Lenny Dee and the Arrival of Hardcore in Adelaide

By October 1993, something was changing in Adelaide.

Hardcore was about to become a much bigger part of the city’s rave culture, and one of the international DJs who helped push it firmly into the spotlight was New York’s Lenny Dee.

He had already been to Adelaide earlier that year, on 9 April 1993, and the reaction was huge. The promotional material for his return claimed that around 1,800 people had attended that first appearance, describing it as a night that changed the way many people saw music.

Six months later, he was coming back.

“You asked for it – He’s coming back! But only for the Hardcore and only at the ARK.”

On Friday 22 October 1993, Lenny Dee returned to Adelaide for another night at the Ark, supported by local DJs ATB, Brendon and Uzi, with MC Tim.

And it was packed.

People seemed to be everywhere. The room was full, the energy was intense and there was a feeling that something new was taking hold. This wasn’t simply another international DJ visiting Adelaide. Lenny Dee represented a harder and faster direction that increasing numbers of Adelaide ravers were ready for.

For many of us there that night, it felt like a glimpse of what was coming.

Hardcore Was About to Explode

Adelaide already had a strong underground dance scene, but through 1993 and into the years that followed, hardcore would become increasingly visible. Faster tempos, harder kicks and the sheer physical energy of the music began attracting its own crowd and influencing the direction of parties across the city.

Lenny Dee was an important part of that early change.

As the founder of Industrial Strength Records and one of the major figures in American hardcore techno, he brought a sound that was uncompromising compared with much of what was being heard locally at the time.

Hearing that music through a club sound system, surrounded by a packed Adelaide crowd, was something quite different from finding an imported record in a shop or hearing a track on a tape.

The October show captured that moment perfectly.

It was hot, crowded, loud and relentlessly energetic. People were packed throughout the venue and the atmosphere never seemed to drop. From memory, everyone simply had a bloody good time.

Looking back more than thirty years later, the flyer almost reads like a warning of what Adelaide was about to experience:

“Prepare for the Hardcore.”

They weren’t kidding.

Event Details

• Artist: Lenny Dee
• Date: Friday 22 October 1993
• Venue: Dance Ark Club, 150 Glen Osmond Road, Fullarton
• Local DJs: ATB, Brendon, Uzi
• MC: MC Tim
• Tickets: $10