Oxegen 2009 - All discussion, no ticket sales

english4490

really wanted to get into the pit for kings of leon so we started queing at like 7.45, our group got all seperated once we got to the very front and then the crowd got a bit mad and me and a few friends were at the very front when we got squeezed up so much a guy got knocked over beside us and the barrier went down on top of him and us on top of the barrier snd it got bent in half in like a v shape!! then securtiy/stewards starting taking away the barriers and made a human chain and tried in vain to push us back!! then they closed the pit before someone got really hurt...! ah good times.. except for the bruises!:rolleyes:

minidazzler

Hey there, I think I will give a rundown of my experiences working there.

I have worked there the last three years and I have to say this year was one of the most thoroughly enjoyable to work at. It was so perfectly organised that I have very few complaints.

My only bug bears were that during the concerts I had to take a stupidly long route to get to the other gates because of all the people who were walking to and from the Arena. It pissed me off to no end, but I know it was a good smart decision to divert traffic away from the crowds as much as possible. (I was driving a Golf Buggy.)

Another annoying thing was on the Night of the concerts there was a driving embargo in place which meant only blue light vehicles were allowed through any roads. It was only in place from around 2300 to 0200 but it was still extremely frustrating having to walk around the place at that time of morning.

The Security on the gates were IMO, top notch this year. At least the night staff were, they were the only ones I was dealing with alot, with only a few problems which were fixed with some suggestions.

The Killers were very good I thoroughly enjoyed the show, although it didn't and will never beat Muse 2007 Oxegen!

The Rain while annoying didn't bother me too much, I was only off 1 night (Sunday) to go drinking and I was lashing but it really added to the atmosphere I think.

The Corona's put on a very strong performance, although I think maybe they should have been on later in the day, they did draw a strong crowd for a daytime concert.

Razorlight were actually better than I thought they would be, I really liked them!

The biggest problems I came across up there was actually just some chancers who were trying to get in on broken bands and such, but they were quickly dealt with by me and my people. (I was night supervisor for my company, although the Bossman was on, I was basically 2i/c taking care of most of the problems except those that had to be taken care of by him, eg anything dealing directly with EC or MCD.)

I really enjoyed this year and I have to say most problems can not be blamed on the organisation of the place, it was a well run operation. I could attribute most problems to the punters themselves who had problems being much too drunk for their own good.

I know it may sound like I am biased because I was working there, but really it just gave me a better insight into how it was run. I will be giving my boss a small list of things I think could do with being improved upon for next year, both for his company and for MCD, but there is nothing really major that would cause catastrophic failure if it was lacking.

X-Calibre

Fajitas! wrote: »

X-Calibre, I think I might have been talking to you in the campsite, or at least, I was talking to some of the lads that won tickets from Phantom.

Might have been me (tall, medium-long ginger hair) or more likely my mate James (short brown hair) who was going around pretty much telling everyone how we won the tickets!

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Fajitas!

X-Calibre wrote: »

Might have been me (tall, medium-long ginger hair) or more likely my mate James (short brown hair) who was going around pretty much telling everyone how we won the tickets!

Haha, I reckon it was your mate I was talking to then.

Edible

Really enjoyed it this year despite the awful weather on the saturday. Far less amount of scumbags and better security than oxegen '07. Was a bit shocked being asked to pay 9 euro for a beer, especially when I kept loosing my cups! I couldn't get served smokes anywhere inside the festival (I'm 23), yet didn't get asked for ID once going into the bar. It was very easy to sneak in booze, none of my mates had any problems. The security guard even found a bag of wine in my hood and told me I didn't need to hide it.

Music highlights for me were:

Mumford and Sons (these guys have written some of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. Love them.)
Eagles of Death Metal
Wallis Bird (a really energetic performance. She really interacted with the crowd and had me laughin at her banter).
Casio Kids (randomly stopped in the Red Bull tent due to the rain. Very glad I did).
Florence & the Machine (put on a great show despite being an hour late and leaving out great songs like 'You Got the Love'. Also, the tent was far too small to accomodate the amount of people there and I thought everyone would get trampled).

I also ashamedly checked out Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and The Saturdays, but actually quite enjoyed the latter two.

Biggest disappointment was the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Karen O really didn't seem like she wanted to be there. There were some major sound problems throughout, finished off with a very limp performance of Maps

Crania

I camped for 3 nights at Oxegen this weekend and I have to say I had a really great time. I was an Oxegen virgin so beforehand I was a little apprehensive about the whole thing because of the bad reputation and stories I had heard from previous years but I could not fault them one single bit this year. I thought the security around the campsite was very good, especially all those lads going around in the big jeeps and there was always plenty of guards. They were a bit blase about the bottles coming in originally though and it was very easy to get alcohol into the concert arena.

I stayed in the Red Camp, R12, and I found it great. It was a bit of a trek to and from the campsite to the concert arena but it was worth it to have a nice and quit campsite. There seemed to be minimal trouble around there and the main advantage was that we were on a hill so the ground didn't get as wet or waterlogged around us and there was plenty of space for our tents and general lounging around which I couldn't say about some of the other campsites whose tents seemed to be squished in like sardines!

From a music point of view, I really enjoyed the Manics on Sunday night, I thought they were class. Kings of Leon were great, I really enjoyed Elbow despite the torrential downpour during that! Biggest disappointment had to be Blur, I was very excited about them but to be honest I thought they were terrible and the amount of people who walked off during them was unreal.

It was a pity about the weather, it really was terrible but sure what can you do! The mud was actually pretty fun but it was just the constant rain at times that was very annoying when you just wanted to sit and lounge around the campsite! I don't know what I would've done without the rain trousers, rain jacket and wellies though!

The whole organisation really was fantastic, I used the shuttle bus back to Naas and there was very little waiting on it, they seemed to be going all the time. Dublin Bus seemed to be really on the ball as well. Very little traffic in and out of Naas as well which was great.

Oxegen has quite a bad reputation from previous years but in fairness this year seemed to be a huge improvement so thumbs up to MCD on a great festival and a brilliant weekend!

Healium

I have Oxegen reviews here :-) http://Healium.wordpress.com only friday up now. will do the rest tomorrow!

Saul-Good

callaway92 wrote: »

OMG..lol, I could swear they are lads I know locally. That picture is in blue camp at bottom of the hill near the big OXEGEN letters. Im nearly sure it is. If it is, they arent scumbags. All dead on actually but seriously drunk and they went to around 3 acts over the weekend

Holy crap I think I recognise it from there too, at the tents near the BBQ area. It's near Galway Camp!!

It was such a good weekend, I spent the whole time there, Thursday evening to Monday afternoon. Bands, people, food and everything else was awesome. The amount of stories I have coming back from it is crazy, there were some real characters around there!

It's kind of hard to readjust back to regular life now, time there just moved slower the days felt way longer. And it was weird to walk on a solid path today after days of muddy tracks!

lordgoat

minidazzler wrote: »

Hey there, I think I will give a rundown of my experiences working there.

I have worked there the last three years and I have to say this year was one of the most thoroughly enjoyable to work at. It was so perfectly organised that I have very few complaints.

My only bug bears were that during the concerts I had to take a stupidly long route to get to the other gates because of all the people who were walking to and from the Arena. It pissed me off to no end, but I know it was a good smart decision to divert traffic away from the crowds as much as possible. (I was driving a Golf Buggy.)

Another annoying thing was on the Night of the concerts there was a driving embargo in place which meant only blue light vehicles were allowed through any roads. It was only in place from around 2300 to 0200 but it was still extremely frustrating having to walk around the place at that time of morning.

The Security on the gates were IMO, top notch this year. At least the night staff were, they were the only ones I was dealing with alot, with only a few problems which were fixed with some suggestions.

The Killers were very good I thoroughly enjoyed the show, although it didn't and will never beat Muse 2007 Oxegen!

