Oxegen 2011 – Friday
Review by Aidan Cuffe and Kev Meagher
Photos by Peter Neill
For some reason, we were nervous about reviewing Oxegen this year. With a line-up jam packed with pop acts like The Black Eyed Peas and Beyonce, the fear was that we would be the old fogeys at the back while the young whippersnappers performed musical hop scotch down the front. Sadly, after almost a decade of festivals this was inevitable. So, embracing our new found seniority, we decide feck it, lets splurge on a B&B to stay in rather than subject ourselves to the cold, hard ground like last year. Yes, we are those people, and after day one, we regret nothing.
With ourselves checked-in to our accommodation, we made use of the excellent park and ride facility at Goffs to shuttle ourselves to the Oxegen festival site. Compared to the fiasco of trying to park in the supposedly VIP car park last year, the park and ride was a well organised operation, so much so we asked ourselves why we had not been using it from the start.
After collecting our wristbands at the Oxegen box office we headed into the festival site, which more or less has the same stage layout as last year. It appears the mantra of ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ applies as the festival layout has been almost the same for the past 3-4 years. One difference from last year though is the sprucing up of the Dance Arena, which has had a makeover from Red Bull, rechristening it the ‘Electric Ballroom’ and creating what is actually a really good venue, a nice departure from the rather soulless arena of the last few years. Other than that, the Bacardi B-Live tent has been replaced by a Captain Morgans one and the Red Bull Academy stage has disappeared, being replaced by a Red Bull branded seating area at the Electric Ballroom.
We arrived to Oxegen quite late so we were acutely aware we needed to rush to catch anything that was left of the House of Pain set on the Vodafone stage. For our troubles we were rewarded by catching ‘Jump Around’ for which of course the crowd went entirely nuts for, but we didn’t catch enough of their set to give them a proper review. If you base it on crowd reaction, then yeah they smashed it, but ‘Jump Around’ was always going to go down a storm.
Next up was a trip to the main stage for one band that many picked as a must see for the weekend, and god bless Weezer, these kids know how to put on a show, well 95% of a show and a 5% mishap. The lads were in great form with Rivers Cuomo exploring every inch of the stage, stating as he moved out towards the edge of the stage, unsure if it was safe “I Shall Proceed Cautiously”, then dragging stacked cameras up on stage, getting down to the pit barrier and running along giving the fans some close up vocals. We got served a set list which consisted of some of Weezer’s classics, opening with Undone (The Sweater Song) and running through a set that included the likes of ‘Surf Wax America’, ‘My Name is Jonas’, ‘Island in the Sun’ plus newer songs like ‘Pork & Beans’ and finishing with ‘Hash Pipe’. One highlight was the band channeling their inner Wheatus for a cover of ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ for which the crowd went mental. Near the end of the set they covered Radiohead’s ‘Paranoid Android’, and while they did an excellent job they seemed to lose the crowd with it, and to be honest with the back catalogue Weezer have we felt a bit cheated to have to listen to another cover when the whole of ‘Pinkerton’ went unplayed. One thing for sure though, one of the best performances of the day.
Next up was one man who comes with a big live reputation these days, Tinie Tempah, who following in the tradition of recent Oxegen visitors Jay-Z and Dizzie Rascal brought a live band rather than spit lyrics over some samples like a certain Detroit rapper last year. People swarmed to the Vodafone stage as the South-London rapper took to the stage. Tinie energy was contagious as he bounced around the stage, even if at times he was a bit overly complimentary of how amazing we Irish are. He was one of a good few today to mistake Kildare for Dublin which was met with a little light jeering. Knocking out the hits like ‘Pass Out’ and ‘Written in the Stars’ and ‘Miami2Ibiza’, he had the crowd in the palm of his hand and kept the crowd onside with some quality banter. While an excellent set, it wasn’t quite as fun as his peer Dizzee Rascal last year, but Tinie showed that he can control a crowd and command a stage, all he needs now is to get Armand Van Helden on the phone.
We made the best of the break between bands to peruse the dining options available at this years festival, and despite numerous food stalls, it appears Oxegen has once again returned to a chips and burger affair. After some searching we came a cross Tasty China beside the Green Spheres tent, who offered a lovely chicken satay and rice for a very reasonable €7.50, which we enjoyed under cover from the drizzle at the start of Calvin Harris, but sadly we had a date at the Vodafone Stage with The Strokes.
