In the wake of a scathing attack in the Daily Mail, the Winchester Cathedral's pioneering Rave In The Nave was put off limits to press persons. Andrew Long went there anyway.

It should be pointed out that I was not the only journalist to have surreptitiously snuck his way in to the Rave In The Nave; a chap from the local radio station spent all evening taking various people outside and interviewing them and then coming back in again and the following Monday The Mail and The Telegraph both carried full colour spreads on the event, both of which I'm pleased to say, were very positive reports. Could it be that if not for all the journalists the Rave In The Nave would have had a much poorer attendance?

The next on-stage section was opened up by the Roundabout Theatre Company who were followed by the Y-sing Youth Choir, a YMCA based group who performed some good material including a good rendition of Barclay James Harvest's "He Said Love".

The Southampton-based "rave rock indie five-piece" Azimuth Brainstorm exploded onto the stage sending the crowd into a frenzy of pogoing, moshing and slam-diving. Johnson's article in the Mail had expressed concern at "the spectacle of youth gyrating wantonly to the brutal cacophony of Azimuth Brainstorm". Neil Mansfield said that he thought it would be quite nice to see a bit of wanton gyrating goin' on so, wantonly, we gyrated.

Azimuth are not afraid to use the stage: bassist John Mowforth took full advantage of his wireless system and was a blur of motion throughout, keyboards man and lead vocalist Neil Mansfield was a tremendous front man holding the crowd's attention well whilst saxophonist David Lee had the appearance of an electric scarecrow. The cathedral crackled with energy to numbers like "Sunday Best", "Groovy Armadillo" and the immortal "Short Song" which actually stretched out for quite a while. The crowd were really grooving now and I'm sure that if Mr Johnson had been there he would have been every bit as outraged as he expected to be, Azimuth are not a band for the closed-minded.

David Lee spoke to me about Johnson's article: "I think the negative press did the event a lot of good," Johnson said. "If that hadn't happened there would always have been the negative feelings hanging about, but because that was brought out into the open people were actually looking at what the event was standing for."

During the second workshop period I took some much-needed refreshment, no alcohol and ecstasy here, just a can of coke and a bag of cheese and onion crisps and I'm raring to go again. I wandered around catching the flavour of the workshops, trying not to look like a reporter. At the back of the cathedral was a display of candles and a quiet chapel where you could go to commune with God. I was suddenly struck by the contrast of cultures, the flashing lights and the candles, the heavy rock and the peacefulness, the Franciscan monks dodging the headbangers. And yet each readily accepted the other. The Rave In The Nave was definitely working.

The headlining band assaulted our eardrums with a hefty dose of heavy rock. Fresh Claim are surely the most underrated Christian band in Britain. They've been working hard for over six years and have produced five albums, yet remain relatively unknown. They squeezed ten numbers into their forty minute set and Simon Law encouraged the over 35 year olds (of which I am not yet one) to let their hair down. At the close of the set Jonathan Sewell gave the signal for one more and they launched into a wild version of "Johnny B Goode" which had the crowd going bananas. Fresh Claim closed with one of those monster rock endings and it was all over bar the fireworks.

Yes, there really were fireworks, outside of course, providing the perfect finale to the show. I harassed a couple of punters to ask what they had thought of the whole evening.

"It was a really great experience," said Ann Lacuta. "I did a drama workshop and Amnesty International, which were really interesting."

"The variety of the workshops was really good," said workshop leader Jan. "It should happen every year. I was in one of the workshops doing articles for the Winchester Way - it's been brilliant."

"I was very impressed with Azimuth Brainstorm and Fresh Claim were a good heavy rock band too," said Dougie Douglas, a punter from South Wales. "It was more of a Christian rock concert than a rave. All in all a very good event."

The reports following the rave were very positive: "No sex, no drugs, just rock and roll," said the Daily Mail. "Thank heavens cathedral show wasn't quite as billed," -The Telegraph too was suitably impressed.

Other cathedrals are holding similar events throughout Britain. May 30-31 sees nearby Salisbury cathedral staging "The Four Corners Of The Earth," an all-nighter with lona and Split Level. So it seems that, contrary to Johnson's opinion, people are discovering that you can enjoy yourself in a cathedral.