Short version: Homelands kicked ass.
Long Version - Read on:
Homelands REALLY kicked ass.
Having heard many stories about Mudlands from a couple years back, this year’s festival
was perfect. Hardly a cloud in the sky, in the gorgeous warmth of summer.
Upon arrival, my friend Jeremy and I decided to do the tour, check out the place a bit.
And I must say just how welcome a sight the endless see of club-folks in summer gear
bathing in the sun was after the horrible UK winter. Big thanks to Bikini-top makers of
the world.
The line-up was simply gargantuan. There was no way you could see all the things you
wanted to see. And believe me, with a line-up like this, there was plenty I wanted to
see.
Because I am a techno fan, and Jeremy is a house fan, we spent the whole afternoon and
night bouncing between areas – didn’t hear a whole set from anyone except Basement Jaxx.
More on that later.
Musically for me the night went like this:
Judge Jules was thankfiully playing the last of his set on the main stage when we
arrived, to be followed by Seb Fontaine playing some housey stuff.
Neither were doing it for us so we used that time to explore. It was only early
(afternoonish) so I figured there’d be no major acts on that early. I was wrong. I didn’t
even realise that when we went to tent run by London nightclub The End it was the club’s
owner and former member of the Shamen (think E’s-a-good, e’s-a-good, He’s Ebeneezer
Goode), Mr C, who was on the decks. I really wanted to catch him, but just kept on
moving, unaware.
Not a total loss though, cos over in the Musik Mag Live Arena was a very groovey act
nearing the end of their set. It was the Plump DJs. And damn can they play. The act after
them was rather non-descript, so we moved on some more.
By the time we got around to buying a nifty VIP-pass-like programme, Jeff Mills was
already in full swing, back at The End tent. I dragged Jeremy off there, and had a rather
fun time bopping to Mills-techno. He played the mainstays of his sets for the last few
years, such as Jaguar and Love Story. But alas, Jeremy found it rather minimal, and
wanted to see something else. Given I have now seen Mills three times, I conceded, and
went off in search of more action.
It came in the shape of Carl Cox. His set was a lot more funky at the start than I
expected, but as usual the crowd were getting into it. As Coxy drifted into more
techno-regions, he did seem to lose their attention a bit. Given the huge percentage of
lager louts and beer monsters and generally non-educated clubbers who only cheer when the
Radio 1 MC tells them to, I guess that’s not surprising. We probably caught an hour of
Coxy, then decided to wander off in search of new experiences.
As 10pm neared, we went to grab some food, and then went back to the Musik Mag Live
arena, to get good places for the Headline Act, Basement Jaxx, who were the sole reason
for Jeremy going to Homelands. Leading up to BJ were none other than Stanton Warriors.
And let me just say they were very entertaining. Sampled lots of cool old-school tracks –
the type where you remember the melody but not the name of the song.
And then it came time for the main act of the gig. Basement Jaxx. Absolutely riveting
performance. Not just a set, but a full-scale SHOW. In fact, up there with U2’s Zoo tour
as far as spectacle is concerned. Really tight performance, lots of energy, and a great
vibe from the crowd. Live percussion, live guitar, live trumpet, live vocals, live
dancing. Just incredible. I had to text my flatmate to say “if you do one thing before
you die, make sure it is seeing Basement Jaxx live”. The slogan for Homelands 02 was
“Where’s Your Head At?” so it is hardly surprising that the place went mental as that
track was played. But the rest of the set was not far short. All in all, well worth
missing the start of my personal drawcard, Mr Richie Hawtin.
We were little awe-struck after Basement Jaxx, and Jeremy found Richie Hawtin’s set a
little too minimal, and ventured off to hear Sahsa vs John Digweed, back to back in a
modern Northern Exposure revisited. I continued bopping to Hawtin, but admit after the
wall of sound that was Basement Jaxx, he wasn’t holding my attention.
Jeremy returned, and we ventured off to another arena to hear something more funky. I
thought Erick Morillo would provide, but to be honest he was rather boring. Even
house-fan Jeremy, wasn’t getting into Morillo’s set.
So we cut across to the Musik Live Arena again, and were verily impressed with the final
hour or so of Roger Sanchez. His mixing was flawless, his tunes impeccably chosen. Really
solid and chilled way to groove through to 4am. Highlights included the very tasty
Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams remix, and his finale, naturally was club anthem Another
Chance. Really good. First time I’d seen Sanchez play, and thoroughly impressed.
Laurent Garnier was the last act for our night. He was playing an epic set from about 1
till 6, but only caught the last couple hours. Nice mix of usual techno-stuff, with some
electro-inspired retro-tech, much like the stuff that I’ve really been playing over the
twelve months. Most other tents had shut down by this stage, with Garnier in the End tent
and some really hard pumping house from the Slinky tent keeping it going. Jeemy passed out
up the back of the End tent, while I did my darndest to stay up for the whole of Garnier.
His last half hour was spectacular.
All in all it was a night dedicated to variety, and seeking out sets from the people I
hadn’t already seen or heard before.
It was easily the biggest event I’ve been to, with some 55 to 60 thousand people in
attendance.
Absolutely amazing to be there with a world who’s who of electronic music. Very
inspiring.
Go check out the homelands website (www.homelands.co.uk) for a full lineup.
Marky
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