So Oxegen over the weekend was brilliant. No one was nasty to me, I made friends, I got to lep about in the rain, eat bacon and cheese burgers for breakfast, lunch and dinner and run about in a big field with a bag of cans and see lots of great bands.
There were downsides. The new band stage was crap (3Oh!3, Daisy Dares You etc.), the dance stage was crap (all I wanted to see was Armand Van Helden and he just played awful happy hardcore shite) and the stewards hadn't a clue about, well anything at all (we got lost 10 times before we found the staff campsite, two of us pitched three tents before being told we were in the wrong place and would have to take them down, pack them up and pitch them elsewhere.
I could complain about the weather (it rained and rained and rained) but apart from one girl we saw crying down the phone to her mother begging to be collected and brought home on the Friday, no one else complained. A whole content 75,000 people dancing about like ducks in the rain and mud. For some reason the notoriously scummy crowd were ridiculously well behaved and pleasant to be around. I even made friends with some complete skangers on the Sunday night (I offered one a light for his cigarette, he in turn offered me speed! ...which of course I declined ftr!).
Vampire Weekend, Black Keys, Jay Z, Arcade Fire, Wild Beasts, The Drums, Yeasayer, Ash, Hot Chip, Tinariwen, Biffy Clyro, Two Door Cinema Club, Florence And The Machine, Dizzy Rascal, The Stranglers, Broken Social Scene, Julian Casablancas, Earth, Wind and Fire and The Prodigy were all great!
I missed Faithless and Local Natives as I was on air Sunday evening talking to Joshua Radin and Jared Leto's brother (I'd never heard their music, but on post interview listening can safely say neither for me, although Joshua was an absolutely lovely guy). Also, I missed Villagers and Frightened Rabbit cos they clashed with Jay Z and Arcade Fire. And I saw the Middle East and was rather underwhelmed.
But yeh, that was my Oxegen weekend. One or two observations:
Two Door Cinema Club - Finally a decent, accessible, credible Irish indie band.
Tinariwen - If you get asked to play Oxegen at 2 p.m on a massive Vodafone stage, don't, the majority of the 50 people there were too incapacitated to leave. Stick to the Picnic!
Anyone planning to see Prodigy - If you're feeling in any way nauseous don't go, the heavy, heavy bass will have you spewing your vital organs all over the poor unfortunate ravers in front of you.
So onward, Electric Picnic is in a month and a half, and Oxegen 2011 is only a mere 12 months away again!
And finally, my apologies, I had a hectic day so my Book and Movie Club will have to wait til tomorrow, I'll either post about Quadrophenia or Shane McGowan's book.
The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up Alt
Tinariwen - Tamatant Tilay Alt
Two Door Cinema Club - I Can Talk Alt
(and thanks to state.ie for the photo)
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