Oxegen - The Aftermath.... whatcha think?

I thought it was great. Reading some of the posts above
really anoyed me.Some people just moan moan moan.

The rain was anoying and it would have been much beter if the sun was out but it didnt ruin the weekend at all. The prices of food was crap so I didnt buy any - I brought loads any. What exactly did you expect ? They are always that price at concerts , they were actually more pricey at the pixies in pheonix park.

Music wise I think it was the best year ( was my 3rd time there )

Went to see
-scissors sisters
I was really impressed , they got the crowd going and music was qutie good too

-Franz Ferdinand
Brilliant - should have been on later on in the day really. 3:40 is too early. I really liked them before but they didnt seem great live when I had seen em on tv, However they were really tight. I think they should have been swaped with The Kings Of Leon

-The Kings Of Leon
Seen these in The olympia a while back and thought they were.....ok. On saturday U thought they were very poor and I didnt really get into it.Should have been on earlier.

-The Strokes
WOW! They were amazing. Really good stage stage presence, They all have an individual playing style . I really liked the Clash cover they did too. The crowd seemed really into it as well but I was at the very front so I dont know what it was like further back.They were very tight. Best band of the weekend.

-The Cure
Very poor. I know they are a great band ( I personally am not mad about them ) A headline act should play their hits and please the crowd, If it was a smaller gig for the more die hard fans I would have been a good one but they didnt cut it for me. There were a good few Cure fans in my group who were REALLY dissapointed too.

I saw a load of new bands on the Sat who I didnt know , some were very good!
couldnt get into Chemical brothers !

Black Eye'd Peas
The guy that introduced them aws very entertaining! They put on a really good show , worked the crowd well and put 110% in. Im not a big fan of the music though...

-Pink
ROFL! What was she doing at oxegen ? I went to shout things at her , she was crap. The sound was muffled and where I was the crowd were booing

-Muse
Wow! Such a professional band. I was quite near the back and the crowd still went mental. People were saying they didnt work the crowd ? They didnt need to. I really enojoyed it even though some guy tried to rob my wallet

-Basement Jax
I aint a big fan of their music but they were actually really good live. Good to dance about to. Your man climbing the sound tower was classic !

-The Darkness
Got to see about 3/4 of them - Dont think I could have watched much more. They did what they do well and worked the crowd well. They are really good showmen and filled in for David Bowie well....although him dropping out still pains me . The 20 minute outro was pretty cool!

What was with everyone humming that bit from the song in Kill Bill ? The mexican hurrahs were great fun ! I was in B2 which had a pretty good atmosphere, got barely any sleep.

One thing that put me on a downer - A goupr of 15 travelers moved in next to my friends who were on the other side of the campsite, they were really loud and abusive. When my friends came back to the campsite at the end of Saturday their beer and other things were gone. They knew it was them but didnt say anything. Later that night they came over and started fights and my friends ended up leaving on the Sunday night instead of the Monday. Bastards
:dunno:

Originally posted by hacktavist
Tusky, I was in b2 aswell it was mental! were you there when everyone was kickin the football around! Helped a load of people make a tower and went around with a guy in a council jacket who was pretending to be a security guard it was brilliant!

Highlight of the weekend was basement jaxx! Did anyone see the guy on the speaker tower? That was crazy!

aye he almost fell off !

I went to the two days without camping. Saturday was brilliant while Sunday was only so-so.

SATURDAY

After seeing some of the Scissor Sisters, I began the day with Franz Ferdinand, who I had seen twice before. This was definetly better than their last Dublin appearance earlier this year, they translated to the Main Stage with ease and pleased the crowd well. While I wasn't blown away or anything, it was all good fun.

I really enjoyed The Rapture, was well impressed. Even the belting rain wouldn't stop me from watching them, some quirky shít there. Next saw PJ Harvey and she put on a great performance.

While I thought last year's Witnness had Kings of Leon of one of the highlights, I found them awful this year. Terrible sound and overall lackluster performance.

The Strokes were excellent, although their set became a bit repetitive as time went on. The amount of kids that flushed out of the pit after their set ("I don't know who or what the fúck The Cure are"). I would say most of these people would have moved themselves to The Chemical Brothers, which would explain the bulging Dance... building.

