The date was November 16th 2002, The Venue, the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham England, 15'000 clubbers flocked to the midlands for this years second helping of Gatecrasher at the NEC, What happened? Find out here.

The line up for night was very impressive. 24 DJ's spread out over 3 arenas:

Tidy Trax (Pavilion)

21.00 - 22.00 Paul Kershaw
22.00 - 23.00 Nick Sentience
23.00 - 00.00 Andy Farley
00.00 - 01.00 Tidy Boys
01.00 - 02.00 Lab 4 (Live)
02.00 - 03.00 Yoji Biomehanika
03.00 - 04.00 Lisa Lashes
04.00 - 05.00 BK
05.00 - 06.00 Paul Glazby

Gatecrasher (Main Arena)

21.00 - 22.00 Talla 2XLC
22.00 - 23.00 M.I.K.E
23.00 - 00.30 DJ Tiesto
00.30 - 02.00 Armin Van Buuren
02.00 - 03.30 Jules & Eddie Halliwell Back to Back
03.30 - 04.30 Mario Piu
04.30 - 06.00 Scott Bond & Matt Hardwick Back to Back

Bugged Out (Forum)

21.00 - 22.00 Rob Bright
22.00 - 23.30 Stanton Warriors
23.30 - 01.30 Underworld (Live)
01.30 - 03.30 Xpress2
03.30 - 04.15 fc Kahuna
04.15 - 06.00 Josh Wink



We arrived at the train station at around 20:15 and the whole place was just filled with Clubbers. I've never seen so many cybers in one place. It was great to see so many people making the effort. After waiting for the rest of our group to arrive we set off for the club and joined the queue for the Tidy Arena at about 21:15.

Within no time at all we were in, and were greeted by Paul Kershaw hammering out the 2002 reworked version of Pulser - Cloudwalking followed by Warrior - If You Want Me. What a great start to the night. As my friends made their way to the main Gatecrasher arena to hear Talla, I stayed to listen to Paul Kershaw. Is set was absolutely amazing playing tunes such as Mona Lisa Overdrive - Born To Synthasise (Neo & Farina Remix), Paul Kershaw - God's Children and BK - Revolution. I could not have asked for a better start to the night. I knew Warrior - If You Want Me was going to be played that night, but not even I expected it so early on in the night. Only bad part of his set was when he played the Opera Song... hehe. I am not a fan of those vocals at all!

When I first walked into the Tidy Trax room I was overwhelmed. The place was HUGE! The lighting amazing, and the sound system sooooo loud. There were lots of Tidy Trax banners hanging from the ceiling and clubbers filled the floor. As Paul's set came to an end I quickly made my way to the Gatecrasher Arena. I didn't want to miss a minute of M.I.K.E's set. I was very relieved to hear him spinning such quality trance, as I was told to expect a rather progressive and dark set from him. His mixing was superb, with only one rather dodgy transition that left M.I.K.E himself looking rather puzzled. He played Push - Universal Nation 2002 followed by the Original Mix of Universal Nation which I thought was nice touch. It worked really well and had the crowd going mad to it. I was hoping he would finish with Plastic Boy - Silverbath, but he didn't play it at all :( But he did play Fundamental 501 - The Situation so I'll let him off for not playing Silverbath ;) hehe.

