Overview:REM singer Michael Stipe turned up with the actor Josh Hartnett and the supermodel Helena Christensen. Hollywood A-list couple Tim Robbins and his wife Susan Sarandon appeared yesterday, but quite the most unexpected star at Oxegen 07 at Punchestown was the sun.
Fans who pitched their tents in a deluge of mud on Friday evening awoke on Saturday with the sun blazing down.
It stayed out for most of Saturday. Yesterday too was mostly sunny during the day but the evening saw the heavens open again. Just as The Arcade Fire singer Win Butler acclaimed a rainbow in the sky, a torrential downpour ensued.
Yesterday too was mostly sunny during the day before the rain came down just as the headline acts were taking to the stage.
The sun dried out the ground which had been churned up by tens of thousands of fans who arrived on Friday night, though the approaches to the campsite stayed muddy all weekend and one stretcher-bearer fell in the quagmire on Saturday night as he was taking a casualty to the field hospital.
Fans were alternately sunburnt and soaked in the unpredictable weather. Several were treated for sunburn on Saturday.
"We weren't expecting any sun," said Paul Martin (22) from Belfast as he relaxed outside his tent. "We were taking the mickey out of Joe Bananas for selling sun cream on Friday night, but I got roasted on Saturday."
Dave Keane (22), from Celbridge, Co Kildare, who was covered from head to toe in muck, revelled in the conditions.
"Oxegen has been unreal, we're having a savage time. The weather has been mad, but the wellies are doing the job. The highlight has been The Fratellis."
Scissor Sisters' hyperactive front man Jake Shears took the muddy conditions to heart and got down and dirty with the fans on Saturday night, stripping down to a towel and rolling in the mud in front of the main stage.
The Gossip's lead singer Beth Ditto gave the crowd an eyeful by taking off her top to reveal a lime-green bra, while Mika made up for hazy knowledge of Irish geography - "Good evening, Dublin" - with a crowd-pleasing set which included covers of the Jackson Five classic I Want You Backand The Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams.
Stadium rockers Muse closed Saturday's proceedings with an extravaganza of lights and visuals which wowed the large crowd. Thousands of concert-goers then slopped through swamp-like conditions en route to the campsites where they kept the party going well into the early hours.
Campers awoke to a dry Sunday morning with the excesses of the previous night clearly visible. Beer cans and bottles littered the muddy walkways, which were dotted with abandoned shoes and boots.
Gardaí said the crowds had generally been well behaved, though there was one serious assault.
Supt Tom Neville from Naas Garda station said: "From a policing perspective, it has been a great success . . . The vast majority who come here come to enjoy the weekend and travelling through the site, I've seen that they were enjoying themselves."
MCD spokesman Justin Green said the arrangements, whereby concert-goers arriving on Saturday morning by car were forced to use the park-and-ride facility at Goffs on the N7, had worked well.
By 11am on Saturday morning, 70,000 of the 80,000 were already on site. Fans have been asked to leave their tents behind so Scouting Ireland can send them to Africa.