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home » festivals » Oxegen » Oxegen 2010
Black Eyed Peas deliver a show-stopping performance in torrential rain at OxegenOxegen 2010 reviewThursday 15th July 2010 Due to general life commitments, I didn't make it to Ireland until Friday night, and found myself setting up my tent in the drizzling rain near midnight on 9th July. I had hoped to at least catch Arcade Fire because I had worked out what time I would get onsite, however I didn't bank on the fact that the hired staff for the event had no clue what was going on between them!
I could write a review on Arcade Fire as someone hearing it from a distance (because it sounded awesome) but that would be cheating so here's Saturday... I immediately realised this was going to be a very wet weekend, as the skies had opened overnight and rain was pretty much pouring down constantly all day. I was impressed with my campsite, as it was like a festival within a festival, with its own little bandstand stage, lots of places to get food and drink, and real flushing toilets!!
The gates didn't open until 1pm and the music and alcohol began flowing at 2pm; not much was happening in the arena at 1pm but an hour later, it was a lot livelier. The first place I visited soon became my favourite spot of the weekend - The Cocktail Corner served a mixture of cocktails, as well as having a DJ playing crowd pleasing tunes all weekend, and comfy sofas and beanbags surrounding the dance floor. It had the air of a top London bar (It was run by club chain Propaganda) and was a great place to rave it up. The first band I caught were The Minutes on The Red Bull stage – I had no idea who they were but someone gave me a flyer promoting their performance, and if a band works to sell themselves, I'm in! They were a great, little Irish group, who were very charismatic. Their music was very metal, which isn't really my cup of tea but they got the crowd going as the tent filled up and they had real chemistry. I accidentally caught Two Door Cinema Club on the main stage, as I was expecting to see Biffy Clyro because my programme had led me to believe this but for some reason these boys had been bumped up from Vodafone stage and Biffy were afterwards, I found out from a steward. The mishap led me to realise that these guys are absolutely fantastic – their music was perfect to lift the mood in the dreary weather and mud was flying everywhere as everyone flocked to the main stage and bounced about to the indie pop beats.
Unfortunately, although I absolutely relished the Scottish trio's performance, I was hit with a migraine and had to disappear to the safety and darkness of my tent for a while, meaning I missed Kasabian, whom I was extremely looking forward to after seeing them support Oasis in an epic performance last year.
As the lone female in the group, Fergie really 'sexes it up', wearing a variety of provocative outfits throughout the show, including a silver, terminator style, bodice outfit; and a black catsuit. During the show, she writhed against the speakers, and simulated sexual positions against the floor. Will.I.Am also held his own in terms of his jackets, donning a silver one, as well as a L.E.D lit and crystal-covered one. During the show, he stood on a giant circular platform about 20 metres up, where he delivered a DJ set of versatile tunes that lasted about 20 minutes. Complete with silver, robot mask covering half his face with red lasers coming out the sides, he illustrated that he was a great DJ and MC, and really got the crowd going wild, even though the heavens had really opened up. At points the rain did get unbearable as it beat down and made it hard to look at the stage without getting soaked but the foursome made sure they kept the crowd in high spirits with Will.I.Am declaring, "Ireland is where it's at! This is one of the best festivals in the whole world. Ireland is one of my favourite places on the planet." The night finished with a crowd-jumping rendition of 'I've Got a Feeling', which had everyone dancing manically in the rain; and ended the day perfectly. review by Fiona Madden photos by Andrew McLaughlin
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