Oxegen 2011: the pointyheaded overview
Jim Carroll
Well, that’s that for another year. You’ll find all the Irish Times’ reviews from the weekend at Punchestown Racecourse here as our reviewers scratch their chins about everyone from The Strokes and Tinie Tempah to The Pretty Reckless and Friendly Fires at Oxegen 2011. As for the by now customary pointyheaded overview of the who, what, why, when, how and where, click this way….
This year was a weird one. I don’t think I’ve ever come across such an underwhelming, flat, “so what” pre-event reaction to such a big festival in Ireland. Despite what was a huge, attractive bill (given who is on the touring circuit this year), there was just no buzz about Oxegen 2011. This all changed when Amanda Brunker suddenly appeared on the bill the other week, but that it took such a publicity stunt to get people talking about Oxegen is a strange turn of events, given that we’re talking about “the best festival bill in Europe” (or whatever the line is).
As for Ms Brunker, there was probably more people in Beyonce’s entourage than those who watched her appearance on Saturday afternoon (in fact, more have watched it on YouTube). And if you think that it’s just media who are pushing the Brunker bandwagon as you scramble up to the high moral ground, please note that the most read story on irishtimes.com over the weekend was my colleague Steven Carroll’s review of her “performance”. I don’t think that all those reading that review possess press cards.
Walking around Punchestown Racecourse yesterday afternoon was kind of surreal. The sun was shining, it wasn’t raining and there was no mud. There was also not many people. Of course, it was the afternoon and most of the punters had other things to be doing (I’d have prefered to have been watching Tipp hammer Waterford) as they prepared for Beyonce and Coldplay later in the day but, compared to previous years, there just didn’t appear to be the same numbers in front of the stages and in the tents.
Compared to the audiences they’ve attracted here in the past, there were small crowds at the second stage to see Fight Like Apes and Friendly Fires. The Saturdays pulled a decent crowd to one of the big tents and Ke$ha had a good turnout for her main stage appearance. But I remember watching Lady Gaga on the main stage at the exact same time as Ke$sha two years ago and the place was packed right back up the hill as far as the food stalls. Guess she ain’t no Gaga.
Anecdotal evidence also pointed to lots of room on the pitch over the weekend. Those in the press room who had been there since Friday noted that there had been empty spaces and plenty of room to roam all weekend. A couple of stall-holders I talked to griped about the lack of business. A brace of Dublin Bus drivers said it was their quietest Oxegen ever. I ran into Cian the 24 year old Oxegen veteran at Odd Future who said even the campsites weren’t as busy as previous years. You also had radio ads running all day Sunday plugging that there were still tickets on sale.
Yet promoters MCD told me last night that there were “over 80,000″ people at Oxegen 2011. There was no breakdown forthcoming of this figure into the six categories of tickets on sale – day tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday; three day weekend tickets; three day weekend tickets with camping and, probably the most popular option, four day tickets with camping – so it’s hard to do proper data-mining of that tally. It was noticable that there were huge numbers of day-trippers (like myself) arriving all day yesterday to see Beyonce and Coldplay, both of whom drew massive crowds akin to what was the norm in yeards past. The problem was that there just didn’t appear to be anyone left over to see the other acts playing at the same time, cue miserable audiences for Jenny & Johnny and The National (who, at least, can console themselves with their humungous fee).
So are we perhaps seeing the end of an era? Oxegen started out as a festival which attracted music fans right across the spectrum. But within two years, it had been firmly defined as a rite-of-passage ritual for younger patrons, which put off older punters, who already had their coming-of-age at Witnness or Feile. For some reason, the latter now don’t like sharing a field with teenagers in GAA jerseys intent on having the crack and drinking enough alcohol to fall over in style – maybe because it reminded them of their own wanton youth.
But such notions stick and many who might well have liked to check out Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys or The National this weekend passed. They decided it just wasn’t worth the hassle or the cash to traipse around a racecourse for the weekend. There would be other times, other opportunities. Many of those who now pass on Oxegen would concur with what Ronan Casey has to say on why he’s opting out of Oxegen in this blog post. Plus, many of those who’d want to see those acts just listed have no interest whatsoever in Swedish House Mafia, Black-Eyed Peas, Deadmau5 or The Saturdays, acts booked to appeal to the younger target audience. We know from comments here and elsewhere that such a clash of music styles jarred for many. Why spend €240 on a ticket when you’d cross the road to avoid half the bill?
While the kids will always flock to Oxegen for the weekend – provided they or their parents have the cash to fund it – a cut-off point has become much more defined and it’s hard to know how Oxegen will react to this. Certainly, the booking policy seems more and more pop-orientated with every passing year and has been perfectly honed to that younger audience. Unlike two years ago when you had Hudson Mohawke playing to 40 people and Fever Ray scaring half the punters away, the dance stage (which was brilliantly tricked out this year by Red Bull and had a real buzz to it) is now perfectly pitched to the Oxegen audience and what they want to hear. There were certainly more than 40 people there to watch Irish rugby player Cian Healy do some DJ-ing.
We could well be seeing the end of the current cycle for big, catch-all festivals like Oxegen. There’s now far more choice in the market for those who want to see bands in the open air over the course of the Irish summer. Smaller events like Castlepalooza and city festivals like Forbidden Fruit have quickly found their feet and their audience. Of course, the numbers do not compare, but there is certainly a sense that those who’ve gave up on Oxegen haven’t retreated to their sofas and slippers. Oxegen may have abandonded them in the rush to keep the kids happy, but other promoters and festivals are happy to take up the slack.
There was speculation over the weekend that we may well see some changes for Oxegen 2012, including a move away from Punchestown. As we have seen again and again this summer, the promotion game is getting harder and there are no easy or fast sells any more (unless you’re the Kings Of Leon or Take That). When you’ve even a legendary name like Neil Diamond struggling to fill a venue, you know there’s trouble at the mill. The promotion game has to change and innovate, which will be interesting to observe as promoters who’ve become lazy in the good times struggle to relearn how to sell tickets and pull a crowd. Oxegen too, will have to change and adopt as it seeks to keep its status as the biggest draw on the calender. As we saw this year, it now takes more than simply flashing the cash and loading a bill with every act on the circuit to sell a festival.
@James D You are spot on with your observations and could not have put it better myself!
I have worked at every Oxegen festival bar this years event and at numerous other festivals and music events.
The behaviour of Irish music fans collectively is disgraceful and nobody seems to want to personal responsibility for their drinking, aggressive or rude behaviour and turning the festival site into a tip head. Instead the seem to blame the festival organisers for just about every mishap. Just exactly how much security or stewarding do you want? Should there be one in every tent or assigned to each punter? It’s time for Irish music fans to have a good look in the mirror. This type of behaviour does not happen to the same extent in foreign festivals for good reason.
You can see the same behaviour at all Irish festivals and the EP is no exception. The only reason it happens there to a lesser extent is that the people are a little more mature – and hopefully should know better – and the capacity smaller.
There seems to be an extraordinary reluctance to accept personal responsibility for our actions in this country, so why would those attending music festivals be any different?
I saw no trouble whatsoever at EP last year. I camped and was there from Friday morn til Monday morn
Brian/James D – the problem with personal responsibility is that so many people abdicate this to the promoters for an event like Oxegen – just because they’ve paid over €240, they expect the promoters do it all for them and take the blame for everything. They blame them for not having enough bins. They blame them for agressive behaviour by teens who’ve paid €240 to be there and demand the right to be agressive. They blame them for binge-drinking. Etc.
There are so many excuses floated around about the bad behaviour at Oxegen – I suppose the “rite of passage” thing which I mention in the main piece is also an excuse, as is the “they’re only youngsters, God love ‘em” line which I hear again and again in the lead-up to Oxegen – that we never focus on this question.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that this only applies to some of the Oxegen-goers – there are many who go along, have a good time and don’t cause a bit of bother.
I’ve noticed this “rumour” a few times from ppl on this blog over the last while, that “unsavoury types” or whatever you want to call them, were at EP last yr….I saw no evidence of that last yr but wondering where these mutterings are coming from ?
md – there will be loads of unsavoury types at EP this year – Mogwai are playing, after all
hahah and dont forget sharon shannon!
@100 and @101 Spot on comments. We do seem to do the scumbags/trouble/drunk thing better than anyone else. I would imagine though that most catch all festivals have an element of this.
Ian @ 100 yourcomment about the promoters knowing the market when booking acts is interesting. Oxegen this year was being promoted as ‘the best festival in Europe’ in terms of both experience and lineup. In fact Probyn the festival director was exhuding comments that this was ‘the single best festival line-up anywhere in Europe’ (to paraphrase). Perhaps that means that U2 played the wrong festival some weeks back…….
