After two days of relentless rainfall at Oxegen, we woke up on the Sunday to what could almost be considered sunshine. The clouds were still present giving the sky that grey, overcast look but it could still be classed as the most promising weather situation we had faced all weekend.
After a bit of breakfast, which included Aidan scalding himself with a cup of tea, we packed up GP headquarters (Which to our amazement did not leak all weekend) and headed to the car park to sort out the GPmobile for what we hoped would be a quick escape come midnight.
All weekend our car park neighbours have been the lovely Eleanor and Rachel from Limerick Live 95FM and their Logo emblazoned Jeep which served as a beacon in the rain for finding our car. While watching them struggle with the ins and outs of a gas cooker was hilarious, we were more than happy to lend a hand and make sure they could have their scrambled egg breakfast that put our meal of dry cereal and chocolate muffins to shame.
With the car packed up and laptop in hand we headed to the media room to write up our review of Saturday’s proceedings and share war stories with the rest of the media collective. Tales of broken camera lenses, forgotten batteries and laptop drownings made us think that we had gotten off lightly with our forgotten tent pegs and what will be known forth as “the sleeping bag incident”. But with Murphy’s law in full effect, our laptop decided that it did not want to participate in the review writing process and crashed. repeatedly. A review that we hoped would be done a in time for us to catch Earth Wind & Fire on the Main stage followed by The Middle East in the 2FM Hot Press Stage took quite a while longer than we hoped, and when it was finished, I for one was in need of a beer.
With beer in hand, we chilled in the VIP area for the first time all weekend, we even think we may have managed to sneak into the back of a Exposé interview. That’s when you know you’ve made it. With We Are Scientists and Jamie T next on our list we prepared to head off to the Green Spheres Tent when we bumped into Mary and Jamie from Fight Like Apes and had a great old chinwag. We chatted about the new single ‘Ho Haa Henry’. The scoop is that the new album is finished and hopefully out this fall. Also a shout out to the lovely Lucy, who was helping out Maser put up those giant spray paintings around the site all week, and equally lovely Avril.
Late as always, we arrived in time to catch the end of We Are Scientist, who looked like they had just put on a cracking show. While waiting for Jamie T we headed over to the Muller van, who all weekend had been giving out free yogurts to the Oxegen masses. One thing about us folks here at Goldenplec is that we LOVE free stuff, and I have to say over the last two days I’ve developed an appreciation for creamed rice that was not there before. Good work Muller, mission accomplished.
The Green Spheres Tent started to fill up quickly so we moved to the sound stage to get a good view, and lucky we did as we were soon fully surround by eager fans. We almost felt guilty that as Jamie T started into his set it was clear that we were among the minority that did not know all the words. I really had not realised that Jamie T’s fan were so dedicated, but clearly the South Londoner’s songs strike a real chord with his fans. With a set comprised of songs like ‘The Mans Machine’ ‘368’, ‘Sheila’ and of course ‘Sticks ‘N’ Stones’, the enthusiasm from the crowd never waned, even when Jamie delivered one of the finest puns of the weekend with the classic “Oxegen, you are a breath of fresh Air”. He openly addressed the fact that he has not played Ireland nearly enough, and judging from the reaction he got this weekend I don’t think it will be too long before he is back.
As 7pm loomed we made our way up to the Vodafone Stage for The Temper Trap, swinging by AJ’s Philly Cheese Steak stand to sample the eponymous dish. I have to say, it beat any burger on site, quality bit of grub. The crowd at the Vodafone stage was quite small, but as the band themselves commented, it is tough when you are competing with the World Cup Final. But fair play to the lads, they still gave 100% and songs like ‘Fader’ and ‘Love Lost’ are really cracking tunes, but outside that they didn’t really impress. A lot of the set was instrumental jams and songs in which lead singer voice just doesn’t suit, and I felt that it left the crowd a bit bored at times. But at the same time,it was clear that a good proportion of the crowd was just there for ‘Sweet Desposition’. Every year their is a band who have “That Song” and every time I fear that despite the bands best efforts, people just want to here “That Song” and leave. Hopefully over time Temper Trap will come to define themselves as more than a one song band.
