SUN, MUD & DODGY SOUND SYSTEMS (Ericsson Homelands (Winchester))

Member Name: yoshitoshi

Product:	Ericsson Homelands (Winchester)
Date:	14/09/01 (349 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good music

Disadvantages: english weather, dodgy sound system

I have been to homelands for the last 3 years now and have had a variable experience of the festival scene.

There are various tents from various clubs reflecting a huge choice of dance music from Drum n Bass to tribal Trance. The cost is around £45 a ticket plus with Ticketmaster (I hate them) plus booking fee.

Getting to Winchester by car is simple and the directions are labelled on route, parking the car was easy as well. There is a big walk up the hill then you find the bowl where tents and fair ground attractions await you.

The first year was perfect, good music, good atmosphere, and great weather. The pick of the evening for me was Laurent Gaurnier as the man was on form with a BLINDING set. Paul Van Dyk struggled and the set was disaster as the sound system was so quiet after the Chemical Brothers obliterated it.

Second year was simple awful and that was due to the weather. The night out was ruined wet, aching joints (the body kind) from dancing in the cold, just a plain mess is definitely not my idea of fun. Even eating a dirty burger seemed a luxury just keep myself warm. Driving home in my BOXERS was new for me, as I couldn’t wear soaking clothes in my friend’s new car, so that was PANTS for an ending. At least the car was warm after it heated up!

Even in the cold and wet I still managed to enjoy parts of the night like watching Public Enemy play and they were the mutts nuts although the river flowing through the tent did alarm me at one point. The biggest disappointment on the night was the Sasha and Digweed sets, I have a lot of time for those guys and am really into that style of music but the decibel level was far to low!

Third year I bought the tickets of a newsgroup advert on the cheap. I only bought them because the BBC 5-day weather prediction service had show saturday would be fine. It was a really wikkid night, Adam Freelander in the Bud Ice bus was buzzing outside. Space was
the place to be that night with Steve Lawler, Sasha, John Digweed, Danny Tenaglia all lining up to bang out the choons. Althought I was a bit disappointed with Tenaglia.

The Bacardi tent seems the better purchase for drinks (and not because I like Bacardi a lot) as they are just poured out and not measured, so it seems a touch of the European influence.
After drinking far too much the men’s toilets were very good but that is because they covered most of Matterly Bowl Arena

My advice is to buy tickets at the last moment when you know the weather is going to be okay as it makes so much difference. And please Homelands organisers turn the sound up!

Summary: