Tribute bands greet the early arrivals as Oxegen cranks up

MORE THAN 24 hours before the first bands were due to take to the festival stages, people were already trickling into the Oxegen campsite at Punchestown racecourse yesterday.

Several thousand people had arrived at the Co Kildare venue by last night ahead of the three-day festival, which officially gets under way at 2pm today when the New York City rock act Fun Lovin’ Criminals open proceedings on the main stage.

Those arriving early were not left idle. A funfair was up and running in the blue campsite as well as a stage featuring tribute acts such as Man in the Mirror, a tribute to Michael Jackson, Legend, a tribute to Bob Marley, and Definitely MightBe, an Oasis tribute band.

Those in attendance will have to choose between acts such as Black Eyed Peas, The Strokes, Leftfield, The Script, Weezer and Calvin Harris once the festival kicks into full swing today.

Beyonce, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, Deadmau5, Slash, The National, Primal Scream and even Amanda Brunker are among the artists performing across the five Oxegen stages tomorrow and Sunday.

Brunker was a late and surprise addition to the prime 2pm slot tomorrow when British singer Jessie J pulled out of the festival after breaking her foot.

She will duet with Gitano, a band fronted by guitarist Francisco Garcia on the Vodafone stage, the second biggest of the five at the festival.

The model-cum-writer was bullish about her prospects for the show, despite admitting she was “no Beyonce”.

“I know people think this is a joke, but it is not at all,” she said.

“As far as I’m concerned, there are always people out there who want to have a go. At the end of the day I don’t like to just talk about doing things. I like to go out and do things.”

Brunker won the slot after contacting MCD boss Denis Desmond having recorded a number of songs.

Not surprisingly, Met Éireann is predicting wet weather, which has in recent years become almost as much a part of the Oxegen experience as the music.

Heavy, even thundery showers are expected to accompany temperatures of about 18 degrees today. The forecast for tomorrow and Sunday looks a little more promising – Met Éireann says both days should “a lot drier than of late” with some scattered showers and temperatures rising to 20 degrees.

AA Roadwatch is expecting the heaviest traffic today as campers make their way to Punchestown and delays are to be expected in and around Naas. Dublin Bus is running services to the festival from Parnell Square from noon today, while a park-and-ride service is available from Goffs on the M7.

There have been a number of additions to the festival site this year. Most notably campsite bars, with off-licence prices, have been added for the first time and Heineken, a festival sponsor, will be providing cold rooms for campers to chill their beers.

Oxegen’s organisers have rejected claims that ticket sales have been slow. They expect crowds of 70,000 to 80,000 to attend over the weekend. Three- and four-day camping tickets were still available through the Oxegen website yesterday priced €224.50 and €244.50 respectively.