The Rain while annoying didn't bother me too much, I was only off 1 night (Sunday) to go drinking and I was lashing but it really added to the atmosphere I think.

The Corona's put on a very strong performance, although I think maybe they should have been on later in the day, they did draw a strong crowd for a daytime concert.

Razorlight were actually better than I thought they would be, I really liked them!

The biggest problems I came across up there was actually just some chancers who were trying to get in on broken bands and such, but they were quickly dealt with by me and my people. (I was night supervisor for my company, although the Bossman was on, I was basically 2i/c taking care of most of the problems except those that had to be taken care of by him, eg anything dealing directly with EC or MCD.)

I really enjoyed this year and I have to say most problems can not be blamed on the organisation of the place, it was a well run operation. I could attribute most problems to the punters themselves who had problems being much too drunk for their own good.

I know it may sound like I am biased because I was working there, but really it just gave me a better insight into how it was run. I will be giving my boss a small list of things I think could do with being improved upon for next year, both for his company and for MCD, but there is nothing really major that would cause catastrophic failure if it was lacking.

That's hilarious, imagine the 80,00 people that paid a **** load of money not getting out of your way. I'm sure we all feel such sympathy for you and your little golf cart:rolleyes:

Security was what it should be at a festival. It wasn't amazing and i found the local people employed to be much more helpful and freindly that the regular security, who did their job well, but that's what they are getting paid for, so i think any over the top praise is unwarranted.

And yes your post comes across as biased.


I think the people of Naas in general deserve a mention for being thoroughly helpful and welcoming, yet again this year.

Nea

Anybody get the Jane's Addiction setlist? Would have loved to see them. Bloody recession!

Fajitas!

lordgoat wrote: »

I think the people of Naas in general deserve a mention for being thoroughly helpful and welcoming, yet again this year.

+1

lordgoat

Fajitas! wrote: »

Ah it wasn't a full half hour they played for, not a hope. And aye, they came across being quite a surly moany bunch.

Came on stage at just after 10:00, left at just before 10:35, myself and my girlfriend were amazed as their set was pretty much eaxclty 30mins. Plus they didn't talk to the crowd so they were playing for the most part.

Every act in that tent all weekend was 30mins (except maybe the closing act) and they stuck rigidily to it. Patrick Wolf was the exact same thing on the saturday.

Dero

Nea wrote: »

Anybody get the Jane's Addiction setlist? Would have loved to see them. Bloody recession!

From memory, and in no order other than the first and last songs:

Whores
Stop!
Three Days
Ocean Size
Nothing's Shocking
Ain't no right
Mountain Song
Summertime Rolls
Been caught Stealing
Jane Says

Not sure if I have them all there, as I was a bit too in awe to commit it to memory at the time.

I've been listening to Jane's addiction for nearly 20 years, and to get to see them live was just amazing. Easily worth the ticket price (had no interest in any other acts). They were f*cking awesome. Mountain Song and Three Days in particular were epic.

Nea

Ah balls, absolutely love Three Days.Have never seen them live but just couldnt do the Sunday.
Hopefully they will need a few pound in a few years time and tour again.

Was there a big crowd watching them and how did they go down with the crowd?

Jello

Apart from my friend breaking his ankle in 5 places and getting rushed to Tallaght hospital on Saturday night I had a great weekend.

2 Many DJs were probably the best act I saw. Played a great set and the visuals were amazing. Afterwards I managed to get backstage to meet them, then I watched the end of Blur with the bassist from Soulwax. Met two of my mates there and he invited us all back onto the Soulwax/2 Many DJs tour bus! Was definitely the highlight of my weekend, they gave us all free beer and they are seriously some of the nicest guys I have ever met.

Really enjoyed Crookers too, the lap dancers on stage with them added to the enjoyment

Bloody Beetroots and MSTRKRFT back to back were amazing, great sets from both of them.

Felix Da Housecat - I was planning to go to NIN but I'm so glad I didn't! He was absolutely amazing and the atmosphere in the Dance Arena was something else. Easily the best act I saw after 2 Many DJs.

