Back from Ireland!



Sunshine Boy described the set pretty good so I'm just going to fill in with some thoughts of my own...



I also saw Orbital before I had to leave for the Chems, thought they were awesome, I left in the beginning of A Perfect Sunrise and ran for the Dance Arena. I was so excited I even missed a turn so I headed for campsite A for a little while before I realised this... I placed myself in the middle about 5-10m from the stage to get a good sound.



They ROCKED! as always, you know how it is... I thought the new tracks were wicked although I don't really remember them now(except from Acid Children)...it's weird how easy you forget things like this.

I was soaked in sweat as I left the Dance Arena, and although there were drunk irelanders all over the place I fell asleep as soon as I got to the tent.



Although I thought the set was amazing, I had some doubts about the sound. It was loud, but I think the times I've seen them here in Sweden have been even louder, maybe the there's diffrent laws for diffrent countries how high the volume can be, I don't know....but that's the feeling I got..



I'll post some photos once I got them developed!(didn't want to bring a digital camera)



I also saw some other top class acts; Faithless were wicked, and Basment Jaxx even better. I think Jaxx definetly was the second best act of the festival. Muse was nice aswell...



Anyways, It may not have been the best Chemical Brothers set I've been at, but definetly better than all other bands I've seen(not just at Oxegen)... :D

I think it's better to see a band on a real concert, not a festival...I was a little tired when saw the Chems, travelling to another country and everything involved in that...that might also be a reason why I think they've been even better the other times I've seen them.



If this sounds like I didn't enjoy the set, I'm sorry...Beacuse it was AMAZING! :D



Rambled enough, I'll stop now...

ok so my oxegen "experience"







now bear in mind im used to getting free tickets and driving down for each day.



so the promoters this year were total cunts so no freebies, so i think ah fuck it ive seen the chems recently i wont bother my hole going, but no, the new girlfriend wants me to go, and camp!!!! so after bartering over how much sex its worth i eventually agree to go.



so get there on friday around 5, find a GOOD ENOUGH SPOT AND SET UP, IM HAPPY ENOUGH, IVE GOTTEN MY BOTTLES OF VODKA IN AND IT SHOULD BE A GOOD TIME! woops........anyways



i proceed to get absolutely pissed! wander around chatting shit to ppl and the like. our area of the camp site is packed but everyone is well behaved....until some cunts at around 12 at night decide hey were setting up here, after politely telling them to fuck right off i go to bed...only to be woken in an hour by the worst,shitest trance music in the world, being played by those cunts i told to fuck off.



i didn't sleep one bit but was too drunk to use my tent beg mallet how god intended and beat their stereo and heads to pieces.



so saturday came, shit food, shiter weather, went to see elbow, highlight of my festival, incredible, then left b4 orbital, wasn't too pussed to see them, wandered over to dance arena, saw n.e.r.d they were ok then went to the chems, as i expected they were incredible but the crowd unlike in england were shirtless junky pill head scum! so i fucked off home with the girlf after acid children.





came back at 6 on sunday to find my mates tent wrecked at which pont revenge was very prominent in my mind. i had brought food down in a cooler bag with some frozen peas in the bottom to keep the stuff cool, so went to see wu tang clan, they rocked then muse then back to the tent.



cleared my shit up then the fun......the cunts beside us were out so i ripped a nice big hole in their tent, poured 2 litres of coke, water and ofcourse the peas and some sweet corn all over the inside of their tent.



revenge is so so so sweet :D

the crowd unlike in england were shirtless junky pill head scum!

Right on chemd'up! I didn't want to say anything about the crowd, "might piss people off" I thought...but since you did I might aswell... :P



It was actually quite bad, there was a pretty small part of all the 60 000 people at the festival who looked, well, normal....really :P

Festivals definetly suck big time when you're camping...

@chemd'up



Nice one brother, revenge is shweet, an eye for an eye I say, shame you didn't beat the shit out of them, that would have been far more satisfying, arrr, it's been so long since i've had a fight :(



Glasto had it's good and bad points, while you there the bad points mask the good points, but when you look back you realise that it didn't matter, you had a great fookin time.



For you though, sounded like proper shit, and to leave in the middle of a chems gig is surely an arrestable offence.



