IndustryStandard The likes of Jules / Tall Pall / Oakenfold by late 90s/early 00s were pushing credibility to a degree, but compared to Aoki/Guetta or whoever the big EDM headliners are it’s no comparison .
What was that festival in the midlands with the Bedrock tent circa 2004 ? Up the M1 . Homelands ? That was the first time I noticed a divide at a “festival” between house heads and a commercial set. Remember watching Oakenfold for a bit closing it out and thinking WTF happened to him . All Jesus poses and turd house.
I think the turning point started happening around 1999 to be honest.
Suddenly all the squares you knew from school were starting to turn up at places like Cream and Sankeys. People who a couple of years previously were wearing shiney shirts and shoes (or the female equivalent) into chart music and ridiculed such places and their crowds as being ‘for druggies’ were suddenly there in combats and t-shirts ‘havin’ it’.
The schism just grew bigger from there.