Mad-for-it clubbers came in their busloads from all over Ireland to live it up at some of the biggest, and by all reports, the best parties of the year. This past year Ireland played host to four major dance events - Homelands, Creamfields, Witnness and Planet Love - all headlined by some of the biggest names on the international dance scene. At around £40 a pop, these big days out don't come cheap for punters, but are very lucrative for the promoters.
Homelands attracted crowds of over 35,000 to the Mosney Holiday Centre in Co Meath last April for the second annual staging of the event.
Generally advertised as "over-18s" events, tickets are easy to come by and the crowd usually range in age from 16 upwards. Teens aren't here for the drink and drugs that may be available - all that is secondary to the entertainment on offer. They come to have fun, dance to live sets and to chill.
Creamfields Ireland 2000 played host to the biggest dance act in the world, the Chemical Brothers. At £44 a ticket, 25,000 revellers flocked to the Punchestown racecourse outside Naas, Co Kildare, last June to go wild through the night. Creamfields will be taking place again this summer with the date to be announced.
Although more rock-orientated, the huge Guinness-sponsored August Bank Holiday weekend Witnness event did carry a dance element that attracted large numbers of clubbers. Guinness spent over £4 million on this two-day event, in what was seen as an attempt to give the product some street cred with younger consumers.
Unimaginable in the early days of dance, it's now quite standard for corporations to sponsor these dance events. Images of trendy people dancing are very often used by advertising agencies to sell products to younger generations.
Planet Love 2000 was another huge party that the Red-Bull-and-vodka generation are still talking about. This Northern Ireland dance gig attracted some 10,000 clubbers. Gatecrasher is the next big one-off event and takes place this weekend at Dublin's Point Theatre, featuring a crowd-pulling line-up of Judge Jules, Timo Maas and Sander Kleinenberg. Tickets are still on sale at £31.
