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Well hello all you happy readers!!
As mentioned previously I am in Ireland. After I caught my flight to Dublin airport I jumped on the bus and travelled to the city centre. My hostel wasn't far from the bus stop and is a nice place called Paddy's Palace. I spent the rest of the first day exploring and then spent that night with the other people from the hostel watching TV and movies, including "Armaggedon". The next day was a similarly low-key affair as I spent most of that day looking around Dublin and shopping for the next few days. I decided to have a night out and as no-one at the hostel seemed interested in doing anything I headed off to the meeting place for one of the pub-crawls. Unfortunately no seemed to be there except a bunch of people looking equally confused so I headed back to the hostel and watched a movie that was written by Ice Cube and then an episode of "The Sopranos".
The next morning I grabbed my bags and headed to the bus stop for the bus to the Oxegen festival!! The Oxegen festival is a big deal in Ireland and Irish people
were always very jealous that I was going. I arrived about and hour and a half before the first bus was due to leave which I thought would mean I wouldn't have to queue - but it seems everybody had the same idea and the queue stretched down the street. However the buses started leaving really early, and I think a lot of people were still waiting for friends so I ended up on a bus before 11am. Everyone started drinking on the bus and cracking open all sorts of alcohol - which of course meant the the bus had to make toilet stops for people ... twice!
I arrived at the Punchestown racecourse and joined the mob of people waiting to get in. They were thoroughly checking bags and ID, but when they realised it would take days to check everyone like that they just threw the gates open and it didn't take long to get in. I chose a campsite that wasn't too far from the main stage but was up a hill so that I could avoid flooding. I was just beginning to put up The Coffin when I suddenly knew that it was about to start
raining so I went into double-speed, but everyone around me just seemed to be taking their time. Sure enough, I was halfway through putting up The Coffin when the rain started. I quickly finished putting up The Coffin and dived inside. However whilst I was lying in the tent waiting for the rain to stop I noticed that my tent was a weird shape. When the rain stopped I got out and noticed that the main pole had splintered on one side which meant the tent was pulled on a weird angle. The rain started again so I dived back in and listened to some music for about 20 minutes. Just after I finished listening to music I had the fleeting thought about what would happen when that pole actually snapped - less than 5 seconds later the front of my tent collapsed! I lay under my tent for a few minutes before I could get the energy up to deal with this new crisis. In the end I was able to still use the pole, although it was quite a lot shorter which meant the tent was lot lower - and when you've already dubbed your tent The Coffin
that isn't a good thing!! So, I grabbed a couple of beers and packs of pringles and headed down to the chill out area. By this time there was a lot of thick mud around and walking was hard going. The chill out area was a marque style tent with lots of blankets and cushions that required you take off your shoes before entering. I sat down and made a friends with some nearby people after I offered them pringles!! I was having a good time until I glanced over at where my wellies used to be and noticed they had disappeared! Someone had stolen my wellies! So I was forced to walk barefoot through the thick mud until I got to where they sold wellies. But of course they had sold out except for size 6 (almost half my actual size) which I bought hoping that I would be able to squeeze my foot in ... I discovered at the tent that i couldn't! So I headed back to the shop and to my delight they had got more sizes in so I was able to finally get a pair of wellies that fit and then headed back to
the chill out area. Unfortunately all the people I had met had left by this point, so I opened up the other pack of pringles and made new friends. I didn't take my wellies off at this point - especially as nobody else was bothering. At about midnight I decided to head to bed at The Coffin. I didn't get much sleep that night because the campsite was loud and a lot of people didn't seem to sleep.
