Afteroon all! Day Three at Punchestown and the sun is shining. We feel it in our bones that it’s going to be a good rock ‘n’ roll day!
First of all, there’s been a few changes to the Hot Press Signing Tent schedule, which now looks as follows:
2pm Newton Faulkner
5.30pm 30 Seconds To Mars
6.15pm The Saw Doctors
We’re also hoping to slot in another act or two depending on the juggling of schedules. We will tweet you about it later!
As for Saturday, we couldn’t find a sheep or a goat so we tried sacrificing a Hot Press photographer, but sadly we weren’t able to appease the God of Rain. The spirits weren’t in any way dampened in the Hot Press Signing Tent though, with the hot Magic Marker action kicking off with the charming Bombay Bicycle Club boys who we were shocked to find had nothing of interest to say about the Tour de France.
We knew that Boulder electro rappers 30H!3 had a bit of a following here, but Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the donkey too, we didn’t expect the 500 or so slavering and mainly female fans who showed. Sipping genteely on tequila and white – Irish beer not good enough for them, eh? – the chaps happily signed an assortment of breasts, buttocks and a gentleman’s floral scarf. It takes all sorts! Their later HP/Academy Stage was similarly insane.
Next up was Ash who’d managed to lose Rick – the tour manager should have told them to hold hands – but still managed to make an, ahem, mature lady fan weep like a five-year-old. Tim was enthusing again about how liberating they’ve found doing their A to Z series of singles and says they have something equally ingenious up their t-shirt sleeves.
She didn’t bring her albino snake, but Cathy Davey did bring the crowds. There were more tears, a marriage proposal and lots of copies of her recent Hot Press cover signed.
Out in the arena, we were blown away from Nigerian-Irish electro outfit Amasis who really ought to be on the radio between Lady Gaga and Ke$ha; Two Door Cinema Club who looked right at home on the Main Stage with their giddly alt. pop tunes; The deliciously camp Drums who can throw one mean shape; and Rise Against who got not one, but two giant mosh circles going.
It was a good day for the ladies also, with Ellie Goulding, La Roux and Beth Ditto’s Gossip all drawing huge crowds and looking insanely cool besides. In case you’re wondering, Ms. Ditto was resplendant in a classic Misfits t-shirt. Respect!
The day’s summer-iest bands were undoubtedly West Saharan punks Tinariwen and the most malevolent The Stranglers who rolled back the years with ‘Golden Brown’, ‘Always The Sun’ (oh the irony!) and the still delightfully potty-mouthed ‘Peaches’. The award for surprise hit of the day goes to hopelessly smooth soul man Mayer Hawthorne, who earned himself a few hundred new fans with his masterful throwback tunes, backed up by the nattiest backing band in show business, The County. Consider us smitten.
Experimental rockers Yeasayer and Bloc Party’s Kele caused quite a stir on the Hot Press Academy Stage late into the night, both pulling out seamless performances.
We have no idea how they could bust so many moves in those beglittered costumes but The Black Eyed Peas played an absolute stormer over on the Vodafone Stage, with one of the most energetic pop performances Oxegen has seen in a long time. Meanwhile, headliners Muse were their usual flamboyant selves, and we’re not just talking about Matt Bellamy’s show-stopping metallic red suit. The mood rockers were suitably epic and their awe-inspiring stage show made for a wonderful end to a stellar second day.

Oh, and they tried to steal Stuart Clark’s wellingtons. It’s a long story, we’ll tell you about it sometime…