Hope you got some suckie suckie from you bird after all that ffs.

i nearly beat six colors of shit out of them but we were right next to a security tower...



there was just utter scum every where...it sickened me to be around ppl like that. i vow to only see the chems in england from now on!





and yes, my girlfriend spent all of yesterday and the night before makeing up for dragging me out there.... :D

chemd'up Escribi�:

but the crowd unlike in england were shirtless junky pill head scum!

cos in endland we might be junkey pill head scum, but we know to wear our shirts!!

I didn't notice the shirtless tossers till the leaving as was in front row and as walking out saw thousands of them. the arena wasn't that bad.

Sorry you had a bad time at the festival, chem'd up! That really stinks when fuckwits have to ruin the vibe when all you want to do is have a good time. Good god, why can't people just be a little bit courteous, why can't they be human ffs? And it sucks even more that you had to leave during the Chemical Brothers. I'd be so annoyed, I would've burst into tears and shit...

Day 1 - Early on Saturday afternoon myself and five of my friends booked a minibus out to Punchestown, Co Kildare, for ?26 return each, which was much more direct than getting the Dublin Bus trips from the city centre. We arrived at around 1.30 in the afternoon, which was a good time to get our bearings, get a few pints in, meet up with a couple of other friends in there, and just relax for a while. Last year the weather was scorching, and made the festival memorable. However, this year there was no such luck with the weather. Frequent showers were the order of the day, some quote heavy. Luckily Meteor, the mobile phone company, were handing out free rain covers, which kept us dry when we were at the outdoor stages.



The first band we saw were the Scissor Sisters on the main stage, who had a great sound, and put on a good show. However, about halfway through their set the heavens opened for a massive downpour, which sent everyone rushing for cover in one of the covered stages, so we missed a good chuck of the latter part of their set, which was a pity. They are a band I'd like to see at one of their own gigs sometime soon. Following Scissor Sisters, we saw a little bit of Franz Ferdinand, which I expected a bit more from, but I guess I didn't see that much of their set.



That was about the last of the Main Stage I saw for the rest of the day, as most of the rest of the acts I wanted to see were on some of the minor stages. Over on the Ticket Stage next were Snow Patrol, and I have to say they were brilliant, and definitely one of the highlights of the weekend. The atmosphere they created was brilliant, and the large crowd which they drew weren't disappointed, and sand along to their more popular songs, including "Run". Snow Patrol seem to be getting bigger and bigger at the moment, and seem to be getting especially popular in the UK.



Towards the end of Snow Patrol's set, I headed over to the nearby Dance Arena, for The Complete Stone Roses. The Complete Stone Roses are unusual as they are the only cover band to play at the festival, and just like last year, I find it amazing that a cover band get to play such a festival. And also just like last year, they were one of the biggest draws of the festival. Goes to show how popular The Stones Roses were, and the enduring appeal they still have. God knows what it would be like if the real Stones Roses played. The atmosphere for the Complete Stones Roses was fantastic, with most of the punters singing along to much of the set, which included a good mixture of album tracks and b-sides aswell as the classics such as "She Bangs The Drums", "Fools Gold", "Love Spreads" and of course the seminal end-of-set rouser "I Am The Resurrection". I was also surprised (like I was when they played last year) with the age profile of those in attendance and singing along. Quite a lot of people considerably younger than me well into it and singing all the words.



Next was the predicament as to whether to see The Strokes on the Main Stage, or Orbital's last ever live European date before they split up at the end of the summer. Even though I have seen Orbital live three or four times before, I decided to go see them once again, as they never disappoint live. They are one of the best, if not the best, live dance act around, and always excite. I'm sure I will get the chance to see The Strokes in the future, but never again Orbital. Their first track was playing when I entered the tent, and the second track they played was the seminal "Belfast", which is not just my favourite Orbital track ever, but one of my all-time favourite tracks (although it wasn?t my preferred "Belfast/Wasted" version, with the vocal). I think it was the first time I have heard them play it live, so it was a real treat for me. As the set went on, they played lots of their best work (including "The Box", "Halcyon" and ", plus some material I didn't recognise. I had to leave before they finished their encore, which I'm sure was going to be "Chime".