The point is that Oxegen place great stock in being able to market their festival as ‘THE BEST’, and pride their association with Havas Sports and Entertainment – the marketing company who produce the poll results (the ‘Sports’ in the title might tell some of the story there perhaps(?). This could explain the hoovering up of otherwise EP bands such as The National, Primal Scream et al, to enable them have the ‘diverse’ line-up, and maintain this marketing stance.
MCD probably don’t really care about empty stages/tents for indie/alternative bands, as it’s the marketing and outside perception they care about. Remember it’s sponsors they care about – and there were plenty at Oxegen by all accounts. The guys who make decisions to sponsor events don’t normally actually attend these events I would think.
I’d guess Oxegen are happy to keep charging 240 quid to add the extra bands, rather than slim down the line-up and market it more directly at their intended demographic.
I can’t see how they could pass it off as ‘the best festival in Europe’ with empty stages and tents, irrespective of what acts are staged simultaneously. A great festival would attract all the fans, all bands, and be well attended. Perhaps Oxegen have taken their eye off the ball, or perhaps they don’t care. Perhaps commercial concerns have been considered to the detriment of a quality festival.
And this makes no consideration of crowd trouble or crowd behaviour in general. Like I said, and others have said before – all festivals have some of this sort of behaviour.
I would expect that Oxegen will have to slim down next year, as less or no indie/alternative people will go. all they need next year is pop acts on a main stage, and the dance area. This leaves more space for advertising, and the slimmer bill can help reduce ticket prices. They should stop trying to masquerade as ‘the best festival in Europe’……..i don’t buy it (not since 2007 anyway………)
Whats with the anti-Mogwai Vibe Jim?
Some past incident perchance
I’ve met the chaps and found them to be excellent company
Karl – excellent comment – thanks for your contribution. I must do some digging around on the Havas Sports site today to see what I find
Beergutz – absolute shite band. No redeeming qualities whatsoever. Appalling. Muck. Worse than The Smiths.
Another point with Oxegen that I think is often over-looked (especially by us grumpy OTR readers) is how many of the 80,000 actually enjoyed themselves. It can’t have all been violence, being ripped off, grim reminders of this cold hard world & the breakdown of civilisation.
Oxegen punters shouldn’t be represented by a couple of poor unfortunates fuckers who got their tent slashed, got incensed over a €5 burger (what’s the point?) or took exception to drunk people.
For a lot of folks it was an adventure, an occasion to let loose, hang with friends, catch some great acts, wear their denim hot pants, eye up some good looking guys/gals, and enjoy themselves. Why discount these people’s experience? Why are they they invalidated?
I would even extend this to the music front – why shouldn’t they have the right to see The National, Arcade Fire, whatever, etc.? They knew the line up going into the deal and paid their money to have the option to see them. If no one turns up to see the band, that’s neither here nor there.
Sorry Jim, little bone to pick. I’m afraid I’m with Beergutz @108 on this one. I agree some unsavouries will trickle into EP but I don’t believe Mogwai (even if you’re not a fan) will attract the wrong crowd. Their slow brooding ‘auto rock’ (if you want to use that term, i’m not a fan of it) is not animated enough for a yobbish numbskull after drinking 6 cans of Dutch Gold and a bottle of Harpic. They’ve got a loyal fanbase who tend to either nod or sway enthusistically to the atmospheric riffs and slow build ups they introduce.
Little harsh calling them muck. Different strokes and all that no? Certainly not to blame for a bad crowd i reckon
@ 109 I like Mogwai & The Smiths but each to their own…….cant stand Foo Fighters , Ash , Kings Of Leon or Green Day however
Have to disagree with u on both counts there Jim
Saw Mogwai in Olympia last time round, what a show, excellent chin stroking stuff
And as for the smiths, you are being facetious I take it
James D.. Give me a break dude, I picked Una up on one point and teased it out a bit further, and agreed with her on another. I’m not ‘down’ on her at all.. Nor was I saying the 30-somethings are Sunday-dinner-with-your-family company.. Merely pointing out the relativity..
Karl.. Wasn’t ripping on National fans at large, only pointing out that those who were ‘shocked’ and ‘surprised’ at small turnout are a bit deluded..
Jim.. “absolute shite band. No redeeming qualities whatsoever. Appalling. Muck. Worse than The Smiths.” sometimes you speak the truth with such sharpness and eloquence..
“No redeeming qualities whatsoever”
An understatement if there ever was one. Stumbled onMogwai playing overtime for 45mins at witnness back in the day. Still makes me irrationally angry. Absolutely appalling.
