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| Homelands
Dance Festival |
Date:
Saturday 1st June 2002
Address: The Bowl, Matterley Estate, Nr Winchester,
Hampshire
Occurrence:
Yearly
Hours: 1pm - 6am
Ticket Price: £49
+ Booking Fee
Dress Code: N/A
Genre:
Many
Capacity: 35,000
Pictures: Click
Here |
| Line-Up:
60 DJs across 9 arenas |
With all the hype, preparation
and nerves, was this years Homelands going to live
up to the expectations?
Driving up from London to Winchester you begin to
notice that the closer to the destination you get
the greener and more scenic the views. I mention
this because it's this beautiful countryside that
helps you appreciate that the location represents
a true English dance festival.
Once through the lengthy crowd and bored police
we took a brief wander round the site and the ever
decreasing number of stalls before deciding to chill
out to the sounds of Cinematic Orchestra. Featuring
in Gilles Petersons World Wide Arena their jazzy,
trip hop style made it plain to see why the release
of their recent album had gained so much positive
coverage.
With the adrenaline beginning to flow and the familiar
restlessness of the legs it was time to go and start
the 12 hours of dancing. The Barcadi tent was a
perfect place for the afternoon session, with funky,
uplifting house and the amazing display from the
bongo player, the Latino, tribal beats brought those
smiles and legs alive.
Our next stop was the Muzik Live Arena where I was
off to witness the sounds of the Plump DJ's. With
a packed tent the Plump DJ's produced some thumping,
bouncing breaks. Quite simply, the crowd loved it!
Next on the agenda was Patife. In the Movement/
The End Arena, Patife had already kicked off. Deep,
solid drum 'n' bass was the style of their performance,
although a bit empty, the tent still felt that Homelands
buzz.
After catching the last of the glorious sunshine
we made our way to Layo & Bushwacka in the Space/
Excession/ Face Arena. Starting off with impressive
breaks they made their way through, with the help
of an MC, to the pumping sounds of tech-house.
On leaving Layo & co we entered the Essential
Mix tent where I was fortunate to witness the closing
of Soft Cell. With a banging version of Tainted
Love blaring out the crowd seemed to be enjoying
the sight of Marc Almond strutting around on stage.
Stanton Warriors were next up on the Essential Mix
stage with a blend of breaks & hip-hop. Although
quite enjoyable, I must admit that until the breaks
started the crowd seemed a little stale.
After the departure of the Warriors it was the turn
of headliners, Basement Jaxx. It was a real pleasure
to see that with a packed tent the Jaxx really set
the crowd off. Without a doubt one of the highlights
of the event was the crowds reaction to 'Wheres
your Head At'. With everyone singing along, all
hands in the air, well-timed lighting and of course
familiar bassey, gritty sounds the whole tent went
off. Saying that, this was all in the first half,
the second half was a little disappointing.
Next up, It was back to the WorldWide Arena where
I was looking forward to catching Kruder & Dorfmeister.
With the exceptional talent of MC Sugar B and visuals
by Fritz Fitzke, K & D served up a mix of relaxed
jazzy grooves with a bassey vibe you could quite
easily dance along to. Have to mention their fantastic
remix of The Streets 'Push Things Forward'.
From
K&D it was a stop off to check out Slam. We
found them in the Essential Mix Arena where the
crowd got to experience their renowned sounds of
funky tech-house. They really were as good as expected.
With a quick look in on the Subliminal Arena we
found Ralph Lawson & FC Kahuna dishing out some
chunky beats.
After that I shot over to the Muzik Live Arena to
see Roger Sanchez. With his typical funky house
it was a bonus to hear his hit, Another Chance.
I loved it, the crowd loved it, and Mr Sanchez seemed
to enjoy it too.
The last hour or two was spent grooving along to
the sounds of the quite excellent Kenny Hawkes in
the Barcadi Tent and James Zabiela in the Space
Arena.
Overall, Homelands in my eyes was a success, and
by looking around it seemed to me that I wasn't
the only one to have enjoyed the last 14 or so hours.
On a critical note I did find a couple of niggling
points. At one time it seemed that the music on
offer was all a bit samey. A definite lack of funky,
uplifting tunes needs to be looked at for future
events. Also, there seemed to be a couple of sound
problems during the night, with some arenas a bit
quiet and the occasional cutting out. Just ask Roger
Sanchez, at one point it seemed the speakers and
engineers were going to get a beating from the man
himself.
Finishing on a good note, I would just like to point
out the atmosphere. With the sun, smiles, flesh
and severe lack of grief on display Homelands was
another enjoyable experience. Well done to everyone!
Let's hope the Heavens shine down on the rest of
the festival season. |
Venue: 9
Music: 9
Crowd: 10
Sound System: 8
Total: 36 / 40
Rating:
Gold Award |
Review written by: Marc Miller |
marc@uk-cl.co.uk |
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