THE SCENEThe early Rave years from 1988 to around 1991 saw most of the parties taking place illegally in abandoned warehouse, fields in the middle of the countryside, and some small low-key legal venues. Good examples of these early pioneering ventures are - Genesis, Biology, Amnesia, and Energy. The old timers insist that vibe-wise, these years were the best in Rave's short history.When Hardcore came on to the scene mid 1991 the masses seemed to really tune in. This may have been helped along by breakthrough commercial cross-over tracks like The Prodigy's 'Charly', SL2's 'On A Ragga Tip, and Urban Shakedown's 'Some Justice'. Anyway whatever the cause, this is when the majority of youth in the UK at the time sat up and took notice as Rave's popularity grew so did the size of the parties. The promoters held huge legal events catering for up to 40000 people at a time - good examples of promoters doing this were Fantazia, Raindance, and Universe. The atmoshpere at the majority of the raves I went to was absolutely phenomenal. To a lot of people Raving wasn't something you did, but something you lived, and it had and attitude and etho's all of it's own, the much talked about, but now cliched 'PLUR' (Peace, Love, Unity and Respect).Some say it was the worst thing that the scene has ever witnessed, because after the scene split in early 94, a lot of the ethos and culture surrounding Rave died off. Jungle, although still being played at Raves, took the music to a more mature and 'club' based audience, while Happy Hardcore remained solely in the Raves, and was seen as "Kids Fairground Music" by a lot of old ravers and Junglists. It was during 1994 that Raves such as Dreamscape and Helter Skelter became really popular - they usually provided 3 rooms or arena's, one for each of the main styles of Rave - Jungle, Happy Hardcore, and Hard Techno. The PLUR ethos kinda died away a bit with the mixing of the happier style of music with the dark, and a lot of long time ravers dropped out of the scene around this time. However, there were plenty of tracks that bridged the gap between the Happy and Dark sounds - Rap and Aston's 'Spiritual Aura', DJ Zinc's 'Super Sharp Shooter', and LTJ Bukem's 'Music' amongst others. This period of the music lasted until about mid 1997 before things really broke up.As we zoom into the 21st Century, the current 'Rave' (if it can be called that) scene is that we have one or two large (as in those that hold 2000-5000 capacity events, not the days of the old 40000 capacity events) promoters left - Dreamscape, etc. One of the last true 'Rave' promoters Helter Skelter had their last Rave ever on New Years Eve 1999/2000, and have now called it quits.Addition - I have now been reliably informed that Helter Skelter are returning very shortly with some more big Raves. An indication that the Rave scene is starting to pick up again?It's a real shame - although Happy Hardcore is far from the good old early days of Luna C, Force and Evolution, Citadel of Kaos, etc, it IS the only true form of 'Rave' music left in the world IMO, and it will breathe it's last with all the big events dying off. The only real form of Breakbeat left is Drum and Bass, which is really a 'club' music now - it's moved far from it's roots, IMO it's now bland, emotionless, and formulaic having abandoned the things that made it special in the first place.The only places really left to hear the original sound are the many old-school parties happening throughout the UK, especially in London. A few of the original Rave promoters are appearing again, some for the vibe and some for a quick buck on the resurgence of the old skool scene, some are even now putting on monthly events.Many involved in the current old-school scene know that it can't last forever on nostalgia alone, and are now actively producing Nu-Skool Old-School - basically new tunes, directly influenced by the old-school sound, but brought bang up-to-date with fresh ideas, production techniques and new sounds.AMNESIA HOUSEAmnesia House are on of the original promoters of the 'Rave Scene', organising illegal warehouse parties as far back as 1988, and are the unsung heroes of the industry. They have never cashed in on the scene and have always put on parties for the people, not for their bank balance. Eternity met up with Neville and Bambam (Mickey Lynas's brother) of Amnesia House and they took us through "Rave History".The name Amnesia House has been familiarised with the Baeleric Rave scene for many years. In fact the name was brought back from Ibiza, and used in the UK for their rave at Canal Road. Their first party was for 200 people in Canal Road, Coventry. They were really quite naive those days. They were just ravers who decided to put on their own events. They began as doormen in clubs, and progressed in to the House scene as organisers.The two people that started Amnesia House were Bambam and Neville's brother Kieran. With their second party the police took interest into what they were doing due to other things happening in Coventry. The police came down heavily on them. So after the second party they let things cool down a little.It was when they started up again and began to organise another party, Neville joined Amnesia House. Kieran had gone abroad and just left Neville and Bambam running things. Their third party could really be described as their first legal party. They were offered a venue by Stuart, a friend of theirs, who had a friend who lived out in the countryside and the venue was actually to be in the grounds at his estate. As this was to be an all ticket event and they had permission from the landowner, the event was 'legal'. Also back then and Entertainment Licence was not required as it is now (amongst much more red tape). This party was called 'House 1', they had a kicking sound system, scaffolding with sheeting on, and a few flashing lights. About 250 people turned up. The second event, 'House 