Oxegen 2008

Oxegen is a festival in Ireland, which is located at Punchestown. It attracted 80,000 people this year. You can get camping tickets or ordinary day tickets, which do not allow you access to the camping grounds. I purchased camping tickets at 144 euros, which entitled me to be in the campsite from the Friday to the Monday.

As I didn't want to rough it camping, yet wanted to be able to relax in the camping area we decided to stay in a hotel and catch the park and ride. As my friends were camping properly they set up out tent so we could store out drink and any food we brought along. We also brought fold up chairs to sit on.

The Park & Ride was located at Goffs, Junction 8 off the N7 or Junction 10 off the M7. It is a free shuttle bus continuously operating between the Park & Ride sites and the Oxegen site. Parking and the shuttle bus are both free of charge. The Park & Ride was easy to find and you never had to wait too long for a bus. The only problem we found was getting a taxi back to our hotel at night. We managed to do this but some nights we had to wait. The taxis try to take advantages of you and you have no other choice but to pay up or walk home.

**FRIDAY**

We arrive late on Friday due to work commitments so unfortunately we missed the Sugababes. Apparently my friend said they were good (but I think he fancied them), he did say something about them making some mistakes but he had drank a considerable amount of alcohol so its hard to tell if he was speaking accurately lol! The security into Oxegen was stricter than I thought, you were asked for ID and you had to produce your tickets. You then were given an armband, which was not to be removed. It was made of very strong plastic and the only way I could have removed it was to cut if off with scissors. Any bags you had were checked as you were only allowed a certain amount of alcohol on the campsite per person. You were only allowed to have your drink in plastic bottles as no glass bottles were allowed in. When I seen the campsite I was amazed I had never been to a festival before and never have seen so many tents in one place before. On the first day the campsite seemed clean enough, a few plastic bottles lying about and cans. In the camping area there was places you could have got food. Most things cost around 7-8 euros. When we finally got into see any bands we watched Groove Armada and Feeder. Personally I am not a huge fan of these bands but there was a good fun atmosphere.

**SATURDAY**

We were in the campsite earlier today and decided to lounge about out tent. Everyone had a few relaxing drinks. The campsite was messier with more bottles and toilet rolls and general rubbish lying around. Someone had decided to steal the pegs out of our tent and our friend's chairs had been inside and they also stole them. We were annoyed but determined not to let it ruin out fun. As we had a few drinks a few trips to the toilet were due. I was shocked that they were cleaner than I imagined they would be as I had been told some horror stories! I later found out that them toilets had just been cleaned and that they got more disgusting the more the time went on. Make sure to bring your own toilet rolls, as these are not provided. It's a festival though so you expect these things! What I found really funny was that on the temporary toilets there was a sticker on them saying only 7 people was to use the toilet in one week or it could cause unsanitary conditions. There were 80,000 people there and not an overly large amount of toilets. You never had to queue for too long though. They had hand saniters in some toilets and outside, which I was shocked about but quite often they didn't work.

Amy Winehouse was the first person we seen today. I love her music and was thrilled that she turned up. She had cancelled the year before and I was doubtful she would be there. I have to say the start of her performance was ok as you could make out what songs she was trying to sing. The longer the performance went on for the worse she got. She skipped lines and cursed when she couldn't remember her words, she really is a big mess. Amy wasn't as good as I expected but I did enjoy her performance as the crowd was buzzing.

Next up was Stereophonics, I have to say they sound really good live. Personally they wouldn't be my favourite band but I thoroughly enjoyed their performance.

I have to say REM was the best I seen by far at Oxegen. Her really got the crowd going. There was interesting video's being played and everyone felt as if they were involved in the show. His singing was fantastic and I knew more songs than I realised. I heard a wee bit of the Verve and they seemed decent as well, but I was exhausted and decided to take the bus back to Goffs (which took about 20 minutes) and go back to the hotel.

**SUNDAY**

Getting into the grounds on Sunday was mad, as they had seemed to be working on dismantling the sign (I was so gutted, as I had wanted a photograph!). They were checking your armbands and were very strict about them. If you band was broke at all or cut they would not let you in. I saw several arguments with people and security over how they had been in the grounds all weekend. I think a lot of people gave their armbands to others so they could get in the last day and this is why security was so tight. Once in the grounds we wadded through the rubbish to out tent. The place was mad everyone seemed very drunk throwing chairs and jumping on tents. Some people were just trashing the place for the sake of it. Right then I was very glad I had not slept in the tent. Even when I was sitting in it I was scared people were going to jump on my tent. We didn't see many bands today just walked around listening to everyone, the only one I can tell you who it is, is the Chemical Brothers. Inside the grounds there was a funfair where you could go on a ferries wheel, a ghost train and some rides. There was also games you could play to win teddy bears were we spent some time.

**OVERALL**

I thought that this festival was a great experience. We had great fun and there was a nice atmosphere about. Some tips I would have is to bring a coat and sunscreen as you will probably need both (that's Irish weather for you lol). Wellies are a must as the ground gets mucky with everyone walking about it and it is so much easier to get around with wellies. This year there were lots of different colours and styles of wellies it was great to see all the different kinds you can get. If you are camping it is a good idea to mark it with a flag or something unique so you can find it through the mass of tents. The most important one is bring toilet roll as none is supplied.

Also posted on Dooyoo under my username Denise40