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home » festivals » Oxegen » Oxegen 2010
Eminem rounds off day two at Oxegen with a hit packed setOxegen 2010 reviewThursday 15th July 2010 Sunday thankfully began much drier than the previous day with the sun making a very welcome appearance. I had a wander around the arena and observed all the non-music related entertainment – there was an extensive fairground, a variety of shops and stalls, and an oxygen bar amongst other things. While I was having a meander there were a lot of people who were completely out of it before the day had even started. I feel it's my duty to report that out of every festival I've ever been to there were a lot more reports of tent robberies, fights, and completely out of control drunk folk – I even witnessed a young girl eating out of a bin! The day before when I was searching for the right entrance, a shaken young man glumly told me that he and his friends had been held up by knifepoint near the festival entrance for their tickets so definitely not a place to bring children!
I stumbled across the amazing dance arena next, which was in an actual building onsite and had the feel inside of an old school with rave with DJ Al Gibbs taking up the vast space at the front and playing out club tracks to the raving bodies. D12's set began with their DJ hyping up the crowd with hip hop tunes before the group entered the stage. Bizarre came on complete with his trademark shower cap, and they drew quite a crowd. Admittedly I think this is because people were half expecting Eminem to come on with his old band. They played the same set that I had seen at Wireless festival the week before but as they had a bigger stage and crowd, it was a much better vibe and performance. I settled down to watch The Temper Trap next, who gave a surprisingly strong performance and held their own. It was a really nice chilled vibe and acoustically they hit all the right notes live. Lead singer, Dougy Mandagi, modestly exclaimed, "I want to thank you guys for coming to see us today. We know who our competition is – the fucking World Cup!" For me, a good festival band is one that starts to draw a crowd as they play on, and they definitely did that. It was a chilled and effortlessly cool set and the guys all had great stage presence; even their instrumental 'Drum Song' went down a treat with the crowd as it was a powerful performance. I hurried over to the main stage to grab myself a spot in the fourth row in time for Faithless. The vibe in the crowd was actually buzzing and apart from the fact it was quite rowdy at the front and I could barely breathe, I was feeling the excitement too. However, as Faithless explosively opened their performance and a bare-chested Maxi Jazz basked in the glory of the heaving crowd and thanked everybody, I felt a tad guilty as it was apparent that we had all got ourselves in place ready for Eminem's long awaited return to hip hop.
There was a fair amount of time until Eminem; the dehydrated, sweaty crowd became more and more rowdy as people pushed and shoved each other with many girls crying and having to be lifted out. I was determined to wait and I won't bore you with the details but it ended with me being crushed, passing out, and coming round in a security's guards arms has he pulled me from the pack of bodies. Eventually I made it round to a safe viewing platform and Mr Slim Shady took to the stage and proceeded to own the evening. The moody, angry Eminem of yesteryear has long gone and a mature, energetic performer has taken his place. There were so many elements to the show from the way that he interacted with his fellow D12 members when he brought them onstage, to his story-telling - he explained how last time he was in Ireland he was still drinking and "what is that you all drink out here, is it Guinness?... I woke up under a table butt naked!" His set was mostly dedicated to his best friend and ex D12 member 'Big Proof' who was shot dead in 2006, and just as in D12's set the audience chorused their adoration for the fallen member into the night sky. He also dedicated a song to an Irishman, David Smith, who had passed away the night before. Eminem played an amazingly full set, and near the end he gushed, "Thank you for the support you've given me over all the years and not giving up on me." Although it was generally rowdy and muddy, Mr Marshall Mathers was definitely my highlight of Oxegen 2010 as he proved to all the doubters that Slim Shady is back. review by Fiona Madden photos by Andrew McLaughlin
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