In our ongoing series of Culch.ie Oxegen picks, here’s my tuppence worth. I’ve chosen one act per day - what you do with the rest of your time is up to you.
Friday: Vitalic, Dance Area
This is for those of you who couldn’t get the day off work and have consequently arrived in Punchestown a little bit frazzled. You’ve managed to haul 50 kilos of camping equipment, booze, clothes and, er, booze to the only space left in the campsite which is gorgeously located within olfactory range of the portaloos. You’ve hastily erected your tent and haphazardly lobbed all your shit into it, convincing yourself you’ll have enough wits about you to pump up your air mattress when you return to the tent at the end of the night. Oh, the optimism! A little bit stressed, you feel like everyone around you is already in the festival spirit but that you’re just playing catch-up. Fear not however. Simply crack open a can and navigate your way through the sea of gazebos and burnt-out portable barbeques to the dance area!
Oxegen haven’t yet released the exact festival timetable (they’re doing the usual job of holding out so they can charge extortionate amounts for those laminates) but I reckon Vitalic will be on stage around the 10pm mark. Perfect - you should be bang on time. For if you need a kick up the backside to get you into the festival mood then a few minutes of La Rock will do the trick. I predict you’ll come out of that tent sufficiently buzzed to take on the rest of the night.
Saturday: Yeasayer, 2fm / Hot Press Academy Stage
Anyone who misses Yeasayer at Oxegen is an idiot. As far as I can tell there’s not much else decent on at the same time as them (they may clash a bit with Gossip) so it’ll likely be a big crowd. Get yourself there early.
Yeasayer have brought out one of the best albums of 2010 so far in Odd Blood and if you’ve ever wished you saw David Byrne do his jerky dancing at a Talking Heads gig in the ’80s then Yeasayer in 2010 is for you. Do it.
Sunday: Julian Casablancas, 2fm / Hot Press Academy Stage
I’m taking a punt on this one as it could go either way. Casablancas has a reputation for being a bit of a diva and he doesn’t exactly try to win over a crowd with his charm, but back when he and his Strokes band mates were on form boy were they good. The man is just shit hot cool. He’s doing his solo thing at Oxegen of course, so don’t expect to hear Last Night. Definitely don’t request it - he probably won’t like that. You could do worse than ask for 11th Dimension though - it’s a bit of a cracker.
If he’s shite then go see Broken Social Scene on the Red Bull stage.
Enjoy festival go-ers and remember to pack that extra pack of babywipes - they always come in handy.