2', was held in a warehouse offered to them by a friend. The police actually helped this event go ahead for the police helicopted lit up the road enabling the convoy of ravers to find their way to the venue. It went on from there really; they started to attract people from all over, but initially Birmingham. At 'House 3' a lot of Birmingham people attended the vent. Amnesia House at this time was big enough for the police to take an interest in their parties, they were approached by the police and asked to consider going legal, they didn't want dodgy warehouse events taking place, they preferred everything above board.ENTER MICKEY LYNAS!It was at this time that Mickey Lynas joined Amnesia House, Mickey started up a mailing list, where people became members under the Amnesia House name. They then found a venue called 'Sky Blue Connection' and the police said that they could hold the events there. This was probably the very first legal club rave in the UK. The police were very co-operative, they agreed that a Public Entertainments Licence was not needed, but a condition was that everyone had to be a member of the club, so it could be classed as a private party. The only problem for them was that the ticket office was situated three miles away from the club and people could not pay on the door, they had to buy a ticket and they were automatically a member on buying a ticket. The events at the 'Sky Blue Connection' were probably some of the best in the Midlands rave scene. The events were taking place once a month and they always had top DJ's playing on the nights, DJs including Doc Scott (who had been with them since 1988), Man Parris (who was also one of the big DJ's back then before he became and MC). After six top class events at this venue, the 'Sky Blue Connection' was closed down with deepest regret, due to the police clamping down on events, so they then moved to'The Eclipse' in Coventry.The Eclipse was the first all-night rave club back in 1991, it opened as the first all-night club in the UK with an Entertainments Licence. Amnesia House were not doing anything at first, but when went and held six top-class events that were rammed to capacity. It was probably some of the best events held in the history of the rave scene. At the same time that they were in the Eclipse, Amnesia House were running the most renowned club for Rave Events in the UK Shelly's Lazerdrome at Stoke-On-Trent. Shelly's was a pure Happy House club that had an atmosphere that was unbeatable, booking top PAs such as N-Joi and Altern8 and it also had all the top DJs playing there.Shelly's was a Mecca for rave. Things went on at Shelly's which no other club experienced. For example, Altern8 performing a live PA in the car park for the ravers at 3am after the club was close! Neville was not only a promoted, but also appeared as security at their events, then he began to go on the mic at Shelly's. He wasn't really an MC, he was just giving a shout out to the crowd - he never MCed for any other organisations. However, his friends said he should be called Loud N Nasty. Shelly's was sadly closed down, the police stopped them from getting their Entertainment's Licence. Amnesia House found this to be a great loss for they had had 18 months in there and found it to be some of the best times. The Eclipse was still being used by Amnesia House, and was becoming more and more popular at their parties on Fridays.Donnington Park was the next big step. The first Donnington Park event was July 9, yet again standards not dropping, and on the best DJ and MC line up, and the first event pulled in 7500 people, showing they had a mass following. The only thing letting them down was the sound system, and after four events there, with the sound system getting letting them own each time, they thought it was best to move on for they felt that they were letting down the ravers. If Amnesia House would have stayed at Donnington Park, they would have been offered the event that Fantasia did in the open air for 25000 people. 1992 saw Amnesia House start preparing for the 'Book of Love' event, featuring the wedding of their then partner, Mickey Lynas. Amnesia House could still have done the event without the marriage of Mickey, but although it was to the disagreement of Bambam and Neville they decided to let it go ahead as it was just an extra attraction on stage, and in fairness it did go down well.Two years previously, Mickey Lynas had a dream. He wanted to get married on stage in front of 15000 people. On that day his dream came true. Other members of Amnesia House did not want him to do the wedding for they knew that they could pull the numbers in anyway, but Mickey and Nemesis thought that they could get all the DJs and PAs to play for free... but they all got paid in the end. The event was an unbelievable success, all the DJs played very well, the weather stayed dry and fine and there was an excellent atmosphere in the crowd all night. The sound system and lighting was to Amnesia House's usual high standards.THE FALLOUTIt was after the wedding that Amnesia House and Mickey fell out over money. Mickey decided to go his separate way and leave Amnesia House and started up a company called Dance trance. This proved a very emotional time for Neville and Bambam because of all the hard work they had put into the 'Book of Love'. They could not believe there was no money left to put on their next event, they felt they had been connect, they did not make a penny, in fact a loss, so they were back to square one. Amnesia went back to their roots and started all over again back at The Eclipse, still pulling in the crowds of 2000 and more and holding their heads up high, they hadn't lost peoples faith. Neville and Bambam believe in a different style of event keeping it unique to Amnesia, always booking the country's top DJs. Everyone that goes knows what to expect.Leading up to Xmas they had some really busy nights, on