- Homelands is always the first festival of the summer. It is always a good indication that the warm weather and summer vibe is just around the corner. Well so far the weather has been rather poor this year, except for Friday, the day before Homelands. Was this a sign of things to come?
I arrived at the Festival at around 5 in the afternoon. A very slow bus trip had meant that I had arrived a lot later than initially anticipated. First things I first, I found myself a list of the set times and set about planning then 12 of so hours of music, trying to get in a combination of standard favourites, and people I don’t usually get a chance to see.
First up was Damian Lazarus in Arena 5. I had never heard him play before, but know he is doing the next Suck My Deck CD (following on from Ivan Smagghe) and has a couple of dates at the up-coming Sonar Festival. I only saw him briefly, but while I was there he played a nice mix of warn tech house and house. It was a great sound for the afternoon and despite the small crowd, everyone was getting into it.
The next person that I wanted to see was Beck but he was not on until 8.00pm. This gave me a chance to just walk around and check out everything that Homelands had to offer. For anyone who has not been, Homelands is situated in the middle of a field in a valley, surrounded by hills. Contained within were an assortment of Arean’s, food vendors, drinks carts, and hoards of people sitting on the grass enjoying the small amount of sunshine that Winchester had to offer.
Before I knew it 8 o’clock had rolled around and it was time to head over to the Live Arena to check out Beck. Beck is one of those artists that I had always wanted to see, but would probably never got off my ass to see him in concert. He first came to my attention due to his great video clips, using the talents of Spike Jones and Michel Goundrey to create something a little bit special. Seeing Beck live, he has an air of cool that few can match. He has being carrying off the Bohem chic look for years, long before the likes of Sienna Miller made it cool and accessible. But more importantly on the music front the boy has funk. He played a collection of stuff from the new album, mixed in with past hits. Crowd favourites were ‘Devils Haircut,’ ‘Loser,’ ‘Where It’s At,’ and the new single from his album (whose name escapes me at the moment). After one encore the hour was up, and Beck was finished.
I made my way over to Arena 1 to catch the second hour of John Digweed. Digweeds most recent set at Fabric had really restored my faith in him. He had started to play a lot more tech house; electro tinged techno and generally vary his sound up a lot more. From the hour that I caught of him at Homelands he has stuck more to this new sound. He played for me a bit of a warm up set. While there were a couple of tracks that really got going, he kept the tempo and feel fairly light. This was a little surprising as considering he only had 2 hours, as I thought he would have come out a little more all guns blazing. I also thought this based on the fact that Richie Hawtin was playing directly after him. But no real complaints, as it was Digweed doing what he does best, playing solid music.
Following on from Digweed was Richie Hawtin. I have never seen Richie play before, but had heard he was the Techno Don. He quickly picked up from where Digweed left off. He played amazing bass-heavy techno, with great bleepy and computer squeaking highs. He really had the crowd going and I will definitely be making a date to see Mr Hawtin again. I think his sound would be more appreciated in a smaller club on a great system, where the true intricacy of his music can be heard.
After Richie Hawtin I needed a much deserved break. I spent a bit of time walking around the whole of Homelands. It was surprising to note that even at this early stage, many of the people who had come to Homelands had already started to vacate.
The next act that I was keen to catch was Blackstrobe. I returned to Arena 5 to catch the final song by The Human League, their seminal classic ‘Electric Dreams’. It was a pretty special feeling in the packed tent, hearing everyone singing along. Well after a bit of dismantling it was time for Blackstrobe. While the music was fantastic, the sound was not. The volume level was so low that it was practically in audible. This was fixed a little way through the set, but they were still given basically no bass or low end. Considering that they were playing techno, this was a bit of a problem. This clearly frustrated Ivan (one half of Blackstrobe) who was constantly in a screaming match with the technician. At one point he turned around and gave his own visuals the finger as it displayed the word ‘Obey’.
James Zabiela was then my next mission. Generally I find that James plays a intimate club sound. The bleepy tech house and acid sound that he has made his own often just doesn’t seem to translate as well on the big system. With this in mind I made my way back into the Arena 1. James played one of the best sets of the night. Playing a really good mixture of breaks, tech house, techno and acid, he had the crowd jumping up and down just as frantically as he was. Watching him play you cant help but get involved, as you see that smile come across his face and then hear that bassline rip through the speakers. Highlights of the set were a breaks mix of Papau New Guinea, and James own Robophobia. As always he was working the FX unit and scratching like no one else can.
By the time James finished I was rather battle weary. It had been nearly 24 hours since I slept and I had been either on my feet or trapped in a bus for most of the day. I caught the beginning of Danny Howells set but was not paying too much attention.
I left at about 5:30am, leaving behind what one of my friends describe as a ‘refugee displacement camp’ of worn out clubbers. So my final opinion on Homelands. It was a good night out and something that I would do again. It is more of a social event than a music spectacular. As with festivals the sound is never as good as a club and the DJ’s only have a limited time to do their thing. But they are always a smorgasbord of talent, with the chance to see a DJ that one might otherwise not venture to see. If this is only the beginning of what summer has to offer, I am very excited.