Just back from Oxegen

Im prob gonna be a bit controversial here but i can honestly say there was very little good about oxegen for me this year.

This was my fourth year at it, the first (i think) that the weather was really bad for it and definitely the first where i left feeling assaulted by MCD.
First off the weather, obviously not MCD s fault but the way they reacted was, how much do those plastic bag ponchos cost? could they not give them away?? (didnt go last year but was told they did then).

Ended up staying in the dance arena cause it was warm, did see a few good acts, Dave Clarke in particular, but what wrecked my head here was they kept changing the entrance/exit one minute it was on one side, then you d go and get a beer and it was changed to the other side, also had the usual row ove bottlecaps with a waterseller, quote: "gimme an extra euro and ill give you the cap"

The build up for me was to the who, one of my favorite bands and the main ones id come to see, waited and waited, went to the main stage and when they played could not hear a thing except the guitars and drums, gutted prob my only chance to see them live, why cant MCD buy/hire a decent sound rig?? Same thing happened at the Chillis in phoenix park, im telling you MCD dont care about people having a good time once they re in, they just want the cash.
Car park was a joke,when i arrived was told i couldnt drink a beer cause of the bottle, when i left drove all around it to the entrance only to be told "You cant leave her gotta go round the other side"???, nearly crashed in the muck.
Ended leaving very early as i had trouble with my tent, (lazy putting it up, not MCD's fault).

Basically it pisses me off the way the security treats you with total disdain, almost contempt and the way that you get herded around like a cow into whatever exit/entrance is active at that time. The sound quality at everything was poor(except for the MTV arena which was full of crap acts anyway, remember when acts like Leftfield got in there, now its Eric Morillo). Every f***er selling some thing is trying to rip you off.

45 minute walk to the car park from the campsite. Just seems that MCD try to make it as difficult as possible. "Oh yeah, well be showing Films on the campsite", I saw one crappy screen showing LOTR which im told they showed last year as well, gonna try my best not to go any MCD festival again, they charged me a booking fee on my ticket AND the parking ticket ffs??
For the people who read this and say that i just didnt enter into the festival atmosphere your wrong, ive been to plenty of them here and abroad and ive always had a good time, the commercialism has simply got out of hand here.

was dave couse the band that was reading out from a book during their songs ? they were brilliant!

i was in B7 and my friends 110 euro which he thought he lost, must of gotten robbed so!

Anyone see thr De Lonentos? Saw them on Saturday night in the Campsite Stage, and then on sunday, Was very impressed

comet wrote:

I was in campsite A, it was a cesspit of roving drunken thieves and trouble makers, people were pissing and puking everywhere and anywhere they liked. It was my fist time camping at Oxegen having gone as a daytripper before, I had previously camped at Glastonbury. Is this who we are as people, is this the youth of Ireland? Its pathetic if it is or maybe more likely decent people just stayed away. I wouldn't camp there again, I woke up this morning and there were a lot of tents smouldering nearby, place looked like a warzone. Over the weekend I got very little sleep due to blaring music being pumped out by neighbours who seemed to come just to get pissed and annoy others. The festival itself music wise was very good and enjoyable.

I really thought I was alone in my thinking of how appalling the camping at Oxegen was this year, clearly not. I very naively thought people went for the good music and atmosphere of everyone being there with a common purpose, to see some great bands and have a bit of craic. In reality I spent the nights praying for morning to come and hoping my tent wouldn't be lit on fire with me in it during the night. It really tested my faith in humanity and the state of Irish youth. Hearing people get into fights because one fella (who believes stealing is wrong btw) was peed off that somone had stolen his 'smack', and also having supposed security asking me if I had any speed to help him stay awake.
It didn't stop once the whole weekend, we were surrounded by scumbags who thought it was so cool that they hadn't gone to any bands at all and thought stealing tents and other stuff was hilarious. Not to mention possible assaults as I heard a girl begging for some fella to stop touching her (I couldn't find where she was shouting from) , at some point I could hear another fella roaring at the first fella and then a huge fight starting (hope the girl was ok). There was just so much going on it was hard to take in and I felt as a 23 year old girl that I was far too old for all of this crap and it was ridiculous to spend a weekend at a music festival full of great bands fearing for my life.
On a more positive note, The Kooks, Sigur Ros and Maximo Park were brilliant, and managed to not have any traumatic portaloo incidents at all

OK.

I was at Deftones Friday night so I just got down Saturday morning. No bother getting a bus when I strolled down to Parnell Sq. at around five to ten and it only took about an hour so no complaints there.

