Creamfields sold again

Dance brand Cream the famous UK brand that runs Creamfields has been sold by its corporate private equity owners to the worlds biggest music event company Live Nation which already owns many venues, organises a host of gigs and runs Ticketmaster the biggest ticketing site.   Does this show that after a period of quiet that the scene has been in for 5 years its due for a boost or is it as I suspect more likely that Live Nation will use the brand as its front in an assault on the North American market where Electronic Daisy Festival has made massive waves and attracts 100's thousands to their successful events?  My money sadly's on the later....lets hope it peaks some interest in the others promoters left behind, hint, hint!  Waits for the phone to ring....  Apparently James Barton the original Cream founder is going to head up the new Live Nation dance division btw

Read more about Cream...
Read about Creamfields...

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/live-nation-entertainment-acquires-top-electronic-music-company-cream-holdings-limited-2012-05-09 

Microclubs to replace all night raving?

The Guardian are reporting that smart clubbers in London, many who are commuters, no longer do all night raves but instead go to "Microclubs" to party after work until time to catch the last train home.  This trend can be seen in trendy areas like Shoreditch and the East End.

This shift towards earlier evenings out, without losing the sense of hedonism of an all-night club, has been gaining momentum over the past few years. Kate Hutchinson, clubs editor at Time Out London, which first identified the phenomenon, believes that, as the number of clubs and bars has increased and as venues battle for customers, putting on an official club night in an ordinary bar – thereby making it a destination – has become far more attractive to clubbers.

Is this an attractive proposition for ravers?   Its not something we see Fantazia ravers demanding from our parties yet, but as I get older it may seem more attractive when the kids wake me up in the morning after only 2 hours sleep.   Not sure raving for a couple of hours in your work gear seems right though....what do you think?

Read the original story...

Read more about current real all night raves...

A movie for ravers? Ecstasy the Irvine Welsh book now a film

A movie for ravers?  Ecstasy the Irvine Welsh (writer of Trainspotting) book has been made into a film.  The plot which is a twisted tale exploring the euphoric highs and the devastating lows of a chemical romance sound like the perfect popcorn movie for Fantazia ravers.  I look forward to seeing it.

If you want to win a chance to go to the premier and win other goodies the people behind the movie have got a competition you can enter.
Click here
Find out more about Ecstasy...

Will clubbing abroad be covered on your travel insurance?

A national newspaper reports that a national travel insurance firm refused to pay out for a reveler who was attacked at a Full Moon party in Thailand as they deemed it dangerous behavior.    Even after the independent ombudsman ordered them to pay that resisted.  Where does this leave clubbers to other destinations like Ibiza?  Can they also be a victim of the small print and its it just another example of big business taking the piss out of the little people? With tough economic times it is possible more will try to boost their profits by using these tactics against people who party abroad?  Our advice? If you need to claim beware what you put on the medical form at the hospital abroad, the insurance firm are unlikely to know where you have been unless you admit it and an accident is an accident no matter where it happens....
Read more...

Burning Man sells out...?

The once underground USA Desert festival the Burning Man, home originally alternate style followers is following the way of Glastonbury (now attended by families, city boys and celebs not hippies) and is being taken over by festival tourists as this years event (already ballooned in licensed number to 50,000) threatens to sell out before any of the original attendees get to buy any tickets.  It highlights the problems of trying to stay cool and underground whilst also trying to evolve and be financially strong.  Read more...

If you lose your original audience that magic vibe that people first were attracted to will inevitably be lost making the event something different than what it was which is always a shame.  One thing we know at Fantazia  is that our scene is very much under ground again.   With no mainstream media attention in anyway for many years our audience is our fans both new and old who come to add to the amazing atmosphere at the events and listen to great music not to change the vibe. We pledge to keep doing it how we know you love it best.

See you at Fantazia Superheroes and Two Steps Beyond!

Fantazia website, how we doing? What to cover next?

Since re launched the Fantazia website back in 2000 it just a few pages of our old events flyers.  Since then it has  grown to encompass event reviews, dj profiles, information on recreational drugs, all of which are related to anyone who is interested in the hardcore end of the rave scene.  We have large avoided covering the wider dance scene in more depth as there are other sites that do cover them.  We do want to keep adding information and interesting things to the site.  Do you have any thoughts on the direction Fantazia should go?  Subject we don't yet cover but should?  Let us have your thoughts to sales@fantazia.org.uk or comment below.  Make Fantazia.org.uk you home for dance music!

