What a superb night of oldskool this turned out to be!

Doors opened to the main venue at about 10:30 but entrance to the hardcore room wasn't allowed until half past midnight, leaving some pretty annoyed; others just took it in their stride and boogied away to the house grooves emanating from the wheels of steel in the lower decks.

When we were finally allowed access to the upstairs section we were greeted by some truly dazzling '88 acid workouts from JEM ATKINS, evidence if ever there needed to be that the 303 classic was not 'created' with either Beltram or Hardfloor. As the set progressed, tunes merged into oldskool house with some great early '90s tracks ("Rhythm is a Mystery" etc) paving the way for the final aural assault, a finely-tuned set of hardcore grooves. Mixing in virtually unmixable tracks ("Closer to All Your Dreams" / "Sweet Harmony" etc) there was now a real buzz to the place, so it was with some trepidation that the next man took his place in the DJ booth.

HARDCORE RUSH produced an excellent set that obviously went down well with the crowd. Mixing in the better-known ("Hardcore Heaven" / "Some Justice" etc) and the more underground ("Edge#1" etc) this was a very well thought-out set which never lost momentum. HR should (IMHO) be up there with the Top Buzzes of this world. Great stuff.

Half past three in the morning and the crowd was as up for it as ever, so EASYGROOVE could have expected an easy ride. However, there were some hitches in his musical journey as for the first 30 minutes or so he played tracks which veered more towards '95-style hardcore, the 4-beat replacing the breakbeat. The crowd obviously wasn't into this as noise level diminished, appreciably so during the breakdowns. However, the mark of a really good DJ is to read his crowd properly, so full marks to Easygroove for reverting back to the '91-2 style and slamming down such tracks as the spirtual cousins "Playing With Knives" and "It's Just a Feeling." What started very slowly then continued apace until 5 o'clock, when only the diehards were left to savour the last 60 minutes of sonic bliss.

Last up was FUSION, the final member of an excellent four-man strikeforce. Toying with the crowd via scratching and looping, he laid down some excellent tracks, including the one I'd wanted to hear all night ("Far Out"). Never flagging in mixing quality, the set was ended neatly, first with some dark industrial rumble to clear the floor and then a final goodbye via "Out of Space," as if to say 'well done for getting through that lot!'

All in all a top night out, and for only 6 quid the price was pretty much unbeatable, both in terms of musical quality and length of proceedings. 'Flashback' is a monthly night, so maybe I'll see some of you in the near future at another of these events. Until then, it's goodbye from me, and remember: don't lose your roots.