Boxing Day it was packed, but their real baggy was New Years Eve. Neville and Bambam found things to be ticking over just fine. Amnesia House was left alone for a while when a big shock came for everyone - "The Wedding Anniversary", although they didn't call it Amnesia House Mickey used all the original pictures from the first even and gave out free videos leading people to believe that it was an Amnesia House event. The original Amnesia House came back with a vengeance. They did an event at 'The Sanctuary', even though it was bad timing as there were a lot of other big events going off at the same time, the production was still spot on and it was still a huge success, Amnesia House still pulled a large crowd proving they are still a leading promoter in the UK. Amnesia's next big event was at 'The Institute' in Birmingham and it was crammed in. Amnesia still have an internet presence although I can't help thinking its more an attempt to cash in than promote the scene as it was as the pictures on the site are all from a recent 'back to the old days' event and there doesn't seem any love in it, critical maybe but I was always a lover of Amnesia night at Shelly's and their all nighters.DREAMSCAPE (ESP PRODUCTIONS)Established in 1989, Dreamscape are responsible for some of the best Rave's the UK has ever seen, however the organisation's history is full of controvery and tradegy.At the height of Rave's success in the summer of 1993, Dreamscape tried to stage a Festival/Rave of epic proportions called 'Woodstock 2'. For various reasons the event fell through, leaving Dreamscape out of pocket, as well as thousands of ravers who had purchased tickets.After this severe set-back, it took Dreamscape around a year to reccuperate and regain their finances, and a whole lot longer to gain the raver's trust again. However, they managed to do this admirably with a series of amazing parties from late 1994 to 1996.On 17th March 1996 Murray Beetson, the promoter behind Dreamscape, died in a car crash. This tragedy sent shockwaves throughout the Rave scene.Eternity Magazine (the Raver's bible to some) went through some major changes after Murray's death - and some say this was the beginning of the end for the Rave scene.However despite these tragedies, Dreamscape are the ONLY original Rave promoter that have stayed true to their guns, ridden out the storms, and are still around today. They held a big Millenium celebration in conjuction with Labyrinth.FANTAZIAWhat can I say that hasn't already been said elsewhere about Fantazia? They're responsible for the biggest rave ever held in the UK - the weekend long mayhem that was the Castle Donnington 'One Step Beyond' event.Unfortunately Fantazia 'sold-out' in 1994 and 'switched allegiances' to Rave's mortal enemy - Commercial House. This was a real shame, as Fantazia event's were always wicked, with top quality sound systems, decorations, and safe security.Gideon Dawson and a core group of disenfranchised Fantazia employees went on to put on the Obsession parties. More info on the Obsession parties coming up as soon as I can.HELTER SKELTEREstablished in 1989 Helter Skelter are probably one of only a few rave promotors who has continued and stayed with it following change and adapting. Their site is still up and running for all to have a looksi at so best you read what they have to say as in fairness they have remained loyal to the raver's. See it at http://www.helter-skelter.co.uk/RAINDANCEThe only places really left to hear the original sound are the many old-school parties happening throughout the UK, especially in London. A few of the original Rave promoters such as Raindance are now back in action putting on events for a few thousand people. And it seems like the vibe is back too - smiles are back on peoples faces, and it's proper music lovers that are going to these events... not fashion trendies jumping on the 'Jungle' bandwagon, or young kids coming along to take a skin full of drugs although there's nothing wrong with that is there?UNIVERSEUniverse were one of the big Rave organisations of the early ninties, alongside other promoters like Fantazia they put on some absolutely HUGE parties, some of the biggest the world has ever seen.In 1994 however Universe kind of disowned the rave scene, and like a few others at the time tried to go down a more 'respectable' route. They did this by classifying their parties as 'Festivals' and having a much broader scope of music - this didn't effect their parties however.Although their site hasn't been updated since god was a lad, I don't think we've heard the last from them?? Let's hope not.First of all we had Breakbeat House from 1989-1991. This style was basically acid house stripped of it's four by four and 303, with a breakbeat in the 4-to-the-floor's place, and synth stabs and piano lines in place of the 303 - good examples being Zero B's 'Lock Up', Moby's 'Go', and SL2's 'DJs Take Control'.After breakbeat was truly embedded within Rave culture, the UK (England specifically) gave it it's own slant, and along came Hardcore Breakbeat which dominated the scene from 91-93 - good examples of the sound being Johnny L's 'Hurt You So', Top Buzz's 'Living In Darkness', and NRG's 'I Need Your Love'.1994 in the UK saw the scene split in to two distinct categories - Jungle and Happy Hardcore.Jungle took all the edge and sinister atmospherics from Techno-tinged breakbeat (ie. 'DJs Take Control') and combined them with Dub basslines, Reggae melodies, and Ragga vocals - good examples are Q-Project's 'Champion Sound', Sound Of The Future's 'Lighter', and Prizna's 'Fire'.Happy Hardcore on the other hand lifted the piano lines and diva vocals from the earlier House-tinged breakbeat (ie. 'Lock-Up'), to create a more uplifting friendly vibe than it's darker cousin - good examples being Luna C's 'Piano Progression', Fat Controller's 'In Complete Darkness', and Force and Evolutions 'Perfect Dreams'