When was the country last as bad as now?

Looking through the Sunday papers (well actually website these days) the headlines make gloomy reading, recession, joblessness, cuts, repossessions...  it all looks bleak stuff and I sat there thinking when do I remember when it was last like this in the country?  My conclusion definitely 1992.  However bleak that year was for the country as a whole the ravers found their escape at all night parties including Fantazia events.  People love to have some escapism when times are bleak and big one off events give a lot of bang for your buck.

Then I got to looking at our and others people parties from those times and the tickets prices etc, and I was surprised at how little difference there is between the costs then and now.  Fantazia One Step Beyond in 1992 was £25 a ticket, Fantazia Two Steps Beyond this July the early birds were still only £25 with the fully price tickets not that much more.  If you take into account inflation and the vast amounts of health & safety, minimum wage etc now that's amazing. And if you look almost all the events today compare favourably price wise.  Back in the old days there were other price pressures.  Mainly the cost of getting a license, plus site owners wanted a fortune for their sites because of the hassle from neighbours being up in arms.  On top of that there were far fewer suppliers of lighting etc so they charged far more, and finally promotion costs were massive. The internet now allows for rave organisations to reach vast numbers of people at barely any physical cost.  Of course, all companies big and small are jossling for the same attention and neither now gets priority so lots of work still needs to be done to succeed.  Compare on then and now...
View One Step Beyond...  
View Two Step Beyond...

Do we need an Old Skool/Rave award ceremony?

Looking at flyers from the past all the different dance scenes have or have had their own events with award ceremony's built in.  The Hardcore Heaven Awards is still held annually and the Drum and Bass awards is forthcoming on the 3rd March (voting is now closed).

Do these polls hold any credibility?  Unlike say the Brit Awards & The Oscars where the candidates and the actually voting is done by a select group on insiders these dance music polls are decided on by the party goers themselves. Certainly democratic on the face of it, however is their any independent over sight on whether the votes are actually declared how the people have voted? Is there control over how many times people vote? And who decides who gets nominated?  It does seem time and again the same names appear and that glaringly certain people don't get look in with certain polls where in others they dominate. Strange?  Or do some just put in more work promoting themselves?

I pose the question as it has been a long time (I can't remember the last one) since there has been a Rave/Old Skool version of these award ceremonies.   Is it something that should be done?  If it was how would or should it be set up?  Or is it all just a bollocks marketing ploy with no place in a friendly unified scene who's mantra is PLUR......
View the Rave archive and see who you'd vote for...

Whats the best Rave PA?

Not all rave organisation have used live PA's.  But Fantazia have always been big supporters of the dance acts that play their own tunes.  In the past we have had many perform at our events including The Prodigy, PSI, Shades of Rhythm, Ratpack and many more.  

Whats amazing is that 20 years on many of these great artists are still performing their hit records to crowds around the UK on a regular basis, including at many of the recent Fantazia events.  The Scottish scene it worthy of note at this point as it has spawned many succesful PAs perhaps because of its development of its own musical hardcore sound.  Groups like TTF, Q-tex, Altern 8, Ultrasonic, Hyperbass the list goes on, however its a shame that many of these have not had the exposure they deserve in the rest of the country. 

Anyway its brings to mind a question.  

Which is the best every PA still playing in the rave scene?  Coming fore most to my mind  are groups like  Shades of Rhythm, N-Joi, Rozzalla, Baby D, Ultrasonic, Dream Frequency - all great performers - however for me there can only be one winner... The Ratpack.  Unforgettable and always a big pull... Searchin for my Rizla classic, but don't forget the songs that Ratpack made virtually their own like I'm Raving I'm Raving.... Catch them and at all the future Fantazia events this year :)

Who do you love?

Old Skool raving in the Sun

Old Skool raving in the Sun is on the cards this September as Fantazia, Dreamscape & Innovation team up to bring you a raving holiday to remember.  Its not going to be for the occasional raver with 3 whole days and nights of dance music on offer on the 6th, 7th & 8th December at Lloret De Mar, Barcelona, Spain - that's an awful lot of partying!

Innovation who already do the very successful Hardcore & Drum and Bass in the Sun holidays in the  resort approached us some time ago with the idea of pairing Fantazia with legendary Dreamscape and we could not resist working with the other old skool legends and bringing their ravers together with our own and getting an end of season holiday in without the kids :) Expect the best DJs from the old skool scene and a great friendly crowd.  See you there.  More details coming soon.
View more In the Sun info...

