Oxegen 2008 - Bands to Watch
These are the bands you should check out at Oxegen, I’m going to feature bands from each day and let you know a bit more about them before you go.
Friday
God Is An Astronaut:
This band from Glen Of The Downs, Co.Wicklow are definitely a must see on the Friday. They are playing the Pet Sounds Stage last on the Friday.
God Is An Astronaut are a three piece post-rock band (post-rock is basically instrumental rock). As a part of their live shows, they include amazing visuals and lighting that go in time with each individual song. It is yet unknown if they will be allowed to do this at Oxegen. Lead guitarist Torsten also plays keys and sings, his brother Niels plays bass. Lloyd Hanney plays drums that are almost hypnotic and makes it seem effortless.
Check out: www.superadmusic.com/god/ and www.myspace.com/godisanastronaut for songs and videos.
The Coronas
The Coronas hail from Terenure, but don’t hold it against them. This four-piece band are extremely talented at what they do, writing catchy pop songs! To date the Coronas biggest hit has been “San Diego Song” which has been in the Irish Singles Chart for 24 weeks.The band’s debut album Heroes or Ghosts was released on October 5, 2007, debuting at #21 in the Irish Albums Chart
Visit: www.coronas.net and www.myspace.com/coronaband
Saturday
Codes
Codes are a band from Dublin. They’re playing the IMRO New Sounds Stage. As it says on their official website:
“Codes create melodic Alternative/Electronic music in a haunted victorian house at the top of a hill in suburban Dublin, Ireland. Beats, piano, glockenspiel, guitars, samples, broken toys and four part harmonies are used/abused to create such sounds.”
The media are really lapping up these sounds too! On their myspace it tells you what the media thinks of them, and you c
an’t really blame them. Each song is catchy and fun. Check out ‘This Is Goodbye’ for a glimpse of how good they are. They’re definitely going to be good live as well, promise! If you want to check them out before Oxegen, go to The Button Factory on the 21st June
Visit: www.codes.ie and www.myspace.com/codesofficial
The Ting Tings
Arguably the biggest breakthrough band of 2008. Think of The White Stripes, except the other way round, female singer with a unique voice and a male drummer laying down the catchy beats. Their rise to fame came from the song of the summer so far ‘That’s Not My Name.’ They released their debut album on May 19th, titled ‘We Started Nothing’ which reached the top spot in the UK. Check them out in the Green Room if you can fit in!
Visit: www.thetingtings.com and www.myspace.com/thetingtings
Seasick Steve
If you’re looking for something different on Saturday, you won’t get much more different than Seasick Steve. Steve Wold (aka Seasick Steve because he gets seasick, funnily enough), is a blues guitarist. As well as playing electric and acoustic guitar, he also plays a 3 string guitar tuned to G, G and B a one stringed Diddley Bow and a Mississippi Drum Machine (A small wooden box that is stomped upon, providing percussion.)
You can hear his unique blues music at the Pet Sounds Stage.
Visit: www.seasicksteve.com and www.myspace.com/seasicksteve
Sunday
Delorentos
Dublin based band. This four-piece released one of the best Irish albums in 2007, ‘In Love With Detail’ Since then, they’ve been touring all over Ireland (including a gig in Tallaght!) They have huge amounts of energy on stage and are sure to get the crowd jumping on the Pet Sounds Stage.
Visit: www.delorentos.net and www.myspace.com/delorentos
Fight Like Apes
Probably best known for the song ‘Lend Me Your Face’, this 4-piece band, fronted by an eccentric Karen O-esque singer have a lot of catchy songs. If you like your songs beaty with some great synth riffs then these are the ba
nd you should check out on Sunday on the New Band Stage/Futures.
Visit: www.fightlikeapesmusic.com and www.myspace.com/fightlikeapesmusic
MGMT
Listed as one of Rolling Stone’s top 10 ‘Artists to Watch’ in 2008, MGMT (Changed for The Management) have made the genre labelled ‘psychedelic pop’ cool again. This duo have had 2 singles this year, Time to Pretend and Electric Feel, as well as a critically acclaimed album, ‘Oracular Spectacular’. Expect lots of dancing at the Pet
Sounds Stage on Sunday
Visit: www.myspace.com/mgmt and www.whoismgmt.com
Groove Armada,
Roisin Murphy,
We Are Scientists,
RATM,
Pendulm,
Justice
Boys Noise
Interpol
Does it offend you, yeah?
MGMT
Battles
Offshore
There are probably more, but i just wasted my time writing a HUGE post about exactly this and accidently deleted it, so this will just have to do
rage (i was in the pit) was MENTAL, after about 5 songs i wasnt even standing on the ground anymore and i ended up crowdsurfing towards the back to get to a place i could put my feet on the ground, absolutely unbelievable. rage were great.
Vampire weekend are so much fun, enjoyed that
fight like apes were quite good
delorentos sounded really good, i enjoyed that set
seasick steve was class
ting tings were ok, codes were good but it was too loud, you couldnt hear them proper unless you left the tent.
hot chip were dance dance fun fun fun
they closed with "sinead o connor - nothing compares" how fun
The Prodigy, not as good as 2002
The Subways, quite fun , lead singer jumped off the amps into the crowd, like that guy
lightspeed champion, having not heard them before i was expecting something fast and furious, but was enjoyably light and entertaining, good band
Kaiser chiefs, they were good, not great, decent set from them, got the crowd going