Oxegen 2009 - kicks off this weekend..

Oxegen this weekend, looking forward to it - great line-up, good weather forecast etc. I'll be there all weekend, hope to get some stuff up on the blog, will be joining Spin South West for a chat at some stage, and will have a decent sized review in next week's paper.

By the way, we here in Leader towers have a new city paper out - a bumper edition of the Limerick Chronicle - the new weekly city paper for your delectation. Check it out, it's the biz..

Anyway, here's an Oxegen preview, from a fairly local perspective...

Alan Owens
THOUSANDS of local music fans are expected to make the annual pilgrimage to the Oxegen festival in Punchestown this weekend.
Local sources have said that the demand for tickets, both to the festival and to bus services travelling to Naas, has ramped up over the last few weeks.
Dave Jackson, owner of Empire Music on O’Connell Street, said ticket sales have been “very busy” in the last few weeks.
“Sales have been very busy in the last two weeks - it has really taken off,” said Dave.
“We had a near constant queue at the ticket desk last week and as many people were buying Oxegen tickets as were getting them for Rod Stewart - we sold a load today even. It is going to be busy right up until the weekend because the weather forecast is so good.”
Similarly, Pallasgreen based Kelly Travel - who will run shuttle buses to Punchestown from 7am this Thursday morning, said demand was unprecedented for the service. The company are the only the only officially licensed bus service in the area.
“We have been providing this service for years and it is definitely the busiest year - we can hardly handle the phones, it is an unprecedented level of demand,” said Tim Kelly.
“We have services going from 7am Thursday, every hour until 5pm and from 7am until lunchtime on Friday. The return buses will run every hour from midnight on Sunday night until the last bus at 9am on Monday morning,” added Tim.
The campsites in the Punchestown racecourse open this Thursday at 12 noon, with a packed three night schedule of live music beginning from 2pm on Friday afternoon.
Spin South West FM will be broadcasting on site from 9.45am on Friday morning until Sunday evening, airing over 30 hours of interviews, reports, tips and updates. Live 95FM’s Eleanor Fitzgerald will also be on site in Punchestown, providing plenty of coverage for local audiences. This year’s line-up is a contender for one of the strongest since the festival’s inception in 2004, before which it was previously known as Witnness.
A newly reformed Blur are set to attract a huge crowd when they headline on Friday night, as are heavyweights Snow Patrol, Kings of Leon and The Killers. Lily Allen, Bloc Party, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Specials and Pet Shop Boys are also set to play over the weekend.
For tickets contact Empire Music on 061-317211 or log onto www.ticketmaster.ie. Bus tickets are available from Kelly Travel on 061-384422.

Highlights:

Don’t miss: Blur (Main Stage, Friday, 23.10): David Holmes (Heineken Green Spheres, Friday 22.20): Elbow (Main Stage, Saturday 20.25): Doves (O2 Stage, Saturday 22.05): Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Main Stage, Saturday 18.55): The Specials (Main Stage, Sunday 19.05): Friendly Fires (Heineken Green Spheres, Sunday 17.15)

Avoid at all costs: The Script (Main Stage, Friday 19.35): Keane (O2 Stage, Friday 23.35): Razorlight (Main Stage, Sunday 20.35): Paolo Nutini (Main Stage, Sunday 17.45)

The Killers to headline at Oxegen - shock horror

MCD tell me that this is "just announced", The Killers are to headline at Oxegen in July - obviously this has been one of the most well-known facts about this summer's annual trip to Punchestown.

Not much else to say but, Yawn.. Not to impressed with their choice of headliners (Kings of Leon and the increasingly poppy Killers) so far, but on closer inspection there are a number of interesting acts already announced, including:

Blur (woo-hoo!)
Bloc Party
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Elbow
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's
Pendulum
Fight Like Apes

That's a bit more like it. Obviously the current climate is having an impact on festivals scheduled to take place in the summer, seems there won't be anywhere near the same number as last year, be interesting to see who takes a punt.. Not much word on Electric Picnic yet, but news expected soon.

The Cork marquee gigs are slated to take place again this summer, with mixed line-up - I'll wait for Slane to see the Prodigy - but they play Cork on June 18, also playing are Gilbert O’Sullivan (June 20), Kasabian (June 21), Christy Moore (June 27), Josh Ritter (July 4), Rod Stewart (July 7)

Reeking of overkill...

MCD have finally confirmed one of the worst kept secrets in music with the announcement that Kings of Leon are to headline Oxegen for the second year in a row, leading many to fall off their seats in excitement.. Ehh..

Seriously, what the ? They were good last year (I was there) and recently in the O2 (and there too) but three major gigs in the space of 12 months? And a second headline in a row? Come on now.

Meanwhile, over on the Hot Press website they are reporting a "world exclusive" that Snow Patrol and the Killers are to headline the other two nights of the monolith festival, which takes place this year from July 10-12. What a scoop.

Not the most innovative of line-ups, but it'll probably sell a bucket-load of tickets, so who cares what I think, eh?