, but the magic of the night must have been working on everyone that night as his set
was one of the memorable hours of this New Years bash. Storm also was able to impress as
he played the main arena.
The breaks room also had its fair share of funky sounds, pH and Chris Fraser both raising
noticeable interest to the partygoers who just came there for the contribution of the main
arena, showing that a good DJ can make any music style good music to groove to. A few new
comers to the scene even commented on wanting to hear more breaks DJs in the New Year, a
good resolution if any.
One negative point to the night, and something that is becoming more and more of a
problem at successive Utopias, possibly due to the larger events or the crowd that it
brings is that there were a lot of thefts during the night. This reviewer is now minus
one mobile phone, and many bags either went missing or were raided by people or persons
unknown. It is a hard thing to balance between too much security that will kill the vibe
of a night and not enough that lets the less savoury members of society run free. Feel
glad that you don't have to make such a decision.
So, as the sun rose and the traditional Powerhouse last of anthems brought Utopia to a
close, there was no dissatisfaction on the faces of the crowd. All the promises that
Powerhouse made that Utopia would be better were fulfilled, the music, lights and sound
were all of the highest quality and there was very little to sour it. If Powerhouse can
offer the same quality night next year, there is not a shadow of doubt where all the
little ravers should be grooving.
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