It s the biggest meeting of the tribes since ten thousand clubbers packed The Point Theatre for the almost entirely Irish line-up at Dance Nation in 1995. It s only the third outdoor dance festival of its kind in Ireland, and, unlike Planet Love 98 and 99, it s taking place in the part of the country where the authorities stifling approach to entertainment imposes the ludicrous requirement of securing planning permission for a large-scale music event of its nature.
Homelands Ireland is the brainchild of Mean Fiddler s Vince Power and PoD s John Reynolds. Both have been keen to stage an open-air dance music festival since 1995, and after three years trying to find a suitable site and a way around the aforementioned planning requirements, this year they stumbled across what Power has called the best festival site I ve ever seen right under their noses, at Mosney Holiday Centre in County Meath. A close examination of the remit of the Centre revealed that there was no need to apply for planning permission, and with Cream owner Darren Hughes hopping on board as co-promoter, the stage was quickly set for the most exciting and important day out for Irish clubbers in a decade.
The immediate attraction of Homelands Ireland is that it provides half a dozen different arenas of sound, covering almost every genre and sub-genre of dance imaginable. The impressive array of homegrown talent gives the festival a distinctly indigenous flavour notably missing from the Scottish equivalent (also taking place this month). Darren Hughes is the musical director, and he brought in Dublin promoters Influx to oversee the Irish element.
We ve worked with Paul (Davis) and Johnny (Moy) on numerous occasions and were delighted to get them on board, he told Hot Press.
The Influx input is more than just a token gesture to appease the home players. On top of their own Influx Live Room (Mosney s legendary ballroom will somehow never feel the same again!), Davis and Moy also co-promote a much larger area with John Reynolds Red Box club. The former has the largest Irish contingent, with every Influx DJ imaginable (including the hugely under-rated Stephen Mulhall and Johnny Moy s aspiring kid brother Kenny Funk) joined by Monkey Mafia, The Scratch Perverts and Deadly Avenger. The latter is techno central, with super-guns Billy Nasty, Laurent Garnier and Dave Clarke joined by Irish sure-shots Francois, Warren K, Billy Scurry and Heineken/Hot Press Award nominee Alan Simms.
Darren Hughes also insisted on bringing Northern Ireland s Lush on board in a symbolic bid to bring North and South together. The Portrush club s resident DJ Col Hamilton hopes the Lush and 2FM arena will be the day s biggest attraction. Every Saturday night over 2,000 fans travel to his club from all over the country, and the exquisite dicor and picturesque coastline setting have made Lush a firm favourite with leading international DJs like Sasha, Pete Tong and Paul Oakenfold.
I m hoping we can show the rest of the country why we re such a big draw, enthuses Hamilton. With big guns like Judge Jules, Seb Fontaine and John Cecchini on show, it s a fairly safe bet that Col s wish will come true and Ireland s predominantly trance crazed club kids will swarm Arena 3 from early in the afternoon.
Despite the short notice, Col carefully hand-picked the bill with relish. I chose a line-up that was representative of the club, and apart from Mister Spring, John Power and Robbie Nelson, all of the DJs in our arena play Lush on a regular basis, he says.
One turntable technician who insisted on playing the Lush tent was jetset superstar John Digweed, who mans the wheels of steel in Meath just hours after finishing a marathon eight-hour set in New York s infamous Twilo club. Diggers told Hot Press that there was no way he was missing out on the fun:
Lush is my favourite club in the whole world and I was desperate to play. So I m flying back straight after I finish at Twilo. I m coming by Concorde, which takes three hours, and then I ve got to get a connecting flight and be picked up by a waiting car that will bring me directly to Homelands. I ll be going straight on.
Digweed then explained his apparent lack of nerves about such a potentially draining ordeal he s pulled this trick off already this summer, and reckons it was well worth the effort.
I did the same for the Winchester Homelands. Walking on to the site I felt and looked like I was only fit for a very lengthy sleep, but once you see the crowd it lifts you and as soon as I got on the decks the adrenaline started pumping again and I had a fabulous time.
The main Home Arena is Darren Hughes own baby, and it reflects the impression he intends to make with his just opened London superclub of the same name. Two of the most acclaimed live acts in the business, Underworld and Orbital, will be given a good run for their money by the most entertaining hip-hoppers in town, The Freestylers, and the soon-to-be-huge Welsh breakbeat trance pioneers Hybrid. The latter will be joined on stage for the first time by their Wide Angle album s featured vocalist (and David Lynch collaborator), Julee Cruise. Other attractions at this, the largest arena, include The Prodigy s Liam Howlett making a rare DJ appearance, and the man who last year entered the Guinness Book Of Records as the Most Successful DJ Ever, and was voted World Number One by the readers of DJ Magazine, Paul Oakenfold.
Elsewhere, The End Arena keeps the drum and bass massive happy with a breathtaking line-up featuring Optical, Roni Size, Andy C, Hype and our very own Razor. The Powderbubble boys, meanwhile, hope to stir up a bit of controversy with an early afternoon performance of their infamous Gristle cabaret, a celebration of sexual activity that leaves little or nothing to the imagination. They ve also got gay icons Jon Pleased Wimmin, Martin McCann and the endlessly effervescent Tonie Walsh spinning a suitably pumping selection of hi-octane house of the throbbing variety.
The carnival atmosphere expected at Homelands Ireland will no doubt be boosted by a host of additional attractions like bungee-jumping, interactive entertainment, video games and Mosney s on-site funfair. Just what weird and wonderful impact the infamous Wall Of Death will have on proceedings is anybody s guess, but it s bound to have as many onlookers as some of the arenas, even if the majority might decide against this most stomach-churning of rides.
There are extra trains running to and from Mosney, including at that all-important hour of 1am, when the lights go down. You can phone Iarnrod Eireann on 01-8366222 for more details. The organisers have also promised to make available additional car-parking spaces at the Centre s main entrance. The capacity of the event is 25,000 people, and at the time of going to press, Steve Kavanagh from HMV s Ticket Shop told Hot Press that he expected it to be a complete sell-out. So if you haven t yet purchased your ticket, do so immediately and remember to get there early to make the most of what should be the most encapsulating Irish music festival ever. n