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I went to Gatecrasher and found it fucking bizarre. It was the height of its madness and all the regulars thought they were celebrities, having been profiled in Mixmag a couple of months before. I read years later that one of them (‘UV Lee’) did so many pills he basically became a spackermong with no functioning memory.

This was when they were all wearing Pikachu clothes and sitting on the floor instead of dancing.

Simon Raine (?) I think the owner was, obviously thought his superclub bubble could never burst and opened another massive venue, Bed, almost next door for more soulful/funky house. I had one night there and enjoyed it much more. Rampling was playing and was on unusual good form. I think Seamus Haji was on too. The one downer was a bird (and this genuinely happened) tried to stab me with her pointy-fronted shoe. I was stood next to her and for no reason whatsoever other than being a bit hammered I said “I see you’ve chosen a very pointy shoe this evening”. She took it off and tried to hit me with it while shouting aggressively in a broad Sheffield accent that I was “tekkin t’ piss”.

Raine eventually bankrupted himself and (allegedly) did an insurance job on the Republic once the crowds started disappearing.

    Thanks Dan, you imagined completely incorrectly.

    • Dan replied to this.

      Went to two Gatecrasher Summer Sound-Systems, both immense.

      Sasha and Digweed, Danny T, Masters At Work and The Chemical Brothers being highlights.

      Superclubs exist on the RHS of this fancy infographic

      📉

      Dan ….guilty of one of the worst “like nuns falling down the stairs” mixes on a CD compilation. Know it was “Live” but a lack of QC in my opinion at Cream HQ

      • Dan replied to this.

          bosstrabs Wonder what happened to the thousands who dressed up as Pikachu’s when the club folded. A tough look to get out of too easily………not too pub friendly, especially up North.

              Dan All about Oakenfold and trance?

              Around the time I started going ('97) it was usually Graeme Park or someone playing plinky plonky handbag house in the main room (you can hear exactly what Graeme Park will have been playing by simply listening to him now), Oakenfold or someone interesting (Weatherall, Justin Robertson) in the annexe, but then Oakenfold took over the Courtyard. Nick Warren and then Steve Lawler were the Annexe residents.

              Then it sort of flipped in ’99 when Seb became resident and mostly played trance to the main room, and soon after Yousef became Annexe resident so it was house in there.

              But Amps almost certainly went more than me, I was mostly in GodsKitchen as I was at uni down there.

              • Dan replied to this.

                  IndustryStandard Wonder what happened to the thousands who dressed up as Pikachu’s when the club folded. A tough look to get out of too easily………not too pub friendly, especially up North.

                  They graduated to the hard house clubs like Insomniacz.

                    bosstrabs Funny you mention Weatherall as he’d be the last person you think of playing at Cream, but I’ve heard a few of his mixes from Cream over the years and there excellent.

                    • Amps replied to this.

                        bosstrabs it is the three minutes per track mixing which you just don’t get any more

                        You do in techno.

                          bosstrabs no shame in them were great cd’s to get into dance music, worked in mc donalds for a summer job around 99 used to have them on the night shift pumping out, personal fav was oakenfold cream resident had been at him at homelands that summer rest was as they say…..

                            Dan Early days from about 92 -95 where a bit of a free for all, which was reflected in the rest of the scene, Sasha on the same line up as Judge Jules etc. But that is where and how Cream made it’s name, it had a bunch of the best DJs in the world, on every Saturday night, all under one roof, at the zeneth of dance music. That rep came long before the commercial releases and any of it was considered cheesy. Around 95 - 96 ish the rooms and line ups became a bit more thematic.

                                bosstrabs You’ve opened with a stinker there, but I can’t see it getting much better.

                                  Went to gatecrasher at least once and a month from when it started at the arches. Had some brilliant nights seeing Sasha, sander k, Paul van dyke and Carl cox. Also went to some shockers including a New Year’s Eve where Tony de vit was on at 9pm. Certainly become full of egos when the whole uv gang started to get famous. My mates younger brother turned into one. When it shut they all moved onto the hard house nights in Sheffield ((can’t remember it’s name but was also an after hours when gatecrasher was still on, which was fucking horrendous)

                                  bosstrabs Remind me, what was the venue for Bed called? Sound Factory? Something like that? Think it was already a club before Bed moved there?

                                      Amps Bed? Benson was a regular.