Everyone has their own personal horror stories to share about Irish festivals, and most of them directed at Oxegen, but last year took the biscuit for me. My wife and I were getting food after Paolo Nutini’s set and she popped off to the toilet. Normally at a festival like Oxegen, we’d always go together, but she said she’d be fine and insisted I not do the usual man-standing-around-at-entrance-to-women’s-toilet routine. So, I continued to queue. As she was making her way to the toilets towards the back of the main ‘arena’ she was tripped from behind, falling face down into muck. Her face was then held down in the muck by what she remembered as a young scumbag for what felt like a minute as she fought to breathe and fight him off. She managed to get rid of him but as she was trying to get back on her feet – as plenty of people looked on, a big crowd was making its way through the Main Stage area after Paolo — another joker came and put his boot to the side of her and pressed down forcibly. After a struggle as he and his pals laughed away whilst continuing to hold her down to the ground with a muddy boot she eventually got free and went to one of the two security guards standing nearby, who basically told her where the first aid tent was and when she asked where the water and disinfectant was so she could at least wash her face, one of them shrugged. “I dunno,” he replied. Mercifully my wife is ok, she wasn’t seriously hurt but she was shocked and felt humiliated.
If I was there when this happened I’d probably still be in jail today for GBH. I was only around the corner and I’m still kicking myself for allowing her to head off on her own. I’d also have happily been barred for life, or arrested for berating the security and asking why none of the happy festivals goers for whom the promoters proudly declare “it’s your festival” would not come to her help. That not a single person would come to the aid of a defenceless girl is beyond me and it just about perfectly sums up the audience Oxegen gets.
I don’t know if I’d call it lucky or unfortunate, but since Féile 90 I can safely say that I’ve been to practically every ‘major’ festival and large-scale musical gathering in Ireland, and more than my fair share of Glastonbury’s, Donington’s (including the dodgy Monsters of Rock days when we all had loads of hair and didn’t need such luxuries as a “second stage” and toilets), Reading’s, Bestival’s, Hyde Park Calling’s and what-have-you in the UK, a couple of European gems and quite a few flops both as a punter and as a working journalist. I’ve even had a hand in a couple of festivals myself