OXEGEN 08 YO!
I spent this entire weekend camping out at Punchestown racecourse in Co. Kildare with Robin, Aisling and Scott for the Oxegen festival and it was really mad! I've never been to a festival of any kind before, and this one is pretty huge. Here's my observations.
+The camping situation is completely mental. You don't get an assigned place or anything, it's basically every man for himself. There was a warning label on our cheap-ass Argos tent that said to ensure we had 6 metres of space between ourselves and neighbouring tents - pity one of our guylines was actually pegged underneath the next tent over! They're absolutely shoulder to shoulder, which means finding your tent in the night is more than a little difficult.
+The first rule of weekend festivals should be if you can't hold your drink, don't get shitfaced on Friday afternoon. No one wants to see you barf/pass out/fall down and you will ruin a porta potty for other people.
+If there was something I would add to Oxegen, it would be a picnic area. The only option for seating in the entire festival is the ground, which really just gets old after a while, and I don't like to eat standing up.
+Ireland has the stupidest weather. It's completely possible to get drenched and sunburnt at the same time.
+I can't figure out why so many girls had themselves really done up for the whole festival. I'm talking makeup, nice hairstyles and bar outfits. I ran around wearing clothes that I would not normally even be seen in publin in. I was a step above hobo, but these girls looked like they were off to the clubs. The only difference was they were wearing wellies.
+While we're on the subject, wellies should not be worn for three straight days. My feet are still crying.
The music aspect was awesome. I saw a ton of really great bands, such as:
The Dirty Epics - recommended to us by a waitress in Wagamama. I wasn't that impressed
Sugababes - kinda out of place at a rock-heavy festival. We didn't stay the whole time.
Paddy Casey - lots of fun. I didn't know any of his songs, but it was a good set.
Ben Folds - hands down my favourite act of the weekend. I danced in the rain with three Irish guys that I'd just met. Ben was really amazing, super high energy and his usual completely amazing style on the piano. I want to marry him. Also, he covered Such Great Heights, which is basically my all-time favourite song EVAR. It was just... really amazing.
Interpol - I only caught part of this as Aisling, Robin and I had gone back to the tent for a drink and a snack, but the beats were pretty solid.
Kings of Leon - I stayed for the first bit and the last bit of them. They were good, but since Ben Folds had set the bar really effing high, it would have taken more to really amaze me.
Groove Armada - seriously solid. I got right up front with my friend David and we danced like crazy. The crowd was really energetic, and I was happy they did everything live rather than depending on a DJ set and light show *coughchemicalbrotherscough*
Saturday had a massive lineup and I had a lot of trouble choosing between bands (this happened Sunday as well).
Jack McManus - I didn't have a clue who this dude was going in and he wasn't bad, but I have to say, I didn't find anything really original about him.
Scouting for Girls - Pretty good, but I think I might have enjoyed it more if I knew more of their songs and it hadn't started lashing rain right in the middle. I actually can't remember what I saw after that, because we basically just legged it for the nearest tent.
The Wombats - really good! These guys were mad high energy and I'm really into their music at the moment. It lashed rain through the whole set, but Robin and I loved it big time.
Counting Crows - Saw about half their set, but I'm not really a bit CC fan, so I didn't get a lot out of it.
Amy Winehouse - Weird. I think everyone in the crowd (which was HUGE) was wondering if she'd even turn up, let alone make it through her set. She started out fairly well, but knocked back a couple drinks on stage and we think she took a pill of some kind too, and the quality really deteriorated. She forgot the words at one point so we took off
Echo and the Bunnymen - really rocking, especially for their age.
Panic! At the Disco - All right. They seemed a little lacklustre.
Stereophonics - Holy crap. I loved them. They rocked so hard.
REM - I stayed for the first bit and they were good, but again, I'm not a huge fan in general
Hot Chip - Really awesome set. The PET Sounds tent was packed and everyone was dancing. Loads of fun
*this is the part where I wanted to go to Manic Street Preachers but just didn't seem to make it. Stayed for a bit of The National, whom I quite like, but was really just too tired to care, so headed back to the tent. Listened to the Verve from there, and they sounded good from a distance!
Sunday:
The Subways - I was pretty impressed, despite the fact that I'm not a huge fan. Billy Lunn is really wild to watch, and he kept trying to crowd surf but security wouldn't let him.
The Blizzards - I'd never heard of this band, but ended up liking them a lot. I'd definitely see them again. Also their lead singer is a fox.
The Kooks - Not bad, but not amazing either.
MGMT - I had to watch from outside cause the pet sounds tent was so packed, but they have such an amazing sound.
The Fratellis - see the Kooks.
Raconteurs - Impressive and fun. Jack White has got himself a weird haircut though.
Kaiser Chiefs - LOVED It! Much like at the Subways, Ricky Wilson wanted to crowd surf so hard, but they wouldn't let him. He was climbing all over the stage though. Really fun gig.
Chemical Brothers - Cool set, but mostly a light show. The crowd made me nervous though. I'm not great with crowds.
Rage Against the Machine - I was not a fan before this. I'm still not a fan now.
The trip back to Dub wasn't too bad, I was in bed around 2 am. Today was a long day though, as we had a stocktake at work.
Randomly: On Sunday morning we were sat outside the tent having some sandwiches, when we looked up and realised the sky was filled with ... stuff. Apparently there was some kind of mini whirlwind somewhere in the campsite (a friend of Aisling's saw it happen), that caught up a bunch of stuff, including a tent, a sleeping bag and a bag of rubbish. It was the strangest thing I saw all weekend (and that's saying something), just watching it all float down, with a tent in the middle like something out of the Wizard of Oz.