Next up number 1 DJ in the DJ Mag polls ... Tiesto! Track 1 was Andain - Summer Calling (Josh Gabriel Remix) with LIVE vocals. This was one of the best parts of the night for me. She started singing off beat, but quickly recovered, and from then on I was in heaven. It truly was a magical moment. As the song came to an end with all applauded. Two fireworks shot towards the either side of the DJ Booth, and as they exploded Tiesto quickly put down Mark Norman - Overkill. It was a little miscued, but was still a great effect. He followed Overkill with Nightvision - Believin' (J & R Remix). Those "bell" like sounds from the tune Believin' are enough to make anyone get up and dance. Awesome start from Tiesto. And then I froze for a second. I couldn't believe what Tiesto was bringing in. GTR - Mistral!!! This is a top 10 tune of the year for me, and I never thought it would find its way into Tiesto's record box. For the first time of the night the lasers came on. They were superb. They were not just standard green lasers, but were multi-coloured. They looked fantastic, and totally added to the atmosphere. The Gatecrasher arena was nicely decorated with huge spheres hanging from the ceiling. At one point the laser was spread as a wide beam, and smoke was released into the air. As the air hit the laser, there was an assortment of green shades. Looked mint. Tiesto continued to amaze us all by playing tunes such as Cosmic Gate feat. Jan Johnston - Raging (Flutlicht Vocal Mix), DJ Tomcraft - Loneliness (Klub Mix) and an all time classic Vimana - We Came (Tiesto & Ferry Original). Tiesto's mixing was good, but at times sounded kind of shoddy. A couple dodgy mixes, but he was having such a good time. He was really getting into the set and brought it to an end with style playing CJ Bolland - The Prophet, the Cosmic Gate Remix of Urban Train, which on a sound system like the NEC sounded so good. And finally finishing with Umek - Gatex (Tiesto Remix) at a very high pitch. Thoroughly enjoyed his set, and was not expecting him to deliver like he did.

Armin Van Buuren up next. His mixing was flawless from start to finish. Although nowadays I feel he is playing softer trance than he used to, but nevertheless his set was class. Played the best remix of Armin Van Buuren Feat Ray Wilson - Yet Another Day that I have ever heard. Found out later it was Hiver & Hammer Ground Control Remix. If someone made a dub and removed those horrible man vocals then it would be perfect :) The thing I have always loved about going to see Armin is that he always enjoys the set as much as the fans do. Its great to see him jumping up and down excitedly, and waving arms in the air just like everyone on the dance floor. He also played Sun Decade - I'm Alone (Mirco De Govia Dub) followed by the anthem Gouryella - Ligaya (Original Mix). And then.. one of the best tunes of the night.. Darren Tate Vs Jono Grant - Let The Light Shine In. This live is incredible. Also remember hearing Solar Factor - No Return. One of the best sets of the night for me this was, and I was sad when it was time for Armin to leave the DJ booth :(

Judge Jules introduced himself as he always does, and also his partner for the night, Eddie Halliwell. They played some banging tunes such as DJ Elite - That Fuct Camera, and many more dark hard tunes. As you may well already no, Eddie Halliwell is famous for his amazing scratching skills. And this night was no exception. He was on form, and his scratching and fader skills were world class. It was such comedy seeing Jules trying to keep up. haha. On the last tune they played, Eddie Halliwell scratched over the entire tune. Just watching him was amazing. His hand was moving so fast, and at the same time he was tweaking the equalisers with the other hand. I think the tune being played was the 2002 rework of Atlantic Ocean - Waterfall.. It was coming to the end of the night, and Mario Piu appeared. After such an amazing set at Gatecrasher White Night, I was looking forward to piu's set. But unfortunately it was a total let down for me. I love his style, nice and hard, but the set didn't really flow to well, and his mixing was very poor. I think he played a remix of Gouryella - Ligaya that I had never heard before that was mint though. Towards the end I got very bored of his set, and for the first time that night found myself sitting down..

But that was all about to change, because the 2 DJ's that I had mainly come to see were about to come on. Matt Hardwick & Scott Bond. They started off with pure uplifters, and a few hard tracks thrown in for good measure. They played Gouryella - Ligaya and Jurgen Vries - The Opera Song to get the crowd going. Their mixing was absolutely flawless. These to work off each other so well and they really know how to entertain the crowd. I couldn't believe it when they played Gouryella - Gouryella. I was almost crying! :) And if this wasn't enough. They also played Solar Stone - Seven Cities, and the Embargo Mix of Insomnia. Just when we thought it was all over, the MC shouted out "Do you want one more!!" to which we all shouted back "YES!" The encore tune was Johnny Shaker - Pearl River, a classic anthem from years back. I never thought I would get the chance to hear this live again, and it was such an honour to be able to hear it. This was by far my favourite set of the night. It was not as good as their back to back set at Gatecrasher Republic, but I think this was because they only had a 1 hour slot.

So all in all we all had one fantastic night. Great tunes, great sound system and great atmosphere.