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| Full Force |
Date: Friday
20th June 2003
Address: Club Vision, Queen St, Cardiff
Occurrence: Weekly
Hours: 10pm – 5am
Ticket Price: £8
Dress Code: Wear what
you like!
Genre: Hard
house (with a mixture of classics, trancey stuff
and hardcore in room 2)
Capacity:
1200 |
Pictures:
Click
Here
Listings: Click
Here |
Full Force Arena:
Ian M, Phil Reynolds, Knuckleheadz, Maxmanic,
DNA
Jungle Room: James
McCarthy, Ricky Bones, Ross Keeling, Mogzi |
Club Vision (then ‘The
Apocalypse’) was where I lost my clubbing
cherry. Sadly, I never found it again, although
that’s not to say I’ve stopped looking
(I have a feeling its under the stage somewhere)!
It was a remarkable event though (sometime in ’98),
with 1500 clubbers, 4 arenas, 2 chillout rooms,
13 DJs (whose names I don’t recall), 17 pints
of Red Bull (or thereabouts…I couldn’t
count) and half a Wrigley’s Extra (stuck to
my shoe)! From that point on, I became a dedicated
regular; through management and promoter changes,
I was always there to party my socks off. Sadly,
things then went a bit tits-up in Cardiff clubland
and the old place became somewhat desolate. It will
always hold a special place in my heart though,
and when I was to hear, (after a short spell of
closure), that something exciting was about to hit
Cardiff’s largest clubbing venue, I was keen
to find out more!
Physically, things have changed little since those
first days at Vision, although in addition to its
former attributes, the club now sports a massive
and crystal clear 50k sound system, a balcony overlooking
the main arena, a raised DJ booth and a slightly
smarter paint job. Speakers have also been placed
in the entrance tunnel, to pump the main dance floor
action out onto Cardiff’s main street. This
somehow reminded me of that feeling you get when
you’re queuing at Alton Towers; a mixture
of excitement and fear. But, unless you include
the ‘Titty Twister’ chillout room (complete
with S& M tables), there's nothing to be scared
of here. The people are all smiles and bouncy hellos
and the door staff and promoters alike (from a more
professional breed than days gone by), are happy
to chat with excited punters and to deal with any
troublemakers calmly, politely and discreetly.
The Full Force night has been running for just over
a month now and is already attracting some of the
biggest names in the business. On the night in question,
Ian M hadn’t played in Cardiff for nearly
six years and only came down with what promised
to be a unprecedented boost to his Welsh profile.
He wasn’t let down and neither were the clubbers.
There has been a mixture of things happening in
Cardiff in recent months, yet none of them catering
directly for what many Welsh clubbers love the most;
the hard stuff! Full Force promised (and delivered)
an extra large dose of exactly that, from the new-edged
NRG sounds of local legend Maxmanic, to the more
traditional euphoric stuff from Mr Phil Reynolds.
Plenty of action was to be had in the upstairs ‘Jungle
Room’ too, with some storming club classics
from local award-winning DJ James McCarthy, not
to mention some fun with a few (very entertaining)
wooden animals!
I am told the nights have been getting busier and
busier by the week as the word spreads, and talking
to DNA (promoter and resident DJ extraordinaire)
it is clear to see why. Here lies a bunch of dedicated,
energetic and passionate people, with a fresh approach
to giving clubbers what they want and having one
helluva good knees-up in the process!
Full Force is questionably the biggest, loudest
and hardest thing to come out of Wales…ooo,
possibly since…Charlotte Church! And, whilst
still in its infancy (like Miss Church), I have
a feeling the Full Force of it (sorry!) is probably
yet to come! |
Venue: 10
Music: 10
Crowd: 9
Sound System: 9
Total: 38 / 40
Rating:
Gold Award |
| Review written by:
Pammy T |
pammy_t@uk-cl.co.uk |
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