Halandor – thanks. I aim to please
Peter – truly, a man of taste
No, folks, I don’t like Mogwai. Terrible band. You like them, fine. But I just think they’re over-rated, tired, boring and predictable. Time to move on, Next.
(and of course, I’m joking about them pulling a dodgy crowd – though Mogwai’s ageing fanclub can be dodgy in their own ways….)
I stayed in the campsite for the weekend. The lines on our tent were cut on friday, some fella asked us if we had any yokes about ten mins after getting there, and I had my bag and clothes robbed on saturday night! And guess what… I loved it! Great weekend! You have to understand its not just about the music (why would people camp on thursday night?) its about the craic! Some people will see one or two bands they like (in my instance the national, foos, coldplay, the minutes and brandon flowers) and that is enough! And i defo agree with one of the above comments, we should be allowed to bring drink from the campsite in…otherwise you have to get nicely topped up in the campsite and most people naturally go overboard.
Only criticism I have is the amount of troublemakers, a lot of potential for fights and you have to keep your eyes open (even when you’re asleep in the tent!!) but what can MCD do about that???
Mogwai are the musical equivalent of getting all the lights in your house, putting them all in one room and then turning them all on and off at the same time. dark.. BRIGHT.. dark,, BRIGHT AGAIN.. for an hour.. quiet LOUD STILL LOUD quiet again for a bit.. bored now, do something else please? Not an attempt to offend anyone, just an observation..
Also Jim.. “the problem with personal responsibility is that so many people abdicate this to the promoters for an event like Oxegen”.. Why do we have so many people here relative to the continent that cannot take personal responsibility seriously? It’s a rhetorical question, obviously.. Who knows the answers to such taxing riddles.
And, also, James D.. “I think you need to move away from personal anecdotes and the Joe Duffy territory of individual experiences being a blanket statement.” I’m a million miles away bud, believe me.. My eyes are wide open and just because I choose to use a personal anecdote as part of a point doesn’t necessarily place me in Joe Duffy territory. Now THAT (i.e. the Joe Duffy thing) was an insult! How very dare you
@114 Halandor
Point taken re The National fans. They should have realised as fans that they were going to the wrong festival – however they could play the loyalty card in their own defence.
I would offer up a fig leaf to The National and their fans, in that I would conservatively estimate 200 or more National fans opted to see them at Primavera in May. I was among that crowd briefly (as a non-fan). The National had their crowd/demograph there – big attendance at the Llevant stage. Still those 200 or so fans wouldn’t have helped fill the foreground in that sad sorry photo on Broadsheet though would they(?)
I don’t think you’ll ever see The National fans at Oxegen again……
117 Philip
Have ya any yokes?
Halandor@114 & 118 – Sorry sir, you’ve lost me there a bit. You wrote a 10 line paragraph initially disputing just one point that Una made. Does that not imply you have a strong opinion on the matter? I know it wasn’t a personal attack on Una (she’s a grown up and all that) and we’re just shooting the wind. Did you take exception to my use of the phrase about ‘everyone being down on Una@81′? Now that was a bit of a generalisation on my part…should have been two people being down on Una@81.
Karl@107 – I appreciate the connection you’re trying to make i.e. the dubious connection between Oxegen and Havas Sports & Entertainment but if they’ve surveyed across 64 festivals, is that not a decent gauge of what’s going on out there. I’m sure they have more profitable festivals out there that they could place top of the tree. By compering festival across Europe, it obviously takes in a mix of demographics, nationalities, tastes, etc. How extensive do you need the research to be?
I think you’re also getting a bit too hung up on the ‘best festival’ tag. If the research has named them in this respect, they have every right to use it in their promotional material. Equally business is business. Why crucify them for hoovering up all those ‘EP Bands’? Surely you should be chastising all those immoral bands for turning their backs on their core audience and taking the big cheque? Booking at festivals is not about manners or being civilised? It’s about trying to get as many punters on site by any means possible.
Incidentallly Jim if we get the comments over 200, will we qualify for EP tickets or summit like that?
James D – MCD will pluck one of you at random to play on the Main Stage next year.
@ 123
well let me present my credentials in that case……….! Just finished this EP…..
http://electriccentaur.bandcamp.com
Get Francisco Garcia on the phone….if MCD are listening, I’ve been working on a cover of Discotheque by U2…it’ll be awesome!
