If you've ever wondered where a lot of early hardcore came from, take a trip to Romford. Mega Mega: Romford's Suburban Sound Revolution, 1989–1999 opened on 29th October inside the old Atik nightclub on South Street in Romford, east London, England, and it runs until 20th December 2026.

Produced by Havering London and curated by Katherine Green, it tells the story of the town's scene through photos, flyers, records, film and first-hand accounts. That covers the Boogie Times and Hard House record shops, labels like Suburban Base (home of Smart E's Sesame's Treet) and Strictly Underground, and pirate stations Unity, Shakedown and Influence FM, running from hardcore through jungle, drum & bass and garage. A permanent archive is being built too, so the memories don't get lost. Proper rave history, check it out!

Mega Mega: Romford's Suburban Sound Revolution (Havering London)

Clubland is 25, and happy hardcore is invited to the party. The Clubland Arena Tour 2027 plays five big UK arenas: P&J Live in Aberdeen and the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland on 23rd and 24th April, then the AO Arena in Manchester, the First Direct Bank Arena in Leeds and the Utilita Arena in Newcastle, England from 30th April to 2nd May.

Darren Styles is on all five bills alongside Cascada, with MCs Keyes & Finchy hosting every night. For newer fans: Clubland started as a compilation series in 2002, and its spin-off Clubland X-Treme Hardcore, mixed by Darren Styles, Breeze and Hixxy, went to number 1 on the UK compilation chart back in 2005. Tickets went on sale on 30th October. Thousands of people hearing happy hardcore in an arena, that's what we like to see!

Clubland Arena Tour 2027

UK hardcore keeps finding new crowds in America. Insomniac has revealed the full lineup for the first ever Wasteland Orlando, at the Central Florida Fairgrounds in Orlando, Florida, USA on 5th and 6th February 2027, and right there on the hardcore side of the bill is Hixxy.

Wasteland is Insomniac's hard dance festival from Southern California, and this debut Florida edition has three stages with takeovers from Basscon, Mutate and Germany's Unreal. Hixxy sits alongside Rob Gee, Mad Dog, Dr Donk and DEAD X in the hardcore line-up, with Angerfist, Da Tweekaz and DJ Isaac elsewhere on the 40-plus bill. Good to see one of the original happy hardcore names heading to a brand new US festival. Florida, you're in for a treat!

Wasteland Orlando 2027, Central Florida Fairgrounds

Two of UK hardcore's biggest names have teamed up on one of pop's most famous songs. Darren Styles and Dougal have taken on Tainted Love, the 1964 Gloria Jones song that Soft Cell took to number one in the UK in 1981, and it's out now on Smash The House, the Belgian label run by Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike.

It landed on 13th November 2026, with the radio version on streaming and an Extended Mix as a Beatport exclusive. Coming hot on the heels of Darren's Give It To Me with TOZA on Dirty Workz, it's another big dance label putting happy hardcore in front of a whole new crowd. Have a listen!

Darren Styles & Dougal - Tainted Love (Smash The House)

If you were raving in the 90s you'll know Blümchen. Jasmin Wagner's high-pitched happy hardcore pop hits like Herz an Herz, Boomerang and Kleiner Satellit were everywhere, and now, after 30 years, she's calling time on Blümchen. Her final show was on Florian Silbereisen's Schlagerbooom at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, Germany, broadcast on Das Erste on 17th October.

There's one last present for the fans too. Der letzte Rave (The Last Rave) lands on 27th November 2026 as a fanbox with a light rosé vinyl LP of ten re-recorded hits and a 13-track CD of new songs and collabs, including the new single 90s Icon. For the first time her vocals are left untouched with no vocoder, and she told Barbara Schöneberger's podcast she re-recorded the hits so she owns them herself. Danke, Blümchen!

Blümchen - Der letzte Rave (Intercord)

After 13 years of raves in Milton Keynes, England, the H.A.S crew (the Hardcore Appreciation Society) is taking a break. They've announced their 13th Birthday, billed "Good Bye For Now", at Unit Nine in Old Wolverton on Saturday 6th February 2027, and they say it will be their last event for a while.

The crew blame getting a little older, the economic climate in the UK and new interests outside promoting, but they hope it won't be forever. They're going out with a proper bill too: Sam Laxton with Whizzkid (over from Thailand), Klubfiller with Storm, Scott Brown with Wotsee, D-Ice & Reality with Frikshon, and Sy b2b Vibes with Enemy, which they say is the first time in 19 years. Thanks for the raves, H.A.S!

H.A.S 13th Birthday - Good Bye For Now, Unit Nine, Milton Keynes

Dutch telly has gone hard! PowNed's new four-part documentary series HARD tells the story of Dutch hardcore and hardstyle, from the early days at Parkzicht, the Energiehal and Multigroove's warehouse raves right through to Thunderdome and Defqon.1. All four episodes went up on NPO Start on 29th October, and it's being shown weekly on NPO 3 too.

Paul Elstak, The Prophet, DJ Rob, MC Da Mouth of Madness, Brennan Heart and Korsakoff are among those telling their stories. Co-director Arne van Terphoven, who has written several books on the scene, went on NPO Radio 2 under the headline "Paul Elstak was the traitor of the scene", so we reckon the man behind Luv U More and the happy years gets a proper look in. One for the watch list!

HARD, PowNed documentary series (NPO 3)

Thirty years of Nukleuz! The London label started in 1996, went on to rule hard house, and gave us the Hardcore Nation CDs along the way. To mark it, Frantic and Nukleuz are throwing a 30th Birthday Xmas Party at Ministry of Sound on Saturday 5th December, 1pm to 10pm, and it has already sold out, two months in advance according to the organisers.

Hardcore heads get the Baby Box, with Vinylgroover playing happy hardcore classics and Cally & Juice playing their own classics, plus Jester & Kohl, PSR & Mooney, Dean Zone and Danny Burch & Big Ben. Elsewhere it's BK, Andy Farley, Lisa Pin-Up, Anne Savage and plenty more. Happy birthday, Nukleuz!

Frantic & Nukleuz present Nukleuz 30th Birthday Xmas Party, Ministry of Sound

Thought the old Paisley basement was gone for good? Club 69, the club under a curry house that has been running since 1989, shut its doors on 10th October, with the outgoing team saying they hoped it wasn't "final orders". Turns out it wasn't.

For anyone newer to the scene, a bit of context. Club 69 put on its first party back in 1989, before happy hardcore even had a name, and plenty of you reading this weren't even born yet! Rooms like this are where the scene grew up, and so many of them are long gone now, so having this one back and still playing the high BPM stuff keeps a real piece of hardcore history alive in Scotland.

The venue reopened under new management on Saturday 7th November with Secret Sessions, promising GBX anthems, up front happy hardcore and makina. 2 Sick Puppiez, Mikey Motion, Shugg, Parallell, MC Stretch and MC Amense were on the flyer, plus a secret headliner. The local Gazette reported the reopening too. Good to see a legendary room keeping the high BPMs going in Scotland!

Club 69 presents Secret Sessions, Paisley

Italian producer Daniel Seven has his second album out. BLUE SKY landed on 25th October 2026 on HPTG Music (cat HPTGAA02), and Geek Jack opened CD orders on 6th November.

It's a 12-tracker with vocals from Lexi, Dionne, Kuupi, fumie and AIRI KIRISHIMA among others, plus the Extended Mix of MOVING FASTER (feat. Lindsey Marie), first heard in TAITO's GROOVE COASTER 4. Fracus & Darwin, Alaguan and DAYOx2 handle the remixes. Check it out!

Daniel Seven - BLUE SKY (HPTG Music)