Anyway, when I got in I went to check out the Marshals. They were brilliant. One of the highlights of the weekend, actually! After their set I went to check out Foy Vance in the Green Room. When I walked in he said "Here's a song I wrote on he toilet" so I thought Rock and fúckin' Roll. Then I saw that he was wearing a pink shirt and he had an acoustic guitar. That was enough to make me leave right there but in fairness to him I stuck around for the song and it was terrible.

I'd seen V Formation the night before and I'd thought that they were terrible then, but I said I'd give them another go because I had been pissed off at being stuck up on the balcony in the Ambassador. Unfortunately, I was right the first time. Pure crap. Went back to the main stage for Sandi Thom because there wasn't anything else, tbh. She wasn't as bad as I thought, but she was bad.

Saw the first few songs of the Republic of Loose's set after this. Didn't like them at all, really. Maybe it was the fúcking rain, to be fair to them. Went over to Pet Sounds and caught some Dave Couse. Definitely another highlight. Seeing Endless Art with the book and everything was brilliant. Said I'd check out Damien Dempsey ("Every time I mention the words Bertie Ahern, Harney or McDowell I hear a rumble. That rumble is the sound of James Connolly turning in his grave" :rolleyes: ) but left 'cause of the rain.

In the Green Room I saw some Kubb, and they weren't bad, but completely unremarkable set. Went to the Crimea in the New Band Stage. The singer grabbed the microphone, stand and everything, and walked as far into the crowd as the lead would go. He sang the entire first song in a small circle there. No security around him. Hardcore! They played a great set and I want some of whatever yer man was on. I was talking to him afterwards and I asked him if he had any albums that I'd be able to get. He said "Not on me, no."

Next band I saw were Hard-fi. ****e. The lead singer was a stuck-up asshole. He kicked over the guitar when it wasn't working. :mad: Saw a few minutes of Gomez after these clowns and then went over to José González. Caught the end of "That Song Off Of the Sony Ad" and then left after a couple more. He didn't suit the tent at all. Nice to see, though.

Went back to the main stage for the Arctic Monkeys. One of the top three acts of the weekend. I'm not even sure if it was that they were any good, but it was pure atmosphere! I even went as far as to buy a "Who the **** are the Arctic Monkeys" t-shirt. Stuck around for the first couple of Strokes songs (Juicebox!) and they were the same live as on record, so I'm not too pushed about missing the rest of their set to see...

The Automatic. Proper music. What's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster? Is it A MONSTER? :cool: Enough said.

After this, of course, was the Who. The reason I bought a ticket and easily the best act of the festival. They played most of the songs I wanted to see. The new one they played was pretty fúcking good, too! Can't wait for the new album.

After this I saw one song from James Brown. That was enough. Went to see Kasabian but I couldn't get in to the tent so I pissed off after a couple of songs. What I saw was good enough, though. Saw Ashcroft doing Bittersweet Symphony and went to check out Felix Da Housecat just for the sake of it. About 30 seconds of that was enough, though!

Went back to the campsite and my tent was full of water. Fun.

Saw some of Delorentos to waste a bit of time before I checked out Wolfmother. They put on a proper show, and fair play to them that early on the Sunday! Another real highlight and I'll definitely try to check them out in November. Tried to avoid Maximo Park, but I heard some of their bollox while queuing for Merch. Went down to the put for Manu Chao. Hardcore stuff. The energy of Manu was deadly and the bassist was like something from a proper Metal band.

I'd seen the Tiny Dancers at Dylan in Kilkenny a couple of weeks beforehand, so I said I'd check them out again. I'd really only gone to hear their Microsoft Sam outro, but while they didn't do it, they had some good songs. Saw Corrinne Bailey Rae for the sake of seeing Girl Put Your Records On or whatever live, then left after that. She wasn't bad, but like José González really didn't suit the Pet Sounds stage.

Damian Marley was up next. He had to be seen to be believed. Proper Jamaican sounds. A great set was made even better when I snuck behind the barrier afterwards and got to meet him and his crew. I got autographs from Damian and the guy who was waving a flag around for the entire set. Was talking to the MC chap with the mad hat and asked him to sign my ticket but he just said "I don't really do autographs."

Went to see Franz after this and loved the set. 40' and Outsiders were the highlights and it was great to hear Michael but I was disappointed that they didn't play Darts or Jacqueline. Great performance, though. I stuck around for the Chillies for the simple reason that I had a good spot and didn't want to risk not getting into the tent for Rod y Gab or Sigur Rós. I wasn't a fan before but they put on a pretty good show.

I finished off the night with Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club in the tent in the camp site. Loved their cover of I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor! Ger was pretty, eh, energetic, too.

Didn't have to put up with any **** in the campsite, so overall a good Oxegen.