Electric Picnic 2017 **Discussion Only // No Ticket Sales**

I'd just like to echo a previous post about how good the Oxegen line ups were, because there seems to be a misconception that it was all commercial pap. Loads of bands like Interpol and PJ Harvey, who people are crying out to play EP again. Oxegen was a great festival. It was of its time but we were bloody lucky to have it.

Rigor Mortis wrote: »

The line up was generally up there with the best in Europe for Indie / Rock. It was generally good on dance too. Possibly missed out on the legacy stuff, but I think that they were initially popular with other bookers because they were cheap. Witness and Oxegen were amazing festivals

Dance/electronic was mostly my thing back then and I was always happy with the line-up in that regard. It took a speed wobble mid-decade when the whole indie-dance thing blew up but other than that it was very solid. It suffered from mostly shoving anything that resembled 'dance' together though. So you'd have LCD Soundsystem playing before a deep house DJ. As I said, very of its time. EP was a reaction to festivals like Oxegen. We wouldn't have one without the other

I'll be fairly disappointed if that's the lineup. Hopefully it's fake

Paleblood wrote: »

I normally dislike 'back in the day' stories (so this is my last one) but I really miss the old Bacardi Bar from Oxegen. Back then it was just a bar-tent with DJs playing nothing but soulful house. That genre of music has never really been in or out of fashion in this part of the world. It's a predominantly American style of music with little foothold in Europe. So it was an odd choice for such a loud, mainstream festival, but it contrasted beautifully against the dominant strains of house and techno that you found in the dedicated dance tent back then, not to mention the balls out rock n roll on the main stage.

The current Bacardi Bar is well built, great craic and very well curated, for the most part. But it pretty much sounds like all of the mini bars that are pumping out house music around the site. Even the music in the woods last year had that inoffensive deep house/edits vibe. I long for a Bacardi Bar that truly stands out!

Anyway, that's enough old-man talk for one morning.

Back in my day...

Oxegen DID have a lot going for it. I saw some great gigs and a looot of great bands over 2 festivals. Kings of Leon, Interpol, Editors, REM, the Verve, the Raconteurs and RATM all at '08, an early career gig from MGMT where the tent was bursting at the seams, etc.

Even other acts that I almost forgot that I have seen - Vampire Weekend, Dirty Projectors, bands that I would give my right arm to see now.

The major downfall that Oxegen had was that there was literally nothing to do other than music. No craft areas, no quirky things to explore and, as such, it attracted a very limited audience - people who were happy enough to drink and listen to music, drink some more.

That's not a criticism as I did it myself too, but EP certainly opened up a whole new world for me in terms of what I expect from a festival. It has a great atmosphere, character, etc whereas Oxegen could have been anywhere. There wasn't anything unique. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it (my first one especially) but I don't miss it either.