Kildare Dreaming

In the first installment of Hot Press' Oxegen coverage, Phil Udell, Steve Cummins and John Walshe pick out their personal favourites of the weekend. This Thursday's Hot Press will feature extended coverage from Kim Porcelli & Ed Power as well as more exclusive photos from Liam Sweeney, Graham Keogh & Andrew Duffy - PLUS the Phantom reports from backstage! .... Online Gallery Of Live Shots Here

The Bravery – Ticket Stage
One of the more bizarre rumours of the weekend was that Bravery frontman Sam Endicott had cancelled interviews because he broke the heel on his shoe. Scurrilous gossip maybe, yet evidence that people don’t take his band completely seriously.
Totally contrived or not, their work rate and eagerness to please makes for an entertaining, if hardly groundbreaking 30 minutes of electro-rock. The big show experience of U2 and the like is starting to kick in and the promise to be back here in November draws a big cheer so it’s job done all round. PU

Bloc Party – Ticket Stage
Sigh. Sometimes it seems you just can’t have it all. As the sun finally breaks through the grey to cast a warm, golden light over the crowd, the stage is surely set for Bloc Party to walk it. Yet while Mother Nature would appear to be a fan, the technical gremlins decide to do their best to wreck the party.
Feedback hums menacingly, Kele’s vocals disappear and the subtleties that made Silent Alarm such a joy are completely lost. All you can do is wonder at what might have been and marvel that this is still a pretty damn fine set.
Kele never stops grinning despite the hassles (at one point hoofing a huge football into the crowd, Rod style) and the likes of ‘Modern Love’ and ‘Banquet’ still manage to shine. What’s even more amazing is the realisation that these intelligent, often challenging songs have become anthems for a large proportion of the assembled masses. PU

The Go! Team – New Band Stage
After a day spent largely in the company of angry young white men with guitars, thank heavens for the Go! Team.
It’s not all plain sailing though, despite a crowd eager to party late into the night and a band more than capable of delivering the goods. Frustratingly, the opening of their brief set doesn’t quite connect for some reason, with Ninja’s vocals first inaudible and then ear bleedingly loud. It takes the Sonic Youth on E instrumental of ‘Junior Kickstart’ to really get things going and then for 15 minutes they're unassailable, leaving an audience grinning from ear to ear and desperate for their next fix. PU

Interpol – Green Room
A packed tent, sweaty atmosphere and expectant crowd awaited New York’s finest and they delivered the set everybody hoped they would.
A superb light show [as evidenced by the pic right], fantastic sound and a seriously up-for-it audience combined to make this one of the highlights of the weekend. Even the obligatory ‘Olé Olé’ chant during a magnificent take on ‘Evil’ couldn’t detract from a stunning gig that seemed to move the band just as much as the audience. JW

Kaiser Chiefs – Main Stage
It’s the middle of the afternoon, the time when most festival goers are generally only stirring from their sleeping bags, and yet there must be 20,000 people in front of the Oxegen Stage for Kaiser Chiefs’ highly energetic set. Whether they have the staying power for the long haul remains to be seen, but ‘Every Day I Love You Less and Less’, ‘Oh My God’ and especially ‘I Predict A Riot’ are perfect festival fare, served up with exuberance, passion and a real sense of fun. JW

Razorlight – Main Stage
Following on from last year’s early afternoon Oxegen slot, this marked only the second appearance from Razorlight on these shores. As a result Johnny Borrell’s outfit were treated to a raucous welcome from an expectant Irish fan base. They didn’t disappoint.
‘Rip It Up’ opened the set though it was with ‘Stumble And Fall’ and ‘Golden Touch’ that the calls of approval multiplied around the main stage. Borrell, dressed in tight Freddy Mercury style trousers, soaked up all the enthusiastic appraisals and matched the crowd for passion and energy throughout. During a glorious ‘Up All Night’, he ran around the outside of the mosh pit in a stadium rock moment Mercury would have approved of, before rounding things off with triumphant sing-a-long ‘Somewhere Else’. SC

Sunday

Republic Of Loose – New Band Stage
For any band to go up against The Killers you suspect that they would need to be either stupid or foolhardy. There is a third way, however: the Republic of Loose way. This involves being totally aware that your time has come. Like their records, their live shows are an increasing revelation. Where they were once sloppy and unpredictable, tonight they are focused and driven, exploding off the stage with energy. They practically demand that the crowd join with them and the result is a glorious eruption of communal good feeling. The best live band in the country right now? Don’t bet against it. PU

Maximo Park – Ticket Stage
“I’ll do graffiti if you sing to me in French?”
If there was a better line sung at Oxegen this weekend, I certainly didn’t hear it. Cerebral but not in a preachy Bloc Party sort of a way, the Newcastle quartet also boast the frontman of the festival in Paul Smith who scissor kicks and arse wiggles his way through their early afternoon set.
Equal parts Jarvis Cocker, Kevin Rowlands and Pete Shelley, the man is a besuited star in the making. Ditto keyboard-player Lukas Wooller who throws shapes that are almost as angular as the tunes.
Highlights include the aforementioned ‘Graffiti’, new single ‘Going Missing’ and ‘The Night I Lost My Head’, the soundtrack to a particularly manic episode.
Give it 12 months and, á la The Killers, this lot will be making the step up to the Main Stage. SC

The Magic Numbers – New Band Stage
The last time I left a gig this wide-eyed and smiling, it was after The Flaming Lips in Vicar Street. My third time seeing The Magic Numbers live in as many months simply confirmed my earlier suspicions that this lot are the real deal.
Superb musicianship (so good it looks effortless), allied to über-catchy tunes and their smiling bonhomie on stage, ensures that a jam-packed tent is transformed into a Texas hoe-down for half an hour of heart-breaking harmonies and uplifting melodies. JW

Doves – Ticket Stage
Sometimes, it’s easy to forget how good Doves are, until you hear them live, that is. Their soaring melodies are perfectly at home as the sun starts to go down over a big field in Co. Kildare, despite the best efforts of the block-rotting beats emanating from the dance stage and the robust treatment meted out by the security staff to some high-spirited fans.
‘The Cedar Room’ in particular seems to blast off from the stage, rising unerringly towards the perfect, cloud-less sky. JW

The Blizzards – New Band Stage
With the exception of The Frames and Turn (who have appeared at every Witness/Oxegen) there were few of the usual suspects amongst the Irish contingent this year. Instead we were treated to exciting new acts like Director and the wonderful Blizzards.
Long personal favourites of this reviewer, anticipation in advance of their lunchtime slot at the New Band Tent was heightened by some favourable media attention in the days running up to the festival. Early nerves from the five piece were understandable though these failed to hamper new song ‘Trouble’ and a frantic ‘Fantasy’. ‘First Girl To Leave Town’ enjoyed cheers of familiarity, and from here on The Blizzards' breezy power pop matched the emerging summer sun. SC

The Futureheads – Green Room
Like The Blizzards, The Futureheads don’t take themselves too seriously. On stage they actually looked like they were enjoying themselves as they ploughed through their excellent debut album.
Humorous banter amongst Ross and Barry, the group’s front duo, made for a set which was as entertaining as it was musically pleasing.
Long a live favourite, ‘Hounds Of Love’ was spectacular with the audience split in two and assigned a vocal part to sing through three minutes of euphoria.
There was though better to come, and with ‘Meantime’ and ‘Decent Days And Nights’ so much fun, you can’t help but wish there was more acts taking their cue from this awesome foursome. SC

New Order – Ticket Stage
Just like they did at Glastonbury, New Order stole the show. In what was largely a festival of underperformances, it was left to Hooky, Barney and co to finally deliver a set that could be described as truly outstanding. This was an hour where New Order played out of their skin. Frequently an aging Bernard Sumner was caught out of breath as he delivered extraordinary renditions of ‘Crystal’, ‘Regret’ and ‘Temptation’.
Manc humour had come to Punchestown and Sumner was often hilarious as he ripped the piss out of the Foo Fighters, guitar techs and stage hands. What might have been described as arrogance was dispelled by the sheer quality of New Order’s back catalogue. Plus they had Joy Divison’s basket of post punk anthems to dip into and gave exquisite airings of ‘Transmission’, ‘She’s Lost Control’ and ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’.
Though creatively they may not currently be on form, there’s no disputing that live there are few acts which can compete with a New Order greatest hits set list. SC