Welcome to Manic, the newest brand of parties from Powerhouse Production – nothing extraordinary, nothing spectacular. Actually, nothing much new at all. Maybe it was just the hope that something different would be offered, either a little better than past parties or bringing back that essential ‘WOW’ factor we all crave. Lucky the night still managed to be memorable with its excellent lineup of international talent that included stellar performances from the Raver Baby Crew, Slipmatt and UFO among others.

Looking at the whole experience of a massive rave, for some people seeing their first multi-coloured laser swinging hypnotically around the main arena might have very well been a source of amazement. Or even the bass-infused ‘thump’ from one of the two large stacks of speakers would have got their head spinning. But there were other people, including myself, who were looking for just a little bit more than that. Something that would transform the night from ‘just another rave’, to an expression of everything excellent and exciting that can be experienced at such a large-scale party.

The night’s journey started in the Hardcore Room, situated off to the side of the Main Arena, where Raziel and Terrorist were being given the first chance to spin the wax. It wasn’t long until one of the more deserving DJs in Sydney, Midian, got his chance to play some early tunes while the turntables were still hot. For me personally, Midian’s set was one of the best that I heard that evening as whipped out oldschool anthems like Masterplan, Hold Me Now and even the Braveheart theme, which had the hearts of all the old school ravers pumping with excitement. Disappointing though was the fact that the hardcore room seemed to be forgotten on the production side of things, with the effort that was evident at previous events no longer there. The lack of a coherent theme for the party was also echoed in the minimal amounts of decorations, amusements and other little touches that you would normally expect at a Powerhouse rave.

But no matter how much the production might have been lacking in the smaller rooms, nothing could take away from the stellar performances of the headliners in the main arena, the Raver Baby Crew. Hixxy, Breeze, Styles and Re-Con, along with a bit of help from MC Storm, whipped up 3 hours of flavorsome happy hard that had punters wanting more. After their last performance at the Prophecy Ultraviolet party, everyone was keen to see what they would dish out this time. The regular tracks were played: Rockin With the Best, You’re My Angel, You’re Shining, Hixxy’s remix of Special D’s Come With Me and even the Pendulum mix of Prodigy’s Voodoo People to name a few. MC Storm was displaying his usual onstage antics, even including the infamous ‘human beatbox’ routine. Darren Styles saved us with his vocals as he performed a live version of his hit Save Me and Re-con hopped on the bandwagon with his live personal touch of Ultrabeat’s Pretty Green Eyes. Coupled with a towering force of lighting rigs swaying across the room, the whole experience helped to wipe away any prior judgments or presumptions.

Up next in the main area was Slipmatt. The Raver Baby Crew were such a tough act to follow, but he drove the pedal to the medal by kicking in with some heavy-duty bass that was missing from some of the earlier sets. Along with the basslines came several twisted mashups and well-recognised anthems. The track of the set was Paul Elstak’s Luv You More, a fantastic tune to relish on the Main Arena’s sound system.

Hitting the decks after the other international happy hard acts featured in the Main Arena, UFO had the daunting task of playing to a crowd that had started to tire and were dispersing to catch their breath. He played strongly though and as I was familiar with some of his own older tracks (_Flying High_ in particular), I was encouraged to stay and see what he could do. His technical wizardary showed the crowd why he has remained so popular behind the decks for so many years. He sampled and scratched his way through Slide Away, Hardcore DJ and even sampled the drum beat of Queen’s We Will Rock You. Not to mention a remix of Ferry Corsten’s Punk.

Local heroes Suae and Weaver finished off the night together in the usual fashion with MC Losty hyping the crowd up until the very end. Playing out a remix of Zany’s Sky High, Bimbo Jones’s Come Fly With Me and finally You’re My Angel, they finished the off the night with a touch of happy hard heaven. With a lineup that was no less than flawless, it will be very interesting indeed to see what headliners gets billed to play at Powerhouse’s next event.