Audiences screeched at the rain and finally gave themselves to rock and roll

Across sideshows and other temptations, the music wove its magical spell

YOU COULD spend a fair portion of Oxegen avoiding gigs. With funfairs, shop stalls, endless dining opportunities and campsite high jinx, it would be easy to check out of the main fare.

But music is the centre pole of Oxegen’s canvas, and although some perceive it to be a rite of passage regardless of the line-up, there are musical gems in the rough of Punchstown.

Regardless of the rain that marked the beginning of yesterday’s proceedings and stopped and started for the rest of the day and night, the site filled up.

Opening slots are always great fodder for local bands, and The Riptide Movement made a stellar effort at whipping up the crowd at 3pm in the Heineken Green Spheres tent. The Lucan rock outfit with a hard country twang were the best performers early on and managed to lure existing fans and curious punters alike into the tent to form a sizeable audience. Over in the 2fm Hotpress Academy Stage, Dublin band Readers Wives encouraged their audience to scream “f-ck the rain”.

The dance arena, a massive warehouse that generally has the highest-octane atmosphere over the weekend, has been renamed and refurbished as the Red Bull Electric Ballroom. An added impressive visual and lighting set-up saw techno and electro fans spill in the minute the doors opened, with up-and-coming Dublin DJ Colin Perkins blasting out a fun and energetic set. Later, Dublin youngster James O’Neill brought his colourful ensemble Bitches With Wolves to the stage while outside, veteran hip-hop party-starters House of Pain welcomed an up-for-it crowd and, more importantly, the sun.

Oxegen is easy on the feet, as it’s a compact site. With much of the arena gravelled, mud is isolated to small patches and pools. The Captain Morgan tent is reminiscent of Bacardi’s former space in the arena, providing cocktails, tunes, and more visibly, hundreds of red pirate hats.

Weezer liked the hats so much that they borrowed one from someone in the crowd before closing their rather triumphant set at the main stage yesterday afternoon. After that, Clare Maguire, a singer tipped for big things at the start of this year, fell slightly flat with a bass-heavy sound in the 2fm Hotpress Academy Stage. Someone who is no stranger to bass is Oxegen returnee, Tinie Tempah who tore the Vodafone Stage apart with his perfectly executed epic and self-aware grimy pop, before New Yorkers The Strokes switched the tone back to tightly executed indie rock on the same stage.

Marcus Lambkin aka Shit Robot gave one of the sets of the day in the Electric Ballroom. Out in the downpour, it was indicative of The Script’s massive success that they manage to draw probably the largest non-headliner crowd of the day, even after playing a recent brace of gigs at Aviva Stadium. It marked another successful homecoming for a band who remarkably sold just 28 tickets to their first ever gig.

Tonight, rockers Foo Fighters will headline the Main Stage and the mouse-headed electro kingpin Deadmau5 will present one of the most visually stimulating live dance shows in the world as he closes the Vodafone Stage.

You can’t swing a lanyard without hitting someone who has the word “Beyonce” on their lips. The Texan diva is the act everyone wants to see, especially after her Glastonbury headline performance a few weeks ago.

She’ll keep the stage warm for Coldplay tomorrow night, and the Oxegen crowd is expecting great things.