This was a party that was long overdue. It was very reminiscent of last year's Icehouse parties. I heard the estimated attendance was as high as 3,000 people.

I got there around 11:00 pm and from the volume of the music echoing off the walls of the courtyard and the long line outside could tell this party was off to a great start. I also feard it might get shut down (which has become WAY too frequent in Phoenix lately) but, thankfully, it didn't.

All the DJ's did great. I even enjoyed listening to Spitfire and Tact but, I'm still not much of a happy hardcore fan. I spent a lot of time in the courtyard because it was much cooler outside and because they were playing my kinda music.

Generally, everyone was nice. Although, I got a few hateful, condescending looks when I asked the names of a few happy hardcore DJs. Some of those kids don't want to see anything resembling an adult when they are listening to a 5000 rpm record blasting their vertebrae out of joint. But, if you look at them from afar, you'll see they don't smile even when they aren't being bothered by a curious, yet friendly photographer. Raves might be about PLUR in theory but, there are all sorts of people in every sector of a society and sometimes, you can find a few characters at raves that are as far apart from PLUR as you can get. The funniest thing is they consider everyone else a phony raver because they are not in the "exact" wavelength as them. You can find the same characters among deadheads too. Truth is, if you can find a nice cop you can also find an asshole raver. It's very rare, but, it's not impossible. Sometimes, nature likes to throw a few Fruit Loops into the Corn Flakes bowl just to fuck with us;)

Speaking of cops, I saw a whole bunch of them lining up outside, ready to move in to find an under age raver or some other excuse to shut the party down. But, it never happened. Maybe because it's a little hard trying to ID 3,000 people while they are all jumping up and down in darkness.

Around 4:00 am they turned the music off in the courtyard and everyone was moved inside. Almost an hour later, the party was over. So, we went to an afterparty (one of several to be sure) and kept the good times rollin' :)

I heard a lot of people avoided this party because of the promoters. I don't know what Phlipseyed did in the past to piss people off like that but, whatever it was, I think this party surely made up for it and I for one would like to thank them for showig so many people such a good time and proving the rave scene in Phoenix is still alive and very strong.