I need sleep pretty badly at this point. I'm honestly surprised I'm still functioning and not a complete zombie. Showering this morning was reaaally nice.
+The camping situation is completely mental. You don't get an assigned place or anything, it's basically every man for himself. There was a warning label on our cheap-ass Argos tent that said to ensure we had 6 metres of space between ourselves and neighbouring tents - pity one of our guylines was actually pegged underneath the next tent over! They're absolutely shoulder to shoulder, which means finding your tent in the night is more than a little difficult.
+The first rule of weekend festivals should be if you can't hold your drink, don't get shitfaced on Friday afternoon. No one wants to see you barf/pass out/fall down and you will ruin a porta potty for other people.
+If there was something I would add to Oxegen, it would be a picnic area. The only option for seating in the entire festival is the ground, which really just gets old after a while, and I don't like to eat standing up.
+Ireland has the stupidest weather. It's completely possible to get drenched and sunburnt at the same time.
+I can't figure out why so many girls had themselves really done up for the whole festival. I'm talking makeup, nice hairstyles and bar outfits. I ran around wearing clothes that I would not normally even be seen in publin in. I was a step above hobo, but these girls looked like they were off to the clubs. The only difference was they were wearing wellies.
+While we're on the subject, wellies should not be worn for three straight days. My feet are still crying.
The music aspect was awesome. I saw a ton of really great bands, such as:
The Dirty Epics - recommended to us by a waitress in Wagamama. I wasn't that impressed
Sugababes - kinda out of place at a rock-heavy festival. We didn't stay the whole time.
Paddy Casey - lots of fun. I didn't know any of his songs, but it was a good set.
Ben Folds - hands down my favourite act of the weekend. I danced in the rain with three Irish guys that I'd just met. Ben was really amazing, super high energy and his usual completely amazing style on the piano. I want to marry him. Also, he covered Such Great Heights, which is basically my all-time favourite song EVAR. It was just... really amazing.
Interpol - I only caught part of this as Aisling, Robin and I had gone back to the tent for a drink and a snack, but the beats were pretty solid.
Kings of Leon - I stayed for the first bit and the last bit of them. They were good, but since Ben Folds had set the bar really effing high, it would have taken more to really amaze me.
Groove Armada - seriously solid. I got right up front with my friend David and we danced like crazy. The crowd was really energetic, and I was happy they did everything live rather than depending on a DJ set and light show *coughchemicalbrotherscough*
Saturday had a massive lineup and I had a lot of trouble choosing between bands (this happened Sunday as well).
Jack McManus - I didn't have a clue who this dude was going in and he wasn't bad, but I have to say, I didn't find anything really original about him.
Scouting for Girls - Pretty good, but I think I might have enjoyed it more if I knew more of their songs and it hadn't started lashing rain right in the middle. I actually can't remember what I saw after that, because we basically just legged it for the nearest tent.
The Wombats - really good! These guys were mad high energy and I'm really into their music at the moment. It lashed rain through the whole set, but Robin and I loved it big time.
Counting Crows - Saw about half their set, but I'm not really a bit CC fan, so I didn't get a lot out of it.
Amy Winehouse - Weird. I think everyone in the crowd (which was HUGE) was wondering if she'd even turn up, let alone make it through her set. She started out fairly well, but knocked back a couple drinks on stage and we think she took a pill of some kind too, and the quality really deteriorated. She forgot the words at one point so we took off
Echo and the Bunnymen - really rocking, especially for their age.
Panic! At the Disco - All right. They seemed a little lacklustre.
Stereophonics - Holy crap. I loved them. They rocked so hard.
REM - I stayed for the first bit and they were good, but again, I'm not a huge fan in general
Hot Chip - Really awesome set. The PET Sounds tent was packed and everyone was dancing. Loads of fun
*this is the part where I wanted to go to Manic Street Preachers but just didn't seem to make it. Stayed for a bit of The National, whom I quite like, but was really just too tired to care, so headed back to the tent. Listened to the Verve from there, and they sounded good from a distance!
Sunday:
The Subways - I was pretty impressed, despite the fact that I'm not a huge fan. Billy Lunn is really wild to watch, and he kept trying to crowd surf but security wouldn't let him.
The Blizzards - I'd never heard of this band, but ended up liking them a lot. I'd definitely see them again. Also their lead singer is a fox.
The Kooks - Not bad, but not amazing either.
MGMT - I had to watch from outside cause the pet sounds tent was so packed, but they have such an amazing sound.
The Fratellis - see the Kooks.
Raconteurs - Impressive and fun. Jack White has got himself a weird haircut though.
Kaiser Chiefs - LOVED It! Much like at the Subways, Ricky Wilson wanted to crowd surf so hard, but they wouldn't let him. He was climbing all over the stage though. Really fun gig.
Chemical Brothers - Cool set, but mostly a light show. The crowd made me nervous though. I'm not great with crowds.
Rage Against the Machine - I was not a fan before this. I'm still not a fan now.
The trip back to Dub wasn't too bad, I was in bed around 2 am. Today was a long day though, as we had a stocktake at work.
Randomly: On Sunday morning we were sat outside the tent having some sandwiches, when we looked up and realised the sky was filled with ... stuff. Apparently there was some kind of mini whirlwind somewhere in the campsite (a friend of Aisling's saw it happen), that caught up a bunch of stuff, including a tent, a sleeping bag and a bag of rubbish. It was the strangest thing I saw all weekend (and that's saying something), just watching it all float down, with a tent in the middle like something out of the Wizard of Oz.
I need sleep pretty badly at this point. I'm honestly surprised I'm still functioning and not a complete zombie. Showering this morning was reaaally nice.