:::::daybreaks:::::urbanation::::::

[that 420 guy]

this thread is to discuss the fiasco that was the daybreaks urbanation party held in toronto, july 10, 1999.

the lineup

the alkaholiks
jungle brothers
x-ecutioners
turnstylez crew
joey beltram
mike dearborn
dj assault
roman
dom&roland
czech
dj slide
john howard
johnny fiasco
the stickmen
max graham
kenny glasgow
lotus
adam marshall
mike shannon
agent orange
kamikaze
syntax
sniper
mystical influence
marcus
capital j
prime
lush
c rat
unkown souljah
ruffneck
mc flipside
mc urban
mc l natural
big league chu
john e
ludikris
robb g
andy roberts
tim patrick
myka
nk
citrus
doctor trance
clayton steele

the venue
skytent, skydome

the fiasco
skydome fell through. venue moved to the pickering flea market venue. peel police made sure that venue fell through. last chance venue, a wharehouse on eastern avenue...capacity 4000. number of people who showed up to the party....7000.

my view

i have been friends with arjun and ron from daybreaks since we were in residence at saugeen maitland hall. they gave progressive mouse our start through graphic design of their promotional material and flyers.

daybreaks had been throwing parties (the best imho) in london since 1997 and after the success of their first event in toronto (fundamental @ the news) they felt confident to hold one of the largest events toronto has ever seen that would go down in history as the party to remember.

they were right about making history.

i was responsible for water sales, so i was there hours before the party started. it didn't take too long to identify where the problems were going to arise.

1. the only bathroom inside the venue was the one reserved for vips, djs and music talent.
2. no running water inside
3. no ventilation
4. porta potties outside by the covered outdoor arena
5. only access to the inside was a single door, and the lineup to go both ways was beyond ridiculous!

by 11pm all of eastern avenue was filled side to side with people. security and the ticket counter could not process that many people fast enough if at all.

the rest is madness. people couldn't move outside even if they wanted to leave.

a table was thrown through a window.

people were jumping on cars parked on the road.

the warehouse garage door was being forced up to let people crawl underneath it.

and if you made it in, there was no washroom to use nor was there any running water to cool you down.

people were actually pissing on the floor inside the party.

i met ditto much for the first time that night, unfortunately because he was jumped and mugged outside the party and demanded something be done about it.

i'm surprised no one was seriously injured. daybreaks was not prepared for what happened that night. everything fell apart from an organizational point of view.

the good

if you got inside, the talent was world class! the alkoholiks wrecked shop and the energy was off the hook.

from the girl i'll house you styles of the jungle brothers to the masterful turntablism of the turnstylez krew and circle research, the musical performances were top notch.

it was easy to ignore the madness that was happenning outside when the beats inside were beyond incredible.

czech's morning set was incredible and the vibe that morning was tight and much more relaxed compared to the insanity that occurred hours before.

overall, the daybreaks urbanation party will go down in history as the one event most toronto ravers would like to forget. but for the few of us who make it in, it was a hell of an experience (both good and bad).

urbanation was an excellent example of why we need safe venues for parties complete with proper washroom facilities and ample security.

it was also this party that got me onto this messageboard to discuss what happened at urbanation. anomi actually got me onto the board first, but it was urbanation that made me into a regular posting tribe member.

so here's your opportunity to speak your mind about daybreaks urbanation.

the good? the bad?

what have we learned from that experience?

note: the daybreaks boys did not make any money on the party. they lost their shirts.

- that captured a lot of the party on video tape guy

 

[Klubmasta Will]

this party led to nsv joining the tribe board. whatever happened to her? she was cool.

 

[Subsonic Chronic]

Bah... I missed out on that ruckus.
All I know about Daybreaks were their sweet London parties back in the day.

Pete

 

[Brandon]

I think that something I posted in the original thread on this subject made it into the hardcopy of tribe the month after...something like "can this scene be saved?" Hmmmmmmmm....

It was a nice flyer though.

 

[mingster]

Not this again. 420, you know how I feel about this bunk. Wanna get me started again? You'll just have my ulcer flare up. I'd just as soon forget about the nightmare that was Urbanation.

Ming. <--actually had a good time in the OUTDOOR tent.

 

[patio-d]

i skipped more than three-quarters of the line and still waited two hours. got in and realized that i wasn't even in the party yet and would've had to wait for ages longer at that single door. lost a pill in the gravel outdoor "dancefloor"... i was pretty pissed at this point.
But then "tack one" miracuously found my pill in the dirt (thanks dude).... and we snaked some free water bottles (sorry daybreaks) so things were starting to look up. Then i finally got inside and things were all good... czech's morning set was indeed ILL... even though we had to dance around in gravel, and cough that shit out of our lungs for the next week.
I had fun... the whole city was up in that jam.