Tiga - really good set but the Dance Arena was half empty for him, was on my own for most of him too.

Also really enjoyed Boys Noize, Digitalism, Japanese Popstars and the little bit I saw of Swedish House Mafia.

Calvin Harris and Pendulum were also surprisingly good.



Overall a great weekend, but not as good as last year.

redanza

Oh of course oxegen went without a hitch and it was a great festival...hahaha

What a joke!!!

Are the Irish public still banned from telling the truth about te MCD gig on public forums?

Place was full of scum....loads of fights, robberies and damage to cars and that was just in my carpark! ALL FACTS! - in your opinion


Anymore crap like this above is getting a seriously long ban. - lordgoat

Molberts

I was working there over the weekend so didn't get to see quite as many acts as I would have liked. Got to crystal castles just as they were finishing completely missed the specials, friendly fires and foals.

Highlights of the weekend:

Duke Special said he liked my hair
2manyDJs - new set up is awesome.
Arveene in the RBMA friday - savage.
The Mars Volta -
Bloody Beetroots - side of stage, got a pic after - yey
Nine Inch Nails - Trent for president!!

Was disappointed with Blur to be honest, the setlist was a bit wishywashy but Damon gave a good performance. KOL - improved on last year but theyre still not the best live - better than expected though.

Cringe moment - meeting Paulo Nutini and making a tit of myself "eh sorry to sound like a sap but I'm a really big fan" he just gave me a sympathetic smile and said "aww its ok" >.< while others pointed and laughed hehe.

All in all, I had a better laugh last year but was still pretty good.

melekalikimaka

Molberts wrote: »

I was working there over the weekend so didn't get to see quite as many acts as I would have liked. Got to crystal castles just as they were finishing completely missed the specials, friendly fires and foals.

i was working on red bull tent on stage for the weekend, and they were utterly MENTAL, she wrapped her legs around a random punter and poured vodka into peoples eyes and smashed the drum kit and climbed a speaker and started mashing the mic into her head and face...

Dero

Nea wrote: »

Hopefully they will need a few pound in a few years time and tour again.

Here's hoping.

Nea wrote: »

Was there a big crowd watching them and how did they go down with the crowd?

To be honest, I couldn't really tell as we were right up the front (close enough to touch Perry when we came down during Been caught stealing :eek:)

It seemed (from the crowd shots on the screens) like it started off with not a huge crowd, but was a full house at the end. I suppose a lot of people were staking their spots for NIN. The crowd seemed to really like them (and vice versa, the band seemed to really enjoy it).

siobhanoh

Why didn't they show it on the big screen?? Also would like to thank the man who let us listen to it on the radio attached to his beer cooler. "XBOX HILL IS DUBLIN ONLY" Great craic!

jimmyboy

spudz21 wrote: »

V
Oh, Anyone see the groups throwing stuff at each other across the campsite on Sunday morning, we were stuck in the middle!tins of beans flying everywhere!?

Dmullar wrote: »

I saw that from where I was staying in R5, looked hilarious!

Anyone hit with that carton of milk that burst open.....apoligise

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Innervision

siobhanoh wrote: »

Why didn't they show it on the big screen?? Also would like to thank the man who let us listen to it on the radio attached to his beer cooler. "XBOX HILL IS DUBLIN ONLY" Great craic!

Yeah majorly annoyed they didn't show the match!
Dunno how I lasted 4 nights...think we got really unlucky with our neighbours cos we were surrounded by absolute scumbags, & tent was slashed to bits so was fairly wet for 2 nights!
Music wise my highlights were MSTRKRAFT, The Killers, The Script (they seemed so genuinely happy to be there!), Katy Perry, The Ting Tings, The Maccabees, Eagles of Death Metal
Anyone go to the headphone disco? Vaguely remember being there at some stage on Thursday

siobhanoh

Scien wrote: »

What?
Why on earth would they show a Dublin Match at Music Festival?