@121 James D
James, you’re right about festival organisers (Oxegen) trying to get as many punters in by any means possible. It is a commercial enterprise.
However they patently failed in that respect. We don’t have ticket sales figures, but all of the comments I’ve read suggest it being short of capacity.
I made the point earlier that the ‘catch-all’ festival doesn’t wash any more now in Ireland, that’s where I’m coming from. Perhaps some bands don’t have a choice of which festival they can play (others have suggested this before). I don’t mean to come across as precious about EP. I used to love Feile (’91-’94, which was very catch-all but this was early days for indie/rock festivals in Ireland, and suited me at 17…….didn’t like ’97 though) and Witnness/Oxegen (’01-’06, didn’t enjoy ’07 as much and stopped going thereafter……..).
This years Oxegen line-up simply wasn’t good in my opinion – lots of acts who had played before, plus too much pop for me. If that’s who’s touring, that’s who we get I suppose.
Is next year rumoured to be a tour/gig famine/diet? I dream of a Talking Heads return (probably no chance).
Sales were down about 15% for Oxegen according to a rival title.
JC – they used the classic get-out line “believed” as in “with attendance figures believed to have been down by around 15pc compared to last year’s Oxegen” which allows some wiggle room. I “believe” ticket sales were around 60,000 mark – that’s inc weekend and day tickets. Actually, what was the official figure for Oxegen 2010? Was there an official figure for 2010?
I think the only “official” figure you can believe is when there are absolutely NO tickets left on sale, which hasn’t happened since 2008.
To those trotting out the ‘what can the promoters do?/personal responsibility’ argument I’d say that the organisers of any event dictate the tone and atmosphere. If scumbags can get away with their antisocial behaviour and are not discouraged from doing so enough they will continue. A line from Ronan Casey’s blog.
she eventually got free and went to one of the two security guards standing nearby, who basically told her where the first aid tent was and when she asked where the water and disinfectant was so she could at least wash her face, one of them shrugged. “I dunno,” he replied.
Yes, there’s such a thing as personal responsibility but there’s also a collective responsibility to each other. By shrugging off antisocial behaviour with lines like ‘Sure you know what the crowds there are like” those who defend the festival are only enabling this carry on further.
The point has been made that this sort of thing doesn’t happen at continental festivals and I would agree – because the culture is different, and we all contribute to that culture through our actions, attitudes and what we deem to be acceptable behaviour in certain circumstances.
You reap what you sow……..
http://www.broadsheet.ie/2011/07/11/oxegen-11-the-ghost-estate/
Well from my personal experience the stewards were absolutely excellent. They helped me when my bag was stolen, and had a laugh and joke about it to keep the spirits up. Then they came back with a rake of drink they had taken off someone else earlier and gave it to me as my drink was robbed too….there was no need to do that. I suppose its down to your own personal experience, but mine was good. And to 129, “What can the promoters do” stands. We’re all big boys and girls, and they’re not your parents. Man up!
And more importantly 120, was that you?? He did look like a scarecrow alright….straw hat and very skinny.
@126 Karl
Bang on about the ‘catch all’ festival not washing any more. There’s now a camping festival pretty much every weekend of the summer somewhere aronud the country. When Witness and EP started up, few (if any?) of these camping fests existed. Now we have Body and Soul, Castlepalooza, Indiependence, The Sea Sessions.. The list goes on. These festivals are more geared towards music, are less expensive, spread out all around the country (i.e. almost every region of the country hosts one or two, meaning festival goers don’t have to migrate to the capital), are set on smaller, more compact sites and also have smaller crowds in attendance.. The list goes on. Punters (from my myriad anecdotal observations..) seem to enjoy this kind of festival experience a hell of a lot more than the sea-of-people atmosphere at Oxegen.
It’s also fair to say, given the type of complaints you read and hear, than many Oxegen punters from the past few years feel like MCD don’t give one toss about them. Many seem to jump to MCD’s defence on various points but the fact remains, they (MCD) run the thing and are answerable to anyone who pays them €240 for a weekend’s entertainment.
@ 131
I t was. I gave you € 50 and stood there waiting for you to come back for an hour sure………………..!
Joe.. “The point has been made that this sort of thing doesn’t happen at continental festivals and I would agree – because the culture is different, and we all contribute to that culture through our actions, attitudes and what we deem to be acceptable behaviour in certain circumstances.”
hmm.. maybe it’s irish mammy syndrome!! yknow.. there are obviously myriad causes: things buried in the irish psyche, our social norms, our collective love of alcohol and extraordinary tolerance of extreme levels of drunkenness (“i was locked like!” etc..).. maybe it’s also the irish mammy thing.. just a thought..