Part 3 of our Fantazia 20th Anniversary the inside story is out in Ravin Eye

Look out for Ravin Eye Magazine this month the current issue features part 3 of Fantazia The 20th Anniversary An inside story. It includes new details on the biggest Fantazia's ever including Summertime and One Step Beyond, blatant drug dealing at Fantazia Northern Ireland and details on our first visit to Bowlers plus The Big Bang in Scotland and we go down under to bring raving to Australia and so much much more.  Can't get hold of a copy? Then click to read on to read about the inside of raving from 1992/3 :)

Dance music goes mainstream in the USA. Good for the UK scene?

Dance music is on the rise in the huge American market over 10 years after the UK.  Not only is the Electronic Daisy Carnival the biggest dance in the world (based now in Las Vegas) but it has been announced that The Grammys (the US equivalent of the Brits) will be hosting a dance music related segment for the first time.  Long ignored as a poor spectacle for the show acts like David Guetta national appeal could be ignored no longer.  Will this prove good for the UK?  Dance music is long past its peak and no longer commands the media attention it once did.  Certainly our UK producer and DJs could do well in the USA but also new producers making new sounds in America could give the scene over here a new lease of life.  I hope so.

Fantazia website hits new highs and with so much content why not visit!

Yesterday the Fantazia website hit new highs with a record number of page views and visitors.  Propelled by visitors looking for info on the forth coming smash raves Fantazia Superheroes & Fantazia Two Steps Beyond events and also thousands of pages of useful information on the rave scene, fashion, recreational drug information, cool games, flyer archives, links to classic rave video we are pleased to see it all proving so popular and give our commitment to keep adding content for years to come.  If you can help contact us.

Wow how busy are we at Fantazia? Tickets selling like hot cakes

I haven't worked quickly in I don't know when. The phone has been ringing continually and we can only just process the online ticket orders as fast as they are coming in.  Fantazia Two Step Beyond is going to be amazing.  This is the fastest tickets sales for us since 1992 and the Early Bird tickets will be sold out in the first 3 hours.  See you all in July ;)

Furtherest ticket purchases so far? Norway... we looked forward to welcoming ravers from around the world

Buy Fantazia rave tickets now...

Listen to the audio history of the Smiley Face

We all know and love the Smiley Face (well we do anyway).  The bright yellow one became the emblem of the early acid house scene and its was a symbol of the culture of love and happiness. It certainly inspired our own Fantazia smiley face alien style logo which we know is a firm favourite with all our ravers.  Today the BBC have released a radio documentary which details its long (and often exploited) past. Well worth a listen as I am sure much of its origin and copyright will come as a surprise that could put a tarnish on that smile..... available until the 11th Feb, though we might sneak a download of it for anyone who misses it and is desperate for a listen. 30 minutes

Listen now...
Alternative read the history of the Smiley Face on Fantazia.org.uk
Smiley meets Acid House...

The story...

After almost 50 years, the origins of the 'Smiley' are contested but the iconic yellow design emerged and became popular in 1963 as a moral booster for the employees of an insurance company in Massachusetts after a company merger. The man behind this visual reminder to put on a 'happy face' was Harvey Ball, who designed the image for a $45 fee.

Alastair travels to Worcester, just outside of Boston, to meet Harvey's son Charlie and hear the story of his father's famous design. Are Worcester's residents proud of its role in the 'smiley' story?

Murray Spain, with brother and business partner Bernie, decided the image was a perfect balm for a traumatised American public in the wake of the Vietnam War. In Philadelphia they put the image on cards, badges and gift items and by 1971 had sold 50 million badges. Just why does he think the smiley face caught the public's imagination?

Frenchman Franklin Loufrani used the image to indicate good news in the paper 'France Soir' and made swift moves to trademark the image. His company now turns over $100 million a year and embroiled in a copyright dispute with Walmart over the image in the 1990s. His son Nicholas, CEO of 'The Smiley Company', tells a tale of copyright squabbles, big business and why the logo has such longevity.

An image of childlike innocence and happiness was ripe for subversion and Alastair examines how the smiley has been used in popular culture for satirical purposes, from Acid House and rave culture to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's revered graphic novel 'The Watchmen' and Banksy's graffiti.

In Smiley's People, Alastair meets the people behind that simple image of a shiny yellow face, two bright black eyes and a 'Mr Happy' mouth and asks what, during a new period of austerity, the smiley means to us.

Producer: Rebecca Maxted A Wise Buddah production for BBC Radio 4