Homelands Chief Downplays 'Inverted Comma' Superstar DJs

'Superstar DJs' and superclubs are past their sell-by dates, We Love Homelands promoter Darren Hughes told Skrufff this week, as he outlined his strategy for this year's Festival.

"The headcount of the superstar DJs on this year's bill is probably less than it's ever been; there are big names there, sure, but the amount of - inverted commas- superstar DJs, is significantly less," said Darren.

"The perception of people who were considered superstar DJs two or three years ago is very different now. Many of those DJs are, more often than not, working abroad more than they're working in the UK because they can still command huge fees in territories where the scene is now like it was in the UK in the early or the mid 90s. But it's quite different in the UK today. Which is a good thing in my opinion," he added.

While Darren avoid mentioning too many fading DJ names, he was happy to single out 2 Many DJs as new contenders, asking 'are they superstar DJs or not- Two years ago they definitely weren't but now, maybe they are- But then again, Dave Clarke recently labelled them as the Jive Bunny of dance, which is certainly an interesting point of view. Who knows how they'll be seen in three years time-"

DJ line-ups aside, Darren stressed that this year's event will be structurally similar to last year, with staggered closing of arenas throughout the night as well as more live acts (including Scissor Sisters, Lamb and Roni Size) and urban and hip hop performers more heavily represented (notably Dizzee Rascal, Grandmaster Flash and Tim Westwood).

"Last year was the key turning point for us in terms of analysing the event and asking ourselves if we liked what we were doing," said Darren.

"We shrunk the number of arenas overall from 11 to 8 and to all intents and purposes, we chopped the younger commercial trance elements and concentrated on our tastes in the hope that they'd appeal to other people with similar tastes," he continued.

"I'd say last year that it went up a notch in age terms, but having said that I to make a measured statement on that is very difficult, it just looked and felt like there were less kiddy ravers."
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• homelands
• darren hughes