Just because there were hundreds of people who wanted to watch it and a huge empty screen in the blue camp. I met so many people who thought it would have been shown. And sorry, I should have said the Dublin Vs KILDARE match. The hurling supporters were pretty upset to miss their final too. I heard it wasn't shown because of riots another year?

minidazzler

redanza wrote: »

Oh of course oxegen went without a hitch and it was a great festival...hahaha

What a joke!!!

Are the Irish public still banned from telling the truth about te MCD gig on public forums?

Place was full of scum....loads of fights, robberies and damage to cars and that was just in my carpark! ALL FACTS! - in your opinion


Anymore crap like this above is getting a seriously long ban. - lordgoat

What can MCD do about letting Scumbags in? If the punters have a valid band or ticket then and are not carrying any offensive weapons then they are allowed in. And Fairly so.

BTW people, ye did not sneak any drink into the arena, it was allowed in as long as it was not in glass bottles.

lordgoat wrote:

That's hilarious, imagine the 80,000 people that paid a **** load of money not getting out of your way. I'm sure we all feel such sympathy for you and your little golf cart

Yes, I acknowledged it was a good move on Event Control's part, but it was still annoying.

I agree the people of Naas were very accepting of oxegen and more tollerant than most people would be.

Way I see it, I really enjoyed it, I didn't see as much as I wish I had, but I did enjoy it.

AntoSRFC

minidazzler wrote: »

BTW people, ye did not sneak any drink into the arena, it was allowed in as long as it was not in glass bottles.

Naw i got a load of cans taken off me goin in and out of there. Wasnt just me they were taking them of everyone.

callaway92

camero wrote: »

just got back from it best weakend in a long time
got there on the Thursday and put up my tent was in the blue camp site then found out that my cousin was going up on Friday so he put up his tent be side my one .
any way let me get on to the acts i got to see on the Friday
dirty epics-great live bit off a let let with very faw there

the script-do not like then live I had to go see then because the gf and cousin wanted to see then
snow patrol-great band put don't put on much of a show a bit show for then to get going
keane-same as above

on the Saturday
kings of leon-great band every thing was right with this show only thing which was wrong was there set list
the saterdays- i like then maybe because they are all so sexy
litte boots- great act she puts on a geart show
bloc party- only there because the kings where on next but put on a good show

on the sunday
the killers- great band this is my 4 time to see then thay naver get sick of there music
you me at six-they where ok not a big fun off there music any way
white lies- to me was the best show off the weakend
katy perry-frist time to see her and i liked it was good in so many ways
the thing things- 2nd time to see then geting bitter with each show


<snip>

You stayed outside for Ting Tings??
In the absolute thundery rain for half an hour after Katy Perry?? I dont think 1 person stayed there for them until about half way through their act

Oh and also you say Snow Patrol dont put on a good live show. I cant speak for that because I was at PENDULUM(most dangerous but fun concert ever haha) but a few people I know went to Snow Patrol and said they were amazing and so do all the reviews of them. I smell I liar in camero

phasers

callaway92 wrote: »

You stayed outside for Ting Tings??
In the absolute thundery rain for half an hour after Katy Perry?? I dont think 1 person stayed there for them until about half way through their act

Oh and also you say Snow Patrol dont put on a good live show. I cant speak for that because I was at PENDULUM(most dangerous but fun concert ever haha) but a few people I know went to Snow Patrol and said they were amazing and so do all the reviews of them. I smell I liar in camero

Oh definitely, he thought that The Horrors knew how to put on a great show :pac:

Sure they cancelled, but it was still a great show!

Resi12

The stewards were so hopeless this year for information, I was getting the shuttle bus to Naas so I could get a new tent seeing as my first one got destroyed by rain(Damn Tesco!).

So I got up and ask does he know much about Naas(So I could ask if he knew if they had an argos there) and he says "Where? That place in France":o:confused: .

Oh I laughed my head off, Then they were terribble for giving directions too but fair enough they weren't strict, I would just like them to be told more about the place next time.

Besides that amazing weekend and I saw no scumbags.