The next morning I woke raring to go for another day of music. This time the bands i missed were James Morrison, Little Man Tate, Gogol Bordello (they were at all 3 festivals), CSS, Babyshambles, Kate Nash (the Lily Allen rip-off), The New Young Pony Club (who are a horrible band), Ghosts, Interpol, Maximo Park, Mika (luckily), Biffy Clyro, Brian Wilson, Rufus Wainwright, Bright Eyes, Cold War Kids, Editors, Aussie band Jet, Daftpunk, Enter Shikari, The Bravery, Jamie T, The Maccabees and Wu-Tang Clan. But the bands I was annoyed about missing were the Kings of Leon, Klaxons, My Chemical Romance, the Scissor Sisters and the one I was most annoyed at missing was the Queens of the Stone Age. Amy Winehouse
cancelled (well one out of the three festivals isn't too bad!). After I got into the festival area I started by seeing Myokhotel at the New Bands tent who were okay, but hardly a new or exciting sound. So I left after a couple of songs and headed to Cathy Davey at the Pet Sounds Arena (in no way was it an arena!! It was a massive tent- don't know why they called it an arena!). She wasn't much better so I headed to the Dance Arena (this time a building - not an arena!). I wouldn't normally venture into the Dance area which is always the creepiest place at any festival but I actually wanted to see a band. Unfortunately I arrived an hour before the band started and after only 5 minutes into Dr. Lektrovic I'd had enough, especially of the other people who were definately on something. So I headed to the main stage (which was actually a stage!!) and watched a little bit of The View including their big hit (and i think only good song) "Same Jeans". After they finished I headed back to the dance tent and watched Dr. Lektrovic finish (who'd gotten better
- although everything went a little crazy during his remix of "Killing in the Name of" by Rage Against the Machine. The band I was waiting for was Datarock, but I gave up on them pretty fast because they just played standard dance music and not the type of music I was expecting. And I was going to miss someone pretty amazing if I saw their whole set so they would've had to be pretty good. By the way the amazing comment was sarcastic. The person who I went to see on the Main Stage was somebody I had to see after fate had thrown her into my path. The only artist who has had an entire one of my posts on this blog dedicated solely to her. Thats right I got a nice close spot for Avril "I Don't Like Your Girlfriend" Lavigne!! She was actually quite fun and I don't think she takes herself too seriously. She started off with "Girlfriend" and then "Sk8ter Boi" which meant i lost pretty much all interest after that (along with the rest of the crowd). I vaguely recognised most of the songs she sang, but the only particularly good one she
did was a cover of Blink 182's song "All the small things!". After Avril finished it was time for The Goo Goo Dolls. They did a good performance, although everyone was really waiting for "Iris". After they finished The Fratellis came on. They did a much better set than in Germany, although they didn't sing my favourite "Creeping Up the Backstairs". However they sang most of their songs from their album - "Chelsea Dagger" was the unofficial anthem of the festival with everyone walking around singing the first part of the song over and over again. After The Fratellis finished I left the Main Stage and walked over to the Pet Sounds (Arena). On the way I walked past The Gossip who I'd wanted to see and it seemed like a lively performance but not a particularly musical one! I walked into the Pet Sounds tent and got a spot at the front centre. Unfortunately the roof had been leaking all through the previous act and they had to have a delay so they could dry the stage before the next act played. The delay actually went for about 30 minutes in the end. Then Badly Drawn Boy came out
and sang a okay but fairly boring set which i was relieved when it finished (especially cause the guy behind me kept falling asleep and falling against me!!
So anyway the next person was the person that I was missing the Scissor Sisters for so she'd better be good. For those of you who don't know about Tori Amos' new album - American Doll Posse - throughout the album she adopts one of five personalities - either Tori, Santa, Isobel, Pip or Clyde. The different personalities represent different aspects of her personality and I think the point is to show the diversity in modern women. So of course the album is thoroughly pretentious, but actually really well done - although to be honest I don't quite understand everything about it yet. So anyway when she performs she comes out as one of the five personalities. I was hoping she'd come out as herself - Tori - but my second choice was Pip the personality which seems to embody aggressive sexuality, as her songs are more upbeat. So I was very happy when I saw Tori come running out in Black wig, black lycra pants and a blue dress - which
is the Pip outfit. She then played an absolutely blistering first half of the set as Pip. The highlight for me was when she was playing both the keyboard and piano at the same time, whilst singing and attempting to do sexy dancing. In fact her dancing was very unlike what Tori tends to do in clips and it seems like she might have had some pole/piano dancing lessons. It was lucky that I know and like her new album so well as the first half of her set was almost all new songs. She sang "Big Wheel", "Bouncing off Clouds", "Fat Slut", "Devils and Gods", "Father's Son" and a few more but I can't remember which ones. She then ran off stage and got changed whilst they played "Professional Widow" over the speakers (thankfully she didn't waste time singing it live - its by far my least favourite of her songs). She then came out in a red wig and hideous gold jumpsuit, apparently this time as Tori. Actually it was then that she sang "Father's Son". Unfortunately she didn't sing one of my current favourite songs - Crucify - or my all time favourites "'97 Bonnie and Clyde"
and "Past the Mission", but she did play "Precious Things" which is one of my favourites. She also sang her big hit "Cornflake Girl". Overall it was an amazing performance and as soon as you finish reading this you should all go and buy tickets for her gig in Melbourne - I think she just released a second date. Definitely one of the highlights of the festival!!
