It has been confirmed that the second annual Planetlove Summer Session will take place at Fairyhouse in Ratoath, County Meath on Saturday June 21.
The 12-hour dance music marathon has already announced eighty DJs and live acts, with more to be added.
Following last year’s tremendous success, Summer Session 08 will have an increased capacity of 18,000 and an extra arena. Last year’s event sold-out on the day of the event, while this spring’s Winter Session (at Leopardstown Racecourse) sold-out well in advance.
What’s most remarkable about Summer Session is how many of the main Love Arena’s superbly talented DJs are Irish. The world’s best trance producer John O’Callaghan gets his deserved peak-time billing alongside a succession of international giants – Ferry Corsten, Eddie Halliwell, Judge Jules, Mauro Picotto, Marco V and Richard Durand.
But the RTÉ dance guru Mr Spring, trance pioneer Simon Patterson (aka Dogzilla), Northern duo Agnelli & Nelson, Spin FM Dublin’s John Gibbons and Northern Ireland’s most promising young talent, Mog will all give the big guns a serious run for their money.
The other six arenas all boast teams with great strength in depth. Peaches Geldof headlines the Goodfornothing VIP arena, which also features DJ sets from Babyshambles and The Horrors.
The techno arena from Collective Music features legendary DJs Josh Wink and Joey Beltram alongside UK stars Ben Sims, The Advent and 16 Bit Lolitas, and Irish aces Christian Boshell, Sunil Sharpe and Timmy and Tommy.
Polysexual is hard dance heaven with Lisa Lashes, Anne Savage, Tidy Boys, Scot Project, Alex Kidd and Lisa Pin-Up all appearing, while the Old Skool vs New Skool arena moves outside into a new tent hosted by Slick DJ magazine. The green contingent – including Ken O’Flanagan, Jonno Brien, Paul Webster and Bryan Kearney – will flank imports such as early rave heroes Altern 8 and Shades of Rhythm.
The Chill Out arena programmed by Psychonavigation features Mixmaster Morris, Enrico Coniglio and Keith Downey.
The Pukka Up Arena sees chart-toppers Audio Bullys make their Irish live debut alongside British clubland’s man-of-the-moment, Micky Slim and Utah Saints, currently in the upper reaches of the pop charts with their ‘Something Good’ re-release.
The festival will also house a funfair and an array of market stalls, while RTÉ Radio 2FM and digital station 2XM will both be broadcasting live for the duration.
Planetlove Summer Session 08 standard tickets cost €85, and VIP tickets cost €131.
Hot Press hears whispers that the Tiesto spectacular scheduled for August 2 may now take place at Millstreet in Cork. What’s definite is the Groove Armada and PoD co-promoted Lovebox festival will be taking place for the second year running at Malahide Castle in July. Watch this space.
Limerick-based producer Phil Neary has had two more of his firing trance tracks signed up. ‘Prism’, his second single for Florida’s Ocean Drive Records, is out on May 10 under his Ronario guise, while predecessor ‘Excimer’ has just been licensed to the Cryonica Tanz v.5 compliation out in the summer.
Phil’s other new Ronario release ‘Activation’ will surface on the English stamp, Receptive Records, on May 15, and is in an electro-trance vein.
One of Irish electronica’s biggest talents Jape (aka Richie Egan) releases his third album Ritual this summer on V2. It will be preceded by the single ‘I Was A Man’.
Fergie’s follow-up to the 'ME' EP is released on his own Excentric imprint this fortnight, featuring two new minimal workouts, ’Break-In’ and ‘Break-Out’ .
BBC1’s Mary Ann Hobbs makes her Dublin DJ debut at Big Dish Go at Kennedy’s on April 26, and we hear her Irish colleague Annie Mac will soon be added to the Electric Picnic roster.
Cork techno club Kommunity is spreading its wings and launching in London on April 26. Setting up camp at the 414 club, the launch night features Filip Xavi (from Serbia), Aaron Liberator (from Stayupforever in London) and Kommunity residents DJ Tek, Ninjatek and T-Rev.
After what can only be described as a mind-bending four years, hedonistic bank holiday Sundays blowout Mixed Salad has bid farewell to McGruder's. The most full-on session in the country – which sadly was a victim of its own huge success – is looking for a bigger new home.
Prolific house remixers Funkagenda (who have just done Lustral’s classic ‘Every Time’) will play Sin on May 2 with support from Paddy Sheridan.
The May bank holiday is already looking like another extremely busy one for clubbers. German legend Sven Vath is at Tripod on Sunday May 4, while en vogue house heads Dirty South play the same venue on May 2.
On the same night at Spy, electro hero The Hacker joins Ame for an incredible double-header. Two nights later, Spy serves up Gui Boratto live with MSTRKRFT, while Remedy takes over the Tivoli to present Ricardo Villalobos and Loco Dice. Saturday May 3 sees Trinity Rooms fly in the aforementioned Utah Saints for their first Irish show of the decade… THE BEAT GOES ON!