Despite our journalistic integrity, We ourselves are not immune to the pull of the World Cup Final, but we also saw it as a great chance to check out the much heralded 110 square foot TV on the Nokia Stage and what 3 days of rain had done to the blue campsite. The state of the Blue campsite mirrored that of its residence, haggard, muddy and in dire need of a clean. A great crowd was in attendance for the match, so much so we felt bad for any band given a competing time slot. There was a great atmosphere for the match with vuvuzelas in fine voice throughout. As it went to extra time though it gave many, including ourselves, the awful dilemma of either staying or going. While we had already missed Laura Marling, the next act on our must see list was Eminem at 22.20pm. Thankfully Iniesta snatched it for Spain before dreaded penalties robbed us of Marshall Mathers first few songs.
With the match settled, we joined the convey of festival goers flowing through the blue campsite back to the main arena. Taking up a spot at the far back right of the stage, it was clear that most of Oxegen had turned out to catch the undoubted festival headline act. Eminem may have pulled out of Slane but he looked ready to more than make up for it, starting with ‘Won’t Back Down’, ‘3am’ and ‘Square Dance’ in quick succession. After also seeing Jay-Z and Dizzee Rascal this weekend, I can’t help be feel like I was being cheated out of a headline show. Don’t get me wrong, Eminem is one of the best artists of our generation, but with just a big screen and a live band hidden in the corner it feels that I’m missing out on the kind of show laid down by Eminem’s peers just days ago. More song followed, highlights being ‘Kill You’ and ‘Cleaning Out My Closet/The Way I Am’ before I started to feel that if Eminem was playing somewhere like The Olympia or even one of the small rap clubs back in Detroit the show would have not been different. After being joined on stage by D12 we made the decision to head into Mumford & Sons. Just to clarify, there were people around us as far back as the food vendors loving the show, people who knew every word to even the most obscure song and Eminem himself was flawless, soft spoken between songs and looks like a guy who has gotten past whatever demons where haunting him. Eminem delivered his promise to make up to all his fans for Slane, but given the standard of the headline performances all weekend,we really hoped for something more.
In our preview we highlighted Mumford & Sons as an act you’ll want to be in the tent for at least two bands in advance. We completely underestimated the crowd that Eminem would draw, indeed, as he has proven over the years you should never underestimate Eminem. While we were able to get into the tent it was not exactly empty, positioned to the left of the sound desk space we were tightly packed with a crowd fully intent on singing, jumping and dancing to Marcus Mumford and Co. I’m a firm believer that the big tents at festivals can provide the best atmosphere, amplifying the screams of the crowd to the point you can’t even hear a band sing. Well tonight I’m surprised I could even hear the band play never mind play. The tent was electric. It felt like everyone that was here had been waiting a long time to see this band and were intent on fully enjoying every last minute of the performance. Starting with ‘Sigh No More’ followed by ‘Awake My Soul’ and ‘Roll Away Your Stone’, the crowd swung from hands in the air sing along to down and dirty hoe down. Even new song ‘Nothing is written’ got a reception fit for a long time favorite. The band ran through highlights from their debut album, with the performance of ‘Little Lion Man’ being one of my festival highlights. The band finished on ‘Dustbowl Dance’ before coming back for and encore of ‘The Cave’. This was a prime example of how the right crowd in the right place can make a great gig unforgettable.
Well that is it from Oxegen for another year, our first as members of the media and I hope not our last. I’m sure you all think that is it for Goldenplec’s Oxegen coverage for this year but you would be sadly mistaken. Whats that? We deserve a few days off after all our hard work? You are probably right, but judging by the level of grammatical mistakes we’ve made over the last two days, much like Punchestown Racecourse, we have alot of cleaning up to do. GP Signing off from Oxegen 2010.
Kev and Aidan