 

[that 420 guy]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Brandon:
It was a nice flyer though.</font>

thanks brandon.

we were very pleased with the way the flyer came out.

i wish we could say the same about the event.

- that pro maus guy

 

[patio-d]

ps... nice flier! and norm do you have any more pictures from that night?

 

[Jeremy Jive]

I was there, only outside. I was there to promote an upcoming Lifeforce event. I knew of the circumstances well before the actual party. I knew it was going to be trouble but I didn't know it would be that bad. Since I was friends with the management of High Profile I ended up helping out as a temporary security guard to help restore order.

It proved the point that large events need to be handled by professionals.

jeremy -all in all it was the first of many bad events- jive

 

[that 420 guy]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by patio-d:
ps... nice flier! and norm do you have any more pictures from that night?</font>

sorry man, i wasn't really takin too many pix that night as i too got caught up in the insanity and had to put the cameras down for a couple of hours.

mebbe pronstar has some.

kenny?

- that daybreaks london massive krew guy

 

[pr0nstar]

One of my most memorable parties.

Line-up was shit to get in, but once you were in, you didn't want to leave.

Plus the only party I remember leaving after the Sun had risen. And it was a beautiful day the next day.

As for pictures, I havea few, but I'd have to find and scan them...

Digital camera was not around then

pr0nstar

 

[graham]

that venue was/is a total disaster. Went there once to see Dubtribe soundsystem, boourns. Portable toilets don't cut it.

 

[pr0nstar]

When Joey Beltram actually shows up for a party, that's enough to make Port-A-Potties lovable

pr0nstar

 

[that 420 guy]

do you feel that a police presence is necessary at parties? or is security good enough?

- that pdo guy

 

[funky_citrus]

I remember showung up with a huge group of people around 3 or so, and laughing at the whole thing. I think what really stuck out was the fact that they had tables overturned acting as a barracade for the massive amounts of people. I probably had a better time hanging around outside for the 3 or so hours we did, then I would have had inside melting!
Anyways I got over it 2.5 years ago. The whole thing should have been cancelled, the fact that it even happened was retarded. Im surprised people still care about this?
~Leslie~

 

[Libradragon]

daybreaks daybreaks daybreaks...

i also worked the water bottle sales and witnessed the pandemonium INSIDE the place, and only heard about the scandals happening OUTSIDE much later on.

daybreaks (although ran by ron and arjun) will always be a london massive group thing. Their first party in london (featuring czech and Little T) was a group effort, every one of us pitched in and *threw* the party, hence my sentimental attachment to daybreaks.

The flyer was sweet - done by our very own brennan kelly, progressive mouse ceo. The concept of daybreaks urbanation was exciting and extraordinary, but there were a lot of problems than ensued (and I don't know a single promoter who hasn't experienced any of these problems), and they all happened at the same fucking time, some preventable some not, but unfortunately resulted in mayhem.

It was an eye-opener for all of toronto.

I caught wind of a review by majika posted on tribe rant and rave board, and i came on to shed some light (from the enemy camp, i guess) to this whole nightmare. Ditto Much posted a rant that slagged the daybreaks crew more than it deserved, hence the start of this daytime addiction.

Personally, after manning the waterbooth for five hours, i had an amazing time in the upstairs vip room overlooking the dancefloor with the london massive. maybe it's because we were all sporting daybreaks shirts (courtesy of SNUG) and wanted to hide from the angry mob of ravers and their respective goo, or maybe because it was just a fun party for those who got in. I got to chill with the jungle brothers, and was able to wrangle a signed pic from them.

And norm, you lie. (or your memory ain't as good as it used to be)

You became a regular tribe addict when you started harassing me and the BSM crew you loved to bash (but later became a part of), a good four months after the daybreaks fiasco.

 

[that 420 guy]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Libradragon:
And norm, you lie. (or your memory ain't as good as it used to be)

You became a regular tribe addict when you started harassing me and the BSM crew you loved to bash (but later became a part of), a good four months after the daybreaks fiasco.

</font>

you're right. i am mistaken.

but that still doesn't change the fact that the bank pays all of you bsm people to post on messageboards all day long. what a waste of money!

girl, you know it's true.

