It was a terrifying night over at Rise, with Friday the 13th bringing out the masses for a hardcore old-school extravaganza that had all the eerie hallmarks of a Japanese horror flick. The crowds gathered with people dressed in all types of freaky paraphernalia to pay tribute to the songs that defined the hard generation over the past 20 years. Black was the new black with everyone who wasn’t decked out in freaky costumes, had their faces painted in all types of ghoulish and demonic art, their glow sticks being the only thing which actually represented their location in space.

Never to disappoint, the Rise nightclub themed itself very appropriately for the evening’s festivities, including now what has become the standard spectacular lighting show that really does add so much more immersion into the event.

The music, as expected, started hard and didn’t end until the early hours of the morning. Dirty, hard, trashy music that gives you an unexplained stomp in your foot blared through the sound system at what seemed to have been at least 10dB over the legal limit, but still didn’t feel quite loud enough. Old school tracks which amazed us and defined our years came back, and the same venom that coursed through our vein’s returned. At times it became depressing on some level, the music really reminded us of our age.

The DJ’s pounded through all the tracks that through years past had got us singing our loudest and vibrating wildly with their hypnotic beats. Simon Barwood, resident DJ over at Rise kept the energy flowing, and obviously had to dig deep into his vinyl coffers to find some of old anthem’s he played. Followed by Greg Packer who returned to the roots of modern drum and bass, playing some of the original jungle tracks of the early 90’s. Rousa finished the night perfect with another excellent track list that got us through to the early morning. All the DJ’s seemed to enjoy playing some of the older stuff, and this in turn reflected onto the crowd who was at their mercy.

The Rise crowd was in full force, jumping, thumping, pounding with complete choreography to the music. The atmosphere was as always intoxicating, and even if you were tired from dancing for what seemed like an eternity, the flashes of light and twirling of glow-sticks somehow resonated at just the right frequency to keep you on going. All in all it was what you would expect from Rise, a great night out, sore legs in the morning, and enough blurred, vague memories that will lead you wanting more.