Chiptune Alliance 2009

Wow.

Just wow. I cannot even begin to describe how epic this show was. It had everything a good show has: A nice venue (i.e. The Corporation in Sheffield), a perfect audio setup (where the music is not as loud as possible where it becomes almost deafening, yet loud enough to get the party started), a small yet genuinely nice crowd, all of whom were chatty (I met plenty of folk there and exchanged numbers with a fair few chip tune fanatics) and to top it off - a total of FIVE artists (Goto80, Spheres of Chaos, Henry Homesweet, Fighter X and Sabrepulse) each with their own unique style (either different hardware or the use of instruments) and with no delay or wait between each artist.

Things started off pretty slow and chilled with Goto80, but as soon as I got talking to a few people in the crowd (well, they kinda came over to me to compliment me on my awesome Street Fighter II Turbo t-shirt and it would be rude of me to ignore that) the night suddenly turned awesome.

Henry Homesweet jumps on stage and belts his tunes out to the rest of the crowd and turns everyone into complete raving lunatics. During the rave however, I bump into an old friend of mine who lives three streets away from me and who I’ve known since primary school. As soon as Henry Homesweet finished, I immediately ran to the bar to grab a water, though I ended up drinking only half the cup and throwing the rest of the ice cold water on me as soon as I noticed Fighter X had made his way onto the stage.

The raving continues.

With Fighter X’s set coming to a close, I thought that the moment would grant me the opportunity to grab another drink, but then from out of nowhere, Sabrepulse makes his way out, does a Game Boy mashup with Fighter X before merging the set into his. By this time, everyone is drenched in their own sweat from head to toe yet nobody refuses to stop dancing their asses off. When Sabrepulse announces the next tune is his last, the whole crowd decides to go all out and invade the stage. Next thing you know, you’re raving on stage with one of the kings of 8-bit music.

Once the show had ended, I grabbed another drink from the bar, collected a demo CD from one of the first bands of the night and made my way outside. Unfortunately I had an hour to kill before my train arrived until some guy decides to pull up outside the venue and flip open his car boot to reveal his sound system ready to pump out some more of 8-bit’s finest. Next thing you know, an 8-bit rave begins in the streets of Sheffield.

When his car stereo reached the last track, everyone said their goodbyes and made their way home. Nevertheless, I think everyone agreed that they had witnessed one of, if not, the greatest gig they’ve ever been to in their lives.

If anyone from the show reads this, shout outs to Paul, Laurence (that’s right!), Aidan, Dave, Danny (was great seeing you again), Tom, Kyle, Matt and last but not least, Last Knight, oh how could I forget you.

Roll on Chiptune Alliance 2010!