It was that time again. Time for the one night guaranteed to satisfy every fibre of your being. The night filled with the almost implausible combination of Great Club, Monumental Atmosphere, Superlative Tunes, and a line up fit for a King. That’s right it’s Ram @ The End – fuck it that sounds so good I’ll say it again, - it’s RAM @ THE END!!

If you’ve been to this night before then the chances are you go to this night every time. It is without doubt the first and foremost event on any DnB heads calendar. If you’re like me you know its coming round, not by the date but by the feeling cursing through your body, like a cancer taking over your cells. It’s the first Friday bi-monthly residency that is Ram @ The End.

Believe it or not but it is possible to make this night just a bit more special… have it on your birthday. Oh yes it’s my 23rd.
It starts early for me with a medal worthy trek across Essex to my brothers place in Harwich. Once the presents are opened it is on to the matter in hand… line, fag, fag, beer, line, fag, line, beer, fag, taxi, train.

We’re on route – the pilgrimage into town has commenced. The journey is a breeze. We pick up the rest of our group at Colchester, and before long we’re off the train and in the cab. This is when the real anticipation starts. Who’ll play what? Will Zinc be on after Andy? Will Andy tease turbulence into Voodoo people? – You know the questions.

The fee is paid so we pick up the tickets and we’re in. Down the stairs & it hits you. The End Sound System. To the right – some downbeat breaks & the Bar. To the left, the nucleus – up front, fresh dubplates, pounding from without doubt the crispest, loudest system anywhere in the country.
Sparfunks just finished – bollox I love that dude. I check out the line up. NO FUCKING ZINC!!. This can’t be. Behind Andy and probably Subfocus he’s my number 3, and he aint on the list. I collar Sparfunk on his way to the bar;

“What the fucks going on? Dillinga after a 1-3 set from Andy & sub focus & Shimon 4 till 5 & 5 till 6? What’s happened to zinc?

“Na Shimon aint here he is in America, Zinc’ll be on last”

Great he may as well not be here. Not once yet have I managed to stay till the end.
The problem is that after Andy has been on its difficult to refocus yourself on someone else who, with all the will in the world, will not be able to satisfy like the man that’s gone before him, the man they call the executioner. But hey I aint gonna let it get me down. Tonight the unenviable task was going to fall to Dillinga; I wonder what he can do? Moving fusion were already rolling… sorry to say I wasn’t paying to much attention. You know how it is… between drinks at the bar and trips to the toilet the first hour skips by without too much recognition. Two notable bits however, were both by the aforementioned absentee…the man Shimon. First was Shadow Knows, and second Release, was my particular favourite full of the funked out sleaze that Shimon has come to master over the years. Next up was Bryan Gee. Possibly not held in as high esteem as many of the other DJ’s on the bill, but as he proved tonight, he never fails to get the vibe jumping with a superbly mixed set of absolute killers. The best by far was Roni Size’s Bite the Bullet, (prom’s this week) a Full Cycle masterpiece if ever I’ve heard one. An intro that really gets you moving before an almost complete change up for the Bass…oh the Bass, it sounds for me a bit like new school jungle – slowest and a bit loungy but full of roll.
This tune got all my group, and in fact most of the club rushing for the rewind – the Gee-man dutifully obliged – serving it up for a second devouring. Tasty. He continued with a fierce battle between lots of bits I know not much more about than the fact that they were big enough to make me seek out there id – something that, as I’m sure you know requires skill judgment and a lot of luck. Let loose, Seven City, Armed Forces, the glorious Warhead rmx – classssiiiiiiccccccc, along with something called Drum Ground or Sound not sure which, all hit my spot. And yet none were obvious anthems, infact, nothing about this set was obvious, this was a lesson in tune selection, mastered by the G-Man.

As Andy steps up, like baying pigs we all press forward. We know we’re in for a treat – we are every time he plays, but with 2 hours it gives him the scope to play everything you expect him to play and then a whole host that you don’t. And he started as he meant to go on, no time to get yourself settled, he was straight in. Fast paced and as accurate as it comes. To say he was rippin’ it would be an understatement. He was like a man possessed. In true Andy fashion, he was, at times mixing so quickly you could barely keep up. Plate to plate he kept us guessing with one of the best sets technically I have ever heard from the man. And he was loving it…gone was the grunge out Andy of a year ago here was Andy at his most rolling.
Vault remix early on gave us a taste of what was to come. Yes a vault remix, I still pull the original out for a tease every now & again, and now the remix is here. Get in!!! It holds all that is synonymous of the original but like the mysterons remix (on the dimensions ep from ram, promo’s this week) it twist up the bass giving it a whole new dimension. It was the first time I had heard this one but you can be damn sure it wont be the last.

Now we all know Andy likes the tease, but tonight he was loving it –some to quick to recognise- some however like last years Ram killer – Strobe, and the sublime Electrolux from 2003 got us all to the point of delirium, before being whipped away to make room for another. He had us in the palm of his hand, and like only Andy knows how, he was constantly checking the crowd, almost in recognition of your support, but more about sorting out what tunes we like from what we don’t.

There was so much in this set that I didn’t know – but lots I couldn’t help but recognise like the oh so sexy French Kiss rmx, or the better (in my opinion) than original Stepin Stones rmx. Man, I even heard 26 Bass for Christ sake. The stand out tunes however, would have to be Sub focus’ forthcoming smashers – Airplane & Swamp Things…The Sub focus and Ram sound galvanised together. Believe me these two are Big! He also absolutely killed me with the new Logistics tune - Inhale and Pacman rmx mix.

Now normally I like to take at least two breaks during Andy’s set to recompose myself and recharge the batteries, but tonight I simply couldn’t move, there was no chance I was going to miss a single second. So needless to say once the onslaught had finished, it had taken with it my energy. So as Dillinga stepped up, I stepped out…I needed a break. Therefore didn’t catch much of what he was doing – but his last tune was something called Take me all the way I think which was pretty tasty.
So here he was – my number 2 dj – stepping in after one of the best Andy sets this yr. Fuck that. One of the best Andy sets ever. The crowd was now packing back into the main room…what was he gonna deliver?
Now it must be pretty difficult for someone who has had so many big tunes this yr, not to just play out his own tracks, and tonight was no exception, he rattled through all them all with Airplane, Flamenco, Juno, Smack my Bitch up and of course the seminal Swamp Things. But what he did so well tonight, was mix. Gone is the slightly tame, safe dj of a year ago; in its place was a fully-fledged Andy challenger. From the speed he mixed to the accuracy with which he operated. This felt like a young Andy flexing his muscles. I would love to see what he would do with a 2 hours, cos tonight 1 was not enough. He was full of verve & energy, and he just kept bringing out the big guns. Hardhalk/talk & Downbeat were massive and something that even after the rewind I could not quite make out (heads a bit fuzzy by this point) called The Wouyou, but it could quite possibly be something by Eddy Woo? Not sure but this was the non Sub produced stand out of the set.

I had to leave before the end. First train beckoned. So sorry to say I didn’t catch any of Zinc set, although I can assure you if it had followed the way the rest of the night had gone then it would have been absolutely fantastic!!

I will leave you with this thought… If you haven’t been to Ram @ The End before then you fucking well need to. This was the best Ram this year (without Shimon and Zinc as well) and there’s still another one to come. Bring it on.

Ferverent 11/05

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