Oxegen 2009

The event happened almost a month ago, but I really did intend to mention it here. Oxegen 2009 was a rainy bunch of fun. From what I still remember:

Bottom:

• The rain, there were some dry spots but especially on the last day I experienced some real showers. It was really good to have some boots.


• Careless people on the camping, please learn to walk people, I had to fix up my tent pretty much every morning.


• The average age of people there, which confronted me more with the fact that I'm getting old myself!


• People from Dublin, apparently all people who steal beer and beg for free cigarettes are from Dublin. The nice girl from Waterford (?) told us on Thursday evening that only Dubliners do that. ;-)

Top:

• The Mars Volta, played for only about an hour, which is way too short. Cedric (singer) didn't like this either and tried to destroy the stage clock.


• Mogwai, indeed extremely loud!


• The rain, better said, how nobody seemed to care and rain pretty much added an element of fun. Mudfights are fun as long as you can just watch.


• The people, mostly as much fun as they were last year. I was especially amused every time a group of 5-10 16-year-olds wade their way through an audience, holding each other's hands to stay together. Somehow seeing that made me feel like a car driver waiting for a family of ducklings crossing the road.


• The trip back, a few hours after the last concert. We managed to pack ourselves very quiclky in the dark and I think we didn't even lose anything. In the bus someone upstairs took a guitar and played Blur and Oasis. Things did get out of tune more and more as we got closer to Dublin. At some point the bus passed police cars that were stopping cars (for obvious reasons, especially in Ireland :-P), from upstairs we could hear a very loud "SHIT, THE GUARDS! HIDE YOUR BEER!"

Other scary fact: We (Jelmer, Erik and I) got into the bus to the festival on Thursday, and I noticed the people next to us had a schedule with them already. I asked them where they bought that now already, and the response was "Wij spreken ook Nederlands hoor." Eh? And they were sitting right next to us! But in true un-Dutch fashion we did not set up our tents next to theirs.

All in all, a fun experience. If the lineup is really good I may go again next year, otherwise maybe just for a day to pick up the atmosphere.