Shine/BBM Magazine Arena

Homelands Ireland 2000 review

This was one of the "inside" venues - not a tent - and was set up much like a club. The low roof, along with the dark room utilising trippy lights, lots of stobe and colourful projections, created the prefect setting for the music - but may also account for the number of people who were passing out in there - or maybe not.

This room never really got full - perhaps the poor signage was one reason - and had smaller crowds but a good hardcore following well loaded with lightsticks, some of whom seemed to have spent the entire day in there. We ceratinly seemed to see many of the same faces each time we returned.

Arriving to catch Mr C's set, the late running treated us to Simon McDermott, and he soon had us hooked. Mr C was superb and Pete wants to shake his hand for playing a beautiful remix of UR's Knight of the Jaguar. That aside, the set was mainly thumping deep house, fully appreciated by all those present.

We caught 3 wonderful sets later on - Layo, Alan Simms (a real highlight) and Justin Robertson (catch him at the Back2Basics/Deep South/Highrise Arena at Homelands England) - all providing the perfect toons to keep the deep vibe going. We could have stayed here all night, but the fear of missing out on something else eventually took us elsewhere.