Well it had to happen really didn’t it, this is Oxegen after all, if it didn’t have at least one good pour people would be questioning did they really get the full Oxegen experience. The Strokes took to the stage looking their usual ice cool as the rain began to pour down. While they may not be considered the main stage force they were in 2004, They certainly gave the festival bookers some food to thought with a monster set with a mix of old classics like ‘New York City Cops’, ‘Hard to Explain’ and ‘Juicebox’ with their latest single ‘Under the Cover of Darkness’, which judging by the crowd’s reaction has the potential to be a set-list staple for many years. It was an accomplished performance from Casablancas and company, who finished with old favorite ‘Take it or leave’. It seems rumours of The Strokes demise have been greatly exaggerated, quelled at Oxegen 2011
We wandered at this point not knowing our next destination and we decided to let destiny take us to our next band as we had time to kill before Black Eyed Peas and Glasvegas. We entered the 2FM/Hotpress Academy stage and were treated to a set by Noah and the Whale which had just begun. A surprisingly large crowd for them were in full voice in a set filled with chart hits like ‘5 years time’, ‘Shape of my heart’, ‘Tonight’s The Kind of Nights’, and even though our feet were sore at this stage we had a little bit of a dance. The band closed out with ‘L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N’ and received a rousing ovation and deservedly so, there sound is a lot more robust live than we imagined it would be and they really impressed. Definitely surprise performance of the day.
Main Stage, Friday, Headliners. While catching Muse rip it up on the main stage last year we occasionally dropped envious glances towards the light-show and party atmosphere coming from the Black Eyed Peas 2010 Vodafone Stage headline set. So this year we made a conscious decision to drop over to see the show with high expectations, and we have to say we were pretty let down.
The set started off well, running through their dance-pop hits such as ‘Don’t stop the party’ but the whole affair took a turn for the worse when will.i.am broke into a rap about how good it is to be “Rockin in Dublin”, which unlike Tinie Tempah’s semi-forgivable mistake, was a whole song that highlighted the bands inability to check a map. One particular highlight that followed was will.i.am saying he was happy to be back in The O2, and then making an on the spot rap about Oxegen to make up for it. Fergie treated us to a solo version of ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’ before vacating the stage. Kev took that opportunity to depart to check out Swedish House Mafia and Glasvegas for you lovely Goldenplec readers.
What happened next was impossible to make up for. A pointless 30 min DJ set from Will.i.am which saw him spin tracks like U2’s beautiful day, Nirvana’s teen spirit and another airing of ‘Jump Around’ which took us to about 20 past 12. For a band with more hit singles than most it is easy for the crowd to feel cheated by BEP.
After that the screens to the left and right went off and a song played with a video in the background for about 5 minutes, after 2 or 3 minutes people started to believe it was over and began to leave. Half the crowd left before the BEP decided to come back, the crowd bewildered as to whether they were done or not. They came back as fog desended upon Punchestown and ran through more of the hits such as ‘Boom Boom Pow‘ ‘The Time (dirty bit)’ and ‘I Got a Feeling’ with a big light show in toe but unfortunately while it was a good high energy close, the multitude of wrongs for me left me with a sour feeling from the show. I came for a party and left disappointed. It should be noted that the Black Eyed Peas have announced an indefinite hiatus today so I don’t know if it was something we said on Twitter or not but at this stage it might be for the best.
One of the most peculiar things about today’s lineup was the decision to have the Swedish House Mafia above The Strokes on the Vodafone stage, but judging by their performance on Friday night the Swedish lads must have took it upon themselves to dispel any doubt of why they were picked as headliners, because my god, they put on a hell of a show, to the extent that people were dragged from Black Eyed Peas, Leftfeild played to a mostly empty Green Spheres tent and the tent for Glasvegas was only half full. In the finest Oxegen tradition of acts like The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk and Faithless, they proved that a dance act are more than capable of headlining a festival in spectaular fashion.
It pained me to leave but I have been dying to see Glasvegas for a while now. With a 11.55pm start time, they were already at a disadvantage against the other headliners but all credit to the band that did not effect their performance as the Glasgow natives really wowed with a professional and commanding performance. While Jame Allen’s voice may be an acquired taste, there is no doubting the bands talent and this was reflected in the increasing numbers inside the tent. The band benefited from Black Eyed Peas faux finish and the size of the crowd doubled for the last few songs. The set itself featured the best of the bands two albums and finished with the anthemic ‘Daddys Gone’.
After re-grouping after the headliners, we made our way through the fog painlessly back to our B&B via the park and ride to rest our weary bones before doing it all again tomorrow.
Here’s some snaps from Oxegen 2011 on Friday
www.oxegen.ie
