If you have been an avid hardcore/happy hardcore supporter for 10 years like myself you’d know that after being at Godspeed Subzero it was definitely one of the best raves of the year. With a massive line up of some of the best UK hardcore DJs, such as Scott Brown, Kevin Energy, Brisk, Sharkey, K-Komplex, Billy Daniel Bunter and AMS, banging sets were the order of the night and no serious fan should have missed this gig. Although it was disappointing not to see Hixxy show, his reasons were valid having had a car accident in London which left him with a fractured neck (for the third time!) In respect to Hixxy, Scott Brown and Kevin Energy both played out 1 and a half hour sets as opposed to the 1 hour sets which they were meant to play.

The night started out well with the lines moving really fast, meaning that people could get in on time to see there favorite DJs play. The first hour started with a bang, having two rooms open from the beginning. The Main arena started off with Matrix working up the crowd  with a hard trance set before Scott Brown went on to play, with the second room opened by Crystal playing a hardcore set for the die hard fans.

When Scott Brown went on people were shocked to learn that Hixxy hadn’t shown, but nonetheless they still felt Scott Brown’s vibe and most people from the second arena came in running to see the godfather of hardcore in action. Scott’s set was relatively impressive, although he used the same formula he always uses – starting off the set with happy hardcore and then progressing into hardcore. His set ended with the song “Boom Stick” which made the whole crowd go ballistic.

After Scott’s set Kevin Energy was left to play the next 90 minutes. It was a mixture of freeform and happy hardcore. His set also got a good crowd reaction, especially when he ended his set with the track “Pilgrim” by Bass-x (aka Scott Brown). It was good to see the BLM production crew let off the fake snow in the middle of the night. It made the crowd hungry for more and left a huge mess for the cleaners the next morning.

Right after Kevin Energy it was time for one of Sydney’s most respected DJs to play – Fenix! Fenix started off his set really well blending happy hardcore with freeform, although after 20 minutes of listening to him I felt it was time for a break. I made my way to the outside chill out area where there were roughly 500 people just sitting down taking a breather and the odd few on the jumping castle.

After a short break I was off to see what the second arena had to offer, with DJ AMS now doing a free form set – and it absolutely rocked! After capturing the last few minutes of AMS’s set Tom-E came on wearing a scary outfit/mask which made him look like one of the characters from Halo 2. Nonetheless his mixing skills were good even though he was blinded by the suit most of the time. Some key tracks in his set were Euphony – Turn around and A- tension – Angels. After listening to Tom-E for a few minutes and taking some snap shots in his scary suit it was time to head off to see Billy Daniel Bunter open up his set.

Bunter’s opening track, after explaining to everyone about his 40 hour plane flight, was none other then Force & Styles – Heart of Gold. Let it be said the amount of emotion from the crowd when he dropped it as his opening track made everyone really connect like a small community, with people who knew the lyrics singing along, even losing their voices by the end of it! Also as a special surprise, Sharkey decided to MC alongside Bunter while he fed the crowd with classics from Raver Baby records along with the occasional new track such as CLSM – Round and Round. Interestingly this track is by Bunter and his production partner Jon Doe, who hasn’t been able to come to Australia yet due to his illness (heart problems).

After listening to Bunter for a while it was time to move on and see K-Komplex in the second arena. K-Komplex also played a freeform based set which made the crowd go crazy, however for me it was time to take a break and visit the outdoor chill out area again. Only this time to witness about 1000 people just sitting and lying around. It was sad to see a person caught for dealing drugs while outside, however it was good to see the cops doing their job. After chilling about for a few minutes it was time to hear one last set, with Brisk about to take to the stage with Sharkey as the MC.

Brisk’s set was rather trancey and melodic which makes sense as he spends more time working on his Stimulant DJs project – which is a hard house/trance. One song that did stand out in his set was “We Will Rock You”, which even featured the originals vocals from Queen! After stomping away, losing half my voice singing along in the process, I felt it was time to go home while the mood was still high.

All in all this had to have of been the best Godspeed I have ever been to, and although there were a few unfortunate events that put a bit of a dampener on the evening, there were definitively more positives then negatives about the event.