For me, The Cure were fúcking amazing and the best band of the weekend for me. The massive outdoor stage suited them nicely. I think they were far more interesting and captivating than any band I saw that weekend. They did belt out some hits, but managed to play some great non-single tracks too (which are terrific despite what some people may not prefer).

SUNDAY

Arrived in late, caught a bit of Faithless, Bic Runga, and Ash from a distance. Watched Wilco's full set and I was impressed after hearing none of their material.

Saw some of Muse. After seeing them twice, It wasn't my plan to be watching them again (but Bowie cancelled etc.). At this stage I found them fairly predictable and uninteresting so I went to check out The Libertines, who I felt the same way. I don't know if it was because Dougherty was not playing, but it was a fairly weak show.

Ran into the New Bands Tent after the rain began again, saw some of Delays (...again), waited for The Shins. It was funny, they made parodies of The Darkness all through their set (who they could actually see from their stage). It was all in good fun though, was most enjoyable.

After The Shins, I decided to finish off with headliners The Darkness. At this stage, I still liked and enjoyed The Darkness; their Vicar Street gig last year was brilliant. But here, I finally realised why so many people dislike them. Hawkins is so up himself. While I know they have nowt material (especially for a headline act), he talked so much crap. At the last show, they went on, played their songs, rocked, and barely said anything. This was just bad though. He asked the crowd to put up their hands, shake them, and jump up and down. He compared themselves as a live band to Linkin Park (with obvious reactions). He played the drums for god's sake. And went on and on about how great they were.
Even with that, the sound wasn't great, the songs were predictable, and just uninteresting at this stage. I really don't think they are set for headlining the Main Stage this early.

Overall, I didn't come any traces of terrible organisation that I had come to expect, most bands were well on-time. Security were pricks though, and the prices on food were ridiculously high. Timetable fiasco was bullshít though, I thankfully got mine off Hotpress the morning before though.

Free ticket. e100 on booze, drugs and food. Of that 100, I spent about 20 inside the actual venue, on a couple of snack boxes and a pint. Good value weekend I thought. We drove down so Dublin Bus didn't a chance to screw me either.

Saturday was by far the better day, I thought.

Scissor Sisters: My first band of the weekend, pretty good. Already a fan and saw them before, but they seemed to impress the other people I was with! Shame they clashed with Stellstarr* though.

Franz Ferdinand: Good, if a little too much by the numbers. Front man has much more charisma than you'd expect!

Electric 6: Dick Valentine is the Man. And the tent nearly lifted off during Gay Bar.

Kings Of Leon: Never really heard their stuff before, and I was quite surprised by them. Didn't do anything for me at all.

Strokes: Meh. Thankfully played most of their big ones early, so I could fuck off.

Hope Of The States: Band of the weekend, for me. Despite ****ty sound, they pulled off a great show. And to think, I only caught them because the Strokes were so poor!

The Killers: A bit of a dissapointment, but I was partyed out by that stage anyway.

As for Sunday:

The Zutons: Band of the day, pity about the short set and time of day. Sax player is an absolute ride

Wu Tang Clan: Not into the auld rap/hip-hop but still quite enjoyed it. They do know how to get a crowd going!

Pink: I wished I was in the pit, standing around by the t-shirt stalls wasn't a way to experience it, really.

Muse: Good show, from what I saw. A bit too early for their light-show to work though!

Originally posted by karlh
btw, they did get at least €1 million for Bowie cancelling. The Darkness' appearance fee was €1.5 million (staggering but true considering their fee for Glasto last year was €200)

That was a bull**** rumour of the highest order. Started by the band themselves as part of their act. There isn't a hope in hell that a non headline (as they were when they were booked) act, with a single album and little staying power, would pocket €1.5million for a 90 minute show. Even if that's what they were asking for, the tight **** at MCD would tell them to **** off.

Originally posted by Tusky
Really glad I didnt go to oxegen with you , you sound like a right dry ****e.

hehe exactly

Fantastic weekend!!! OCS were amazing, a great way the end the weekend! sissor sisters, micheal franti, franz ferdinand, strokes, kings of leon,franklin,jimmy cliff! ALL ROCKED!and ASH ofcourse...well they should have been headlining! they were brilliant! And to top it all off everynight was the campsite parties! especially the sunday night...all nighter;)