- that missing nsv guy

 

[mingster]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Libradragon:
i also worked the water bottle sales and witnessed the pandemonium INSIDE the place, and only heard about the scandals happening OUTSIDE much later on.</font>

I rememer doodlebug and I noticed stacks of waterbottles outside and since we couldn't get in, and were pissed at the whole thing (for obvious reasons), we each stole about 7 bottles of water and put them in our backpacks...

I hate hearing about how good it was inside, pisses me off. Pissesme off that I missed out on hearing the Jungle Brothers, how I got inside just as their set was finishing.

Ming.

Ming.

 

[Ditto Much]

No the fiasco was not in loosing the venue.

The fiasco was the fact that at 6pm the PIT and several other retailers were still selling tickets. At this point it was irresponsible for the promoters to be selling tickets to a party that they new was going to be over packed.

The second that the venue was selected the responsible thing to do was to stop the ticket sales. People were still buying there way into the party at the door. This was equally irresponsible. Two years after the event the only thing I can hold against the promoters of this event was the fact that they were still selling the tickets even when they knew they were using a venue that wouldn't fit the numbers.

Security for the party should have been sufficent. The door could have been better organized but security was in fact doing a very good job. As well what occurred to me personally wasn't the responsibility of the promoters. It was however the responsibility of the security guard who was ten feet away and didn't react. Simple truth of the matter was as soon as I was struck his job was to get invovled not to be cheching out the girlies that walked by.

It was unfortunate that this party didn't get the venue it wanted. If it had I don't think that tensions would have risin so high within the party. I don't think that it would have become as disrespectful.


The only two faults I have with the promoters.

1) The second you knew you were using Eastern Ave you should have halted all ticket sales. You didn't.

2) Refunds should have been availible in the line up. When the venue hit a reasonable capacity no more entrance only refunds should have been policy.


For the rest it should have pulled off well. The venue would have been fine for 4000. But the promoters let in 7000. And I stress that is the only issue I could have. Its simply not safe to allow that many people into the venue.

 

[that 420 guy]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by mingster:
I rememer doodlebug and I noticed stacks of waterbottles outside and since we couldn't get in, and were pissed at the whole thing (for obvious reasons), we each stole about 7 bottles of water and put them in our backpacks...
</font>

when we realized that the entire crate of water was outside and that people were helping themselves i made a silly decision to go out there and bring back as many cases of water as possible.

dumb move.

to even get through that crowd was crazy, yet alone get a line of people carrying water through that crowd. as soon as the door opened up to let us out people attempted to push their way in.

three members of operation retrieve water were lost in the crowds and had to wait in line to get back in.

man that shit was crazy.

- that pro mouse tail hair guy

 

[mingster]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by that 420 guy:
man that shit was crazy.

- that pro mouse tail hair guy

</font>

I have no sympathy for you. You got to hear the Jungle Brothers, and brag about how good they were. While I was outside, breathing in gravel. That's another thing...GRAVEL. WTF! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't dance without slipping and getting rocks in my shoes.

Happy now? You've got me ranting about that night...

Ming.

Ming.

 

[pr0nstar]

Jungle Brothers, Alkoholics, Joey Beltram, Kenny Glasgow ... one right after another...
Then Kamikaze finished the night with Hard House and the place was empty and I had room to dance

And after that, the Jungle room was going nuts still at 7am

pr0nstar

 

[Ditto Much]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Libradragon:
Ditto Much posted a rant that slagged the daybreaks crew more than it deserved, hence the start of this daytime addiction.
</font>

Nah that was alt.rave and WNYSOR-L Tribe was much later on.

Far as any and all comments I made, hey I gotta stand by my words regardless of if its uncomfortable now.

(there is a funny little story norm about what I did with the money you gave me. In the end I saw a girl sitting on the curb outside (it had been her first party) she was crying to her friend about how it wasn't what she thought it would be, and so on and so forth, regardless indirectly you refunded there ticket priices for a pec on the cheak!!)

 

[Libradragon]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Ditto Much:

Nah that was alt.rave and WNYSOR-L Tribe was much later on.

</font>

i've never been on those sites. so i only know what i read on tribe. no biggie though.

 

[DJ.CODE]

I remember that party all too well.
Man it was blisterin' hot inside. I managed to get inside after being squished against the wall while waiting to get through that one door that was mentioned! All in all I had a great time - except for the number of rude people I ran into - they must have been pissed off about the whole thing??

And seeing as I didn't pay for this party (thanx Dale!) I wasn't all that upset. It was more of an inconvenience than trouble for me. I hadn't realized all of those shitty things happened to people.

I sure won't ever forget this one. The walk home with my friend Kim(mickey) was really nice too!

cOde.