| Universe won the Mixmag
Best Rave of the Year Award for 1992, but by September 1993
its holding company, BTY Ltd was forced into liquidation and
Universe was wound up. Universe always delivered its promises,
but staging such huge events like Tribal gathering and Big
Love became almost impossible when the police and local authorities
started charging extortionate prices to control and license
events.
In addition to new government legislation to control raves,
local authorities up and down the country put controls on
the illegal parties that were springing up everywhere and
muscled in on the big bucks they knew the promoters were making.
Universe wasn't the only victim, countless others suffered
at the hands of the authorities who would demand up to £35,000
for a license, and then impose further controls by sending
in the environmental health officer to turn the sound down
or, occasionally, off altogether if it got to loud. This was
the case of the Mixmag's club tour named Gone to the Dogs,
at their second rave party with Exodus in Kings Lynn - they
got shut down for too high a sound level.
Universe was founded in early 1990 by Paul Shurrey and Rob
Vega. Their first events were illegal warehouse parties, under
the name "Brainstorm", planned with military precision
using meeting points and mobile telephone numbers. Their parties
mainly came off because Paul and Rob would ensure that they
were the only ones who knew the precise location of the party
until the very last minute. By the time the police had discovered
its location, the party would be in full swing, with all roads
blocked with convoys of traffic heading towards it. All this
came about through linking up with elements of the traveller
scene such as Circus Warp and Irritant. These parties exploded
with up to 10,000 people showing up each time in places as
diverse as an underground World War II munitions dump and
a disused art gallery.
Tough Legislation to combat illegal parties toward the end
of 1989 led to the decision that a credible backer should
be found, and this culminated in the first legal Universe
party put on in Bath on August 29th 1991.
Paul and Rob's right man to front their outfit and liaise
with the authorities where license applications and police
presence was concerned, was Roger Spurrell, former Captain
for five years of Bath, England's top rugby team.
Paul, himself a former musician, had worked in promotions
for London / FFRR Records before leaving to become the man
responsible for concepts, marketing, promotions, management
and line-ups of Universe.
As for Rob Vega, nobody is quite sure where he came from.
Emerging from the traveller convey community, he became responsible
for all the production elements of the parties.
The three made a weird combination, but they were united
in their intention to stage better parties than those organised
by money-minded rip-off merchants.
Their ethos was:
To stage parties that people would remember for the rest
of their lives.
To bring together as diverse a mixture of part goers as possible
To introduce a steady stream of new ideas, making each party
unique and exciting in its endeavour to educate and open up
people's minds.
To operate in a professional and business-like way.
To provide value for money
To always attempt to give more than was promised on any of
their flyers.
to care for and respect the welfare and safety of their customers
"Of course," says Paul, "what was learnt in
reality was that it was impossible to continue to get bigger
and better on an endless curve. The time comes that you stage
such a ridiculously expensive mind-bending party like Tribal
Gathering, that anything afterwards pales in comparison. Universe
was run so tight to the wire, that when we staged our first
ever loss making party - Time Machine - together with the
strain on resources of setting up a party in California, we
were suddenly in trouble. "Big Love" proved at the
time that it had become virtually impossible in the country's
climate to stage a large scale, well run, innovative party,
while having to permanently battle with the authorities about
such things as £50,000 policing bills. "Big Love",
despite its success as an event, even with 14,500 people there
and an all-out attempt to tighten costs, still only broke
even and was not successful enough to reverse the situation.
"Therefore a rethink was required, and the result was
"The Final Frontier", our phenomenally successful
weekly club in London, which gained critical acclaim from
the world's top DJs, media and public alike".
Paul Shurrey later returned to hold more Tribal Gatherings,
this time under the umbrella of promotions company Mean Fiddler
group (also behind The Reading Festival). They held a few
parties before licensing became an issue once again.
|
|
