Despite
fierce competition from the UK’s top
superclubs, COLOURS proved that they have got what it takes to stage the
biggest and boldest club events and the millennium has allowed them to
demonstrate their partying prowess in style.
With cancellation rumours running rife and many clubs falling by the wayside
as millennium madness reached a fever pitch, COLOURS stood their ground
and stayed true to their roots, staging a fourteen hour millennium marathon
that left other events wilting in the shade by comparison.
< Who let Jamiroquai
in ? >
Over 10,000 raving revellers packed the former
Cummins factory in Shotts,
Lanarkshire, which was divided into three distinct arenas hosted by DANCE
ANTHEMS, MINISTRY OF SOUND and an amalgamated force of INSIDE OUT and NEW
YORK CITY. VIP guests were treated to laid back grooves fused with jazz
tinged breakbeats from the CAFÉ FUNK phenomenon in a fourth private
arena.
Organisers had originally planned to split the venue into five arenas in
order to reflect the musical diversity COLOURS events are famous for. They
had been awarded a licence for 15,000 to fill the sprawling site but when
ticket sales did not reach their targets, they made a conscious decision
to
downsize so that their legendary atmosphere was not lost in space!
< Happy New Year !
>
Headlining the event alongside 40 of the worlds
foremost deck masters, was
top RADIO 1 FM DJ DAVE PEARCE who hot-footed it over to Shotts from his
global broadcast in Glasgow where he played to a 35,000 strong clan. At
one point in the evening PEARCE attracted a crowd of 7,000 to his DANCE
ANTHEMS ARENA with his inimitable mix of up-for-it house classics and chart-topping
tunes. PEARCE said of the event “It was a truly magnificent sight, you
can always rely on COLOURS to draw a totally crazy crowd and the millennium
gave us all an excuse to really go for it and create a moment in time that
will never be forgotten.”
< Scots largin' it
>
PEARCE was not the only big name to have it right
off at COLOURS. US
housemaster MARSHALL JEFFERSON was quoted as saying “It was the best night
of my life” and JON PLEASED WIMMIN could hardly contain himself as he rocked
his arena at midnight with Moloko’s summer sensation ‘Bring It Back’.
Meanwhile, top jock DARREN STOKES put on a fine show in the Inside Out/New
York City arena alongside fellow countrymen MICHAEL KILKIE, SIMON FOY,
KRIS KEEGAN and ZAMMO.
< John Mansini on
the decks >
Party king JEREMY HEALY made his entrance in
ultimate style, arriving in a private Lear jet, on loan for the evening
from Harrods boss Mohommad Al
Fayed. HEALY went on to hold his own party at his hotel room with some
new friends in the form of two Radio 1 FM competition winners who had flown
up to Scotland with him as part of a COLOURS prize. GRAEME PARK reckoned
he had the best time since the good ol’ days at Manchester’s Hacienda nightclub
and the K-KLASS boys played a sterling set of disco fuelled funk and block
rockin’ beats in the immensely successful Dance Anthems Arena.
Not everything went without a hitch as ISDN links from Australia, Cape
Town
and New York went down due to a technical fault at the suppliers end,
leaving COLOURS with no option but to pursue legal action in the New Year
in order to get some answers for an understandably disgruntled crowd. JOHN
DIGWEED missed his flight to Scotland and ultimately his set in the New
York City arena (there had to be one cross country casualty) however this
was the only no-show out of 40 DJ bookings for the evening.
< Fun @ the Fairground
>
The
night wouldn’t be complete without a performance from infamous COLOURS
promoter RICKY MAGOWAN who entertained the VIP room with his own rendition
of Auld Lang Syne - albeit naked from the waist down. Unluckily for Ricky,
his makeshift stage (a speaker) did not agree with its new use and collapsed,
bringing the Scot housemaster crashing down to raucous applause and a particularly
sore head (in more ways than one).