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[Report] Slaves to the Rave (NL)

The last time “Slaves to the Rave” visited Outland was on the 6th of september 2008. After editions in Italy, Spain and one in Ettenleur they’re finally back in Rotterdam. NRG Events had done a good job by booking the best hardcore dj’s for both the early as the present area.
Outland had been decorated with “Slaves”-banners and underneeth the dj-booth a large screen was used to project all kinds of sick, twisted and nasty horror images and clips. If you paid a lot of attention you must have recognised a dozen horror movies.

We arrived at 23:30h and surprisingly enough there wasn’t a line in front of the entry. So quiet??? We entered and once inside the place was rather empty. That changed during the night but we have seen more people in Outland in the past. Therefore the second ring of the main area was closed.
We decided to go downstairs where Bountyhunter was spinning some old fashioned vinyl. He played some nice early tracks like “98 to Piano”, “Poltergeist”, “Pitch Hiker” and of course “The First Rebirth”. His mixing was fast and accurate, keeping the vibe. He continued with “So”, “Men of Teflon”, the happy version of “I wanna be a Hippy” and “You belong to me” from that other great Belgian dj, Yves.
We were curious if it had become a bit more crowded upstairs in the main so we went up and noticed the place had filled up some more. There’s nothing worse than an empty dancefloor.
Triax was firing up the place with tracks like “Why So Serious” and “Gucci”.
We enjoyed the view from the first ring. Outland has an outstanding soundsystem which allows for great sound everywhere. Besides that the place has some very nice multicoloured lasers. Instead of round figures, these lasers make squared 3D figures.
Back in the early area Waxweazle continued the old vibes with tracks from Dune, Isaac, DJ Rob & DJ Tim and The Stunned Guys.
Because Outland isn’t that big, it’s easy to walk around, so you don’t miss a lot of what’s happening in the other area. We quickly visited Daymar who was testing the speakers with some grinding Industrial and harder mainstream tracks (Gamma Release) and went down again because Panic had just started his set. He really knew how to keep the crowd dancing and mixed quite a lot of tracks in a short timespan. After “Born to be Wild”, “Simbiosis” and “Dreamgirl” we changed areas again.
In the Present area Bart from Endymion started his set and played a lot of well known (Abduction and Drunk with a Gun) and new tracks (Broken, Changed the Game, I’m so Sick). The floor was filled and the crowd was going crazy. After “Abandon” and “When Angels Cry” it was time for Mad Dog and Tha Playah.
Apparently the MC didn’t know the difference between Mad Dog and Tommyknocker because he announced the later one. Everybody knows that the guy with the “McDonalds”-cap is Mad Dog. They played all their well known tracks (Bassdrum Bitch, Nothing else matters, Hardcore Machine, Dicks Pussy’s, B.O.B., Demolition, and Assholes) and some surprising hardcore remixes from old trance tracks like “Café del Mar” and “The Orange Theme”. (If anybody knows these tracks, leave a comment. It will be appreciated.)
During the set of these two maniacs we also visited Lancinhouse and OCD in the early for a while. They treated the crowd with some firm tracks like “Human Resource - Fuck them”, “Shoot that MF” and “DJ Alex – I’m in Control”.
After Lancinhouse and OCD it was the man from Cenobite Records who rocked the place. We know Michel Klaassen aka Leviathan likes to speed it up a little during his sets so we wouldn’t want to miss this. Instead of playing a standard Cenobite / Mokum set, he played a much more darker early set. Hard and energetic. A combination of Ruffneck Records meets “2 Hard 2 Handle”. Combined with a few tracks from his own label like “Nobody escapes us” and “Strength of Unity”. Besides those we recognised “Predator – The Mind of a Lunatic”, “Nitrogen - Bad bwoy” and “Arjuna and Beyonder – Rock until the break of dawn”. Imagine a brutal BPM-count and mixing in a murderous high tempo: That’s Leviathan.
After his well deserved ovation the next act continued what Michel had started. Gangsta Alliance didn’t disappoint us, playing all the old kick-ass tracks like: “Live in NY”, Artcore DNA”, “The Guillotine”, “Phonetic Style”, 20000 HC-Members”, “Who’re you fucking with” and “Who is it”. Speedy, up-tempo and energetic.

The last dj of the night in the main area was Dj Partyraiser. With tracks like “Raise the Party”, “Bla Bla” and “Sloop die Speakers” he took what energy was left from us.
Again we were surprised by two tracks (Discoland and Braincrash) which were both remixed in present day style. The new kick drums increased in power of the original signifcantly.
We left the place just after Partyraiser played his last terror tracks, just before the great exodus. We realy enjoyed the night and look back with a smile.

In the flyer booklet which was handed out at the exit, we saw the announcement of the next “Slaves to the Rave” here in Outland. NRG-Events is planning to team up with “Beter kom je niet”. And because we know and love both organisations we highly recommend you being there when it kicks off.