You seen the overheard in Oxegen facebook page? Worringly large amoun of comments are praising Oxegen for being the only place in the world where your allowed to “take a dump” in other peoples tents.. this is the type your dealing with
Fergal – I predict a Fianna Fail government within 5 years
“irish mammy” — never smoked it…………..homegrown weed??
Just like after Glastonbury the constant claim has been that Beyoncé was great. Horseshit – she paced up and down the stage holding the microphone to the crowd so they could sing songs they didn’t know the words to, while a bunch of dancers gurned their way around the stage for no reason. Oh yeah, and her last three singles (at least) are utter muck. Have just had the ‘pleasure’ of hearing ‘Best Thing I Never Had’ on Today FM (in between their 9,999th and 10,000th plays of that Bresie song) and it’s a dirge.
Quick rule of thumb – if a female singer sticks half a dozen syllables into a lyric that should have two the song is muck!
Best comment I read somewhere descrobed Beyonce as a ‘crotch on stilts’.
Still, it’s harmless pop, and nothing wrong with that. There’s always a place for that at any festival, however it seems MCD have decided to make Oxegen a pop fest, with the indie added on around the edges.
It doesn’t work that way around. You need to do the indie, and then add the pop around the edges, otherwise you end up with tracksuit legged barechested shaven headed Dutch Gold slab carrying chuggers.
Some excellent comments here as usual. I’m with Una Mullaly about people complaining. It’s a bit like Captain Reynard in Casablanca who is shocked, shocked to find drinking and fornicating going on at a festival where Irish teenagers are enjoying themselves. You’d swear some of the complainers were never young themselves.
On a serious issue, Oxegen has a rotten image problem. It simply does not appeal to people over 25 and they are the only ones in this country have a bloody job at the moment.
The shocking truth is that there is probably not 80,000 people between the age of 18 and 25 who have the means to go to Oxegen at all. I was at Dublin Airport on Thursday and it was full of young people flying in for Oxegen. They’re simply not in the country anymore.
My guess is that MCD are going to have to go to rebrand and rename this festival, try and make it a more inclusive intergenerational festival (like Glastonbury), but it is easier said than done.
I can’t see them getting close to 80,000 again. This was as good a line-up as they were ever going to get and the crowds weren’t there simple as that.
As for The National, what did they expect being up against Beyonce. I’m a fan, but I’ve seen them several times already and Beyoncé is a fox.
On a serious issue, Oxegen has a rotten image problem. It simply does not appeal to people over 25 and they are the only ones in this country have a bloody job at the moment.
Very good point Ronan and that’s the problem for Oxegen 2012. What do you do? Do you rebrand and move location in the hope of drawing in that crowd? Or do you appeal to your core constituency – 16-25 year olds – because you know they’ll come to the fest come what may (as long as they can get the cash together for it and a couple of slabs from Aldi/Lidl)? It’s going to an interesting period of reflection and contemplation for MCD because they have taken a bath on this one – you need to sell out a festival to cover your bills and this one was far from sold-out.
…..and Beyoncé is a fox.
That may be as good a point as any to end this one!
Karl @107 – again, a good point on the pop factor. The Saturdays had the Heineken Green Spheres Tent full, FULL on Sunday afternoon. That’s an 11,000 capacity tent. A fraction of that crowd walked into the tent for OFWGKTA (who were poor) and Primal Scream (who were excellent.)
Ronan @140 – Oxegen doesn’t have a rotten image – it has a rotten image to the demographic it doesn’t target. Most 17-23 year olds out there think it’s the bees knees, that’s who it’s for, but unfortunately for attendance figures, those people found it harder this year to get ticket money from their folks. But I agree with you in the way that most music fans in their late 20s, early 30s have no gra for Oxegen at all.
RE: violence etc, the only time anyone I know well has been assaulted at a festival was a friend of mine who had his cheek bone broken by some scumbag breaking into his tent and head-butting him. And that was at Electric Picnic. Violence isn’t unique to Oxegen, or the Picnic, or Glasto, or Reading, or Coachella. It’s present anywhere a large number of people gather and booze and drugs are on offer. The vibe at Oxegen isn’t chilled, probably because those going have no interest in a chilled vibe.