Next week you need to know about . . . the Oxegen festival

Ninety thousand people will descend on Punchestown Racecourse, in Co Kildare, next weekend for the annual Oxegen music festival.

It’s perhaps more of a rite of passage for Irish youth than anything else, and the predominantly young crowd will be enjoying a post-Leaving Cert celebration and catching a series of headline performances from acts such as Black Eyed Peas, Foo Fighters, Coldplay and Beyoncé. Expect Beyoncé’s husband, Jay-Z, to be at Punchestown and maybe even get up and do a star turn.

Running since 2004, Oxegen has picked up a few best European music festival awards and is viewed as having one of the strongest line-ups of all the big summer bashes. Tickets are still available for next weekend, with a one-day pass costing €99.50 and a weekend pass with camping costing €224.

With so much to see and do on site, you can have a busy Oxegen weekend without actually seeing or hearing any music. This year, Oxegen’s fun fair will feature Europe’s largest travelling Sling Shot, which can propel brave festival-goers at 160km/h.

If you are going to the festival, do check the weather forecast before setting off. If there’s even a suggestion of rain you will need a sturdy pair of wellies. And an awful lot of patience. oxegen.ie.