I had to make the sacrifice to leave before "Chime" to get back over the Dance Arena in time for The Chemical Brothers, who were headlining that stage. First up was a very cool version of "Tomorrow Never Knows". It may have been a modified version of the Junior Parker cover of the Beatles' classic, but I'm not too sure. The Chems took to the stage to that track anyhow, and it sounded wonderful, and built up the anticipation of what was to come. "Tomorrow Never Knows" then gave way to a full-on "Hey Boy Hey Girl", to which the crowd went pretty much apeshit to! Next up was "Get Yourself High", which I had never heard live before, but it worked really well. It is one of the better Chems tracks of the last couple of years. "Music: Response", "Block Rockin' Beats" & "Chemical Beats" (or was it SFTS?? can't remember!) followed by a snippet of what I think was a new track which I had not heard before. Because it was a new track, unrecognised by the crowd, it didn't get much of a response, which was a pity. The crowd soon got going and the atmosphere build up for the subsequent "Under The Influence" and the storming "It Doesn?t Matter", from "Dig Your Own Hole".



Next up was one of my all-time favourite dance tracks, "Out of Control", which on the album features Bernard Sumner from New Order on vocals. The New Order theme continued with the Chems playing their own version of "Temptation", the New Order classic from the 80's. It gave way then to "Star Guitar". The "Temptation"/"Star Guitar" combination has been part of the Chems live performance now for a while, including as part of the "American EP" from 2002. One of the highlights of the set was what I think was another new track, with a fantastic intro, and a kind of trance feel. No idea what it is called. "Electronic Battle Weapon 6" followed, as did "Setting Sun", "The Golden Path" (significantly reworked from the single release, with only a minimal amount of the vocal track used), and I think another new track. "Got Glint" was played towards the end, before the final, and normal set ender, "The Private Psychedelic Reel".



All in all is was a good set, and the first time I had seen the Chems live in four years. Hopefully it won't be another four years!



Time to find the minibus and our driver then, which we duly did, and eventually got home for around 2.30am, which was quite respectable, to get some rest for Day Two!



Day 2 -

Due to exhaustion from Saturday, we were a good deal later getting out to the festival on Sunday. We arrived around 4pm. As we arrived, Pink was on the main stage doing her thing, but we didn't take much notice of her. We instead decided to go & get some food and drink, and escape yet another heavy shower. At one of the bars I saw none other than Malcolm O'Kelly, the Irish Rugby international, who in fairness is very hard to miss, at six foot eight! He was just enjoying a beer with a couple of friends. Later in the evening. escaping another shower, I saw Denis Hickie, another Irish Rugby International, again a big man! Shortly after, I saw Tom Dunne, presenter of Today FM's Pet Sounds radio programme.



After some star-spotting it was time to get back to the real business of Oxegen, that of seeing bands. The first band I saw on Sunday was Faithless, whom I had never seen live before, but were always a very interesting band. They didn't disappoint, and were about the only band who brought out the sun during their set, which immediately put everyone in good form. The crowd really got into them, and I thought they were brilliant. They played tracks such as the classic "Insomnia", recent single "Mass Destruction", "We Come 1", and "God Is DJ".



Next up on the Main Stage were Ash, one of the more established Irish bands on the scene at this stage. I haven?t bought an Ash album since their debut "1977", but every now and then they come up with a great pop/rock tune, such as "Shining Light" . They played this, plus a good mixture of old and new material (including "Kung Fu" and "Oh Yeah"). For the last two tracks, a guitarist from Thin Lizzy, whose name I didn?t catch, joined them on stage. One of the tracks they played together was "The Boys Are Back in Town", the Lizzy classic.



In order to beat the traffic and get home at a reasonable time, we left early, which was a bit of a pity, because we could have gone to see one of Felix Da Housecat, Basement Jazz or The Darkness, but pragmatism was the order of the evening, as we were all wrecked from Saturday.

Nice review, David! Glad to know you've seen the live Chems after 4 long years!



And I'm glad to see you round these parts! :)

whirlygirl Escribi�:

Nice review, David! Glad to know you've seen the live Chems after 4 long years!



And I'm glad to see you round these parts! :)

Yes...Im afraid I've been in lurker mode for far to long recently!!