Because Tori had started later than she was supposed to by the time I left the Pet Sounds (Arena) Snow Patrol had already started on the Main Stage. I don't mind Snow Patrol songs but I wouldn't classify myself as a fan - so I wasn't too bothered about missing the start. I headed down to the entrance to the area directly in front of the stage but they had shut it down for the last few acts. I watched Snow Patrol from near there which wasn't the best angle but was good enough to appreciate that I prefer them live to on CD, but I don't really love them in either situation. When they finished after singing all their big songs (I recognised more than I though I would) a lot of
people left the front so I thought I might be able to get in for the next band - but the security kept claiming that they couldn't let us in for safety reasons. I decided that I didn't want to watch the next band from that angle and security seemed intent on stopping us from going to the front so began to work my way through the crowd until I was fairly central and had an okay view. Whilst I was waiting they played "Bohemiun Rhapsody" over the loudspeakers which resulted in a great sing-a-long. Then I happened glance back to the entrance to the front area and noticed security opening the gate and letting people in. I don't think I've ever moved so fast as I ducked and weaved through the crowd trying to get back across. I realised halfway how stupid it was as I was probably not going to get in and then would lose my spot in the crowd. But amazingly I made (I must've been moving fast!!) just as the security guard was counting down the last 5 seconds before they closed the gate again.
The last time I saw Muse they were little dots
moving on stage at the Big Day Out but they were still awesome. But since then they've won the Brit Award for best live band and I've gotten to know their music a lot better. But it really annoyed me that they put Muse and Queens of the Stone Age on at the same time as I would've thought that the fans would be the same fans (whereas if the next night was more mainstream and neither band would've really clashed with another band). Muse has the most amazing light effects which go a long way towards them being called the best live band a lot these days. But they also are just an amazingly talented band with songs that are perfect for big audiences. Because they hadn't let many people into the front area I actually had lots more room than if I had been further back in the crowd. They played all their big hits "Starlight", "Map of the Problematic", "Invincible", "Black Hole and Revelations", "Supermassive Black Hole", "Feeling Good" (my current favourite), and some others. They finished and a lot of people started to leave but I knew that there was absolutely no way they would or
could finish without playing my all-time favourite "Knights of Cydonia" and sure enought they were back and it was brilliant. In the end I'm afraid I'm going to have to be a sheep and say they probably are the best live band in the world (well at least in front of such a large crowd). Muse finished about 2am so I headed back to my tent and got a better nights sleep than the one before.
I got up and headed into the festival area in the morning. I had planned on meeting up with Jo (see Edinburgh blog) the day before but had wanted to see too many bands. However that day i was less bothered about the bands and so we met up with her and two of her friends. She brought about a litre of vodka and so two of us had that along with fanta as a mixer. We sat down and watched The Blizzards who were quite good. However when it started pouring down with rain we retreated into the dance arena to keep dry. We kept going with the vodka and started dancing and just generally having a good time. We missed James Morrison
because it was too wet and then when it finally stopped we headed back to the Main Stage to watch Bloc Party. They played a really good set although I didn't know any of the songs. When they finished I organised to meet up with the girls at the main stage later and headed off to watch Sinead O'Connor at the Pet Sounds Arena. Somehow I ended up on the front row. She was very good, but I only knew a couple of the songs. When she finished I headed back to meet the girls (we had lost one who'd gone to have a nap and we later lost the other when the rain returned). By this time Jo had been in a couple of mud fights, which continued and we all got muddier and muddier as the night went on (as you'll see from the photos that I put up later). The Kooks were playing when I returned (thats right I saw them at all three festivals but I think once would've been enough!!). We started drinking beers, and Jo insisted that we get two each time so we didn't have to queue for long. After The Kooks it
was time for Arcade Fire who were very good, then Razorlight (I still only know "America") and then The Killers. We had fun dancing to The Killers and they are very professional but they played the exact same way as at Glastonbury and they left me cold. They don't seem to enjoy playing live and don't seem to have any reactions to the audience. After they finished we met up with the other girls again and stopped off at a caravan for a little while. I left them all there and headed back to the Coffin. By this time the small pole of the Coffin had started splintering so the entire tent now resembled a sleeping bag. I crawled inside and had an okay nights sleep. I got up fairly early and packed up (it was a dry day! Yay!). I then headed to the buses and amazingly was on one within minutes. I slept all the way back to Dublin and then walked through Dublin covered in mud (along with other people) until I got to the hostel where I finally got a shower!!
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Barbs
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Mud glorious mud
You see you just had to get muddy at one of the festivals. You should have gone to the Scottish twin festival - apart from the first day when it pissed it down, it was sunny the rest of the time. Got some Tori Amos for you -the red one, but Muse wasn't shown -sorry. They kept showing rubbish like James and Just Jack. Heartbroken about the stolen wellies!!!