Basement Jaxx at Fairview Park, Dublin on 25 June 2025

We won’t jinx the weather, but this June has been delivering for us outdoor concert-lovers. As Wednesday night was upon us, Jenny Greene, one of RTE 2FM’s long running DJs, set the scene for the evening to come as an excellent opener. As patrons descended upon Fairview Park, there was an air of anticipation among the crowd – plenty of elder millennials & Gen-Xers in the audience ready to dance their arses off on a summer night in June (most of us forgetting the fact it was Wednesday).

Showing off her true skill, Greene knew the kind of songs that would get the hips oiled and feet moving; the tent was slow to fill up with plenty of people lounging on the grass outside, drinking, eating and chatting. Which meant that inside, there was a lot of space to bust a move to a mix of samples, ranging from Peggy Gou to Michael Jackson to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs iconic track ‘Heads Will Roll’ – a little taste of everything.

As Jenny Greene left the stage, the crew went straight to work on unveiling the stage that Basement Jaxx brought with them. As a legendary act, Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe – along with all of their expert singers, dancers, and musicians, transformed a tent in Dublin into an Avant Garde club that could be somewhere in a tropical dreamland.

No expense was spared on the costumes or staging, which was a slanted platform with a big hole in the middle for Buxton to hit the decks and whilst Simon and the other musicians wandered closer to the crowd. The dancers continued to change costume, with one somewhere between a giant palm tree and a stick of celery. The top ‘leaves’ moved with the dancer as she crossed the stage occasionally revealing a glimpse of her face.

Throughout the show, the dancers showed off amazing acrobatics – really adding a fourth dimension to the set of hits. From court jesters to sea-urchin-like straight jackets, they created a universe of their own in which the crowd got transported across many soundscapes.

Basement Jaxx is an act that created so many fundamental bangers – from Bingo Bango, Romeo, Rendez-Vu to Where’s Your Head At – and seeing them performed in such an extravagant way with a live band and several amazing singers was incredible.

Each performer was an expert in their own right, even without the futuristic metallic costumes, they would have commanded everyone’s attention with their clean and powerful vocals alone. Paired with the live instruments and dancers this is the perfect example of why electronic music isn’t just a guy pushing buttons on a laptop. It’s a living breathing thing that ebbs and flows with the vibe of the song and crowd.

After a ten-year hiatus, we were certainly treated to some Good Vibrations throughout the evening. There wasn’t a single person in the tent who wasn’t moving with the music with massive smiles plastered on their faces. Addressing the crowd, Felix thanked the whole band, crediting them for their excellence as we lapped up every moment of the night. Overall, it was a sweaty excellent evening proving elder millennials still have it in us to have a good dance, even on a Wednesday night.