Oxegen Day 1: How was it for us? It rocked!

So, how was Day One for you? The Hot Press Signing Tent was its usual manic self, with Delorentos attracting some particularly hardcore fans who presented loads of bits – many of them droopy and dangly! – to be autographed by the chaps. Ditto CODES who, disappointingly for them, seemed to attract more faces and arms than the good stuff!

Hotfooting it into the Signing Tent straight from the Main Stage was Eliza Doolittle who was extremely chuffed that her self-titled album had just got to number one on the iTunes chart. And deservedly so – she’s a supremely engaging performer with an arsenal of gorgeous summery pop songs capable of giving the likes of Lily Allen and Kate Nash a run for their posh London money!

Melting both male and female hearts was Darwin Deez, who turned out to be as charmingly eccentric as his music would suggest. His hair was only gorgeous, the headband Persil white and his ‘80s green hoodie, well, ‘80s and green. Rather than sign his name, Darwin preferred to draw little pictures of himself and his ringlets, which sent hundreds of fans back into the rain happy. Later on, the Red Bull Music Academy was treated to Darwin and his three bandmates doing a synchronised ‘Walk Like An Egyptian’ routine at the front of the stage. More of this sort of thing please!

Also attracting a full house – well, tent – was Conor J. O’Brien who admitted to being a teensy weensy bit over-refreshed when he later took to the Hot Press/Academy Stage, but played an absolute blinder.

Vampire Weekend achieved the most impressive sprint to the Main Stage from all quarters of the site when they launched mid-set into ‘A-Punk’. Post-the Vamps, the melodic rock action switched to the HP/Academy stage again, where CODES were as swooping, cinematic, epic, stadium etc. etc. as we always knew they could be. Daragh Anderson barely had to sing, with the whole crowd word perfect.

Elsewhere, Jay-Z was in the words of HP snapper Andrew Duffy “yo-yo-yo, awesome!” and proved that Noel Gallagher is wrong about him not having the right stuff to headline rock festivals. Not to be outdone by Muse a fortnight ago at Glasto, Jay also snuck in a sample of U2's 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'...or should we say 'Friday Muddy Friday'? He then had the good manners to thank Punchestown for watching him while it bucketed it down. Beyoncé didn’t join him on stage – boo! – but after being spotted shopping in Brown Thomas on Thursday, was allegedly seen in Naas buying a packet of Tayto in the Spar. We’re not sure what flavour, but reckon she’s a bit of a Cheese & Onion woman!

If anyone gets a better response this weekend than Jigga they’ll be doing well.

The dance-y nature of the night was underlined by the huge possee(s) that caught Fatboy Slim and David Guetta who were both in suitably bangin’ mood. The day of the superstar DJ, it seems, is not over!

Despite pulling a relatively modest crowd, Arcade Fire were still as atmospheric, powerful and, let’s be honest, Springsteen-y as ever. The new songs – previewed exclusively in our monster Oxegen-wrap special, out on Thursday July 15 – really hit the spot, and the rumour afterwards was that Win and the chaps would be returning before Christmas for a show or two in The O2.

The aforementioned Mr. Duffy was also v. taken with Waterford – hang on, I suspect a hometown vote! – heroes O Emperor, who looked extremely comfortable on the large Hot Press/Academy Stage, and won plenty of new converts with their Mildlake-esque dream rock.

Stay tuned for an extensive Day 1 Photo Gallery...