Ministry of Sound Millenium Dome 2002 Review

Ministry of Sound New Year 2002

As a feat of engineering the dome never fails to impress, however complete lack of use through the year has meant that few people have had recently had the pleasure. It was therefore remarkable to see the enormous building fully functional for this one off occasion - they'd even got in the overpriced burger vans to give it that authentic 'festival' feel!

Musically, the main stage provided little in the way of surprises. The line-up was well publicised in advance and basically did exactly what is said on the tin. Thus, Lottie's set of hard house was exactly that, Dave Pearce provided his usual dependable fare of chart dance, with a brief duck for cover as New Year exploded around him, and Mauric Piccotto well, played more dance records. Never the most visually stimulating of past times, there were nonetheless a suitable array of dancers on stage to distract those who could still see straight from the ugly mugs of the DJ's. A frustration was that with so many DJ's coming on and off, the same few records seemed to appear time and time again - though whether the gurning masses (and yes there were lots of people there) noticed is thoroughly unlikely though.

The best entertainment of the evening was to be found in the heaving 'other stages' - each contained within its own ministry of sound night themed marquee. The mis-titled "World Dance" arena (Drum and Bass) provided easily the strongest line-up of the night, with legends such as Rat Pack and Hype playing out to a wildly enthusiastic crowd.

Surreal entertainment for the evening was provided in the guise of a 'well-mashed' punter feeling it would be a sensible idea to climb the pole leading from the middle of the dance floor to the roof of the dome (and beyond). A 20 minute hiatus in Andy C's set with pleas from the stage and the crowd failed to entice the man down and where he ended up remains a mystery.
Nevertheless, Andy C (widely regarded as one of the best D'n'B DJ's in the world) had his set extended to well over 2 hours, most of which I spent dancing like a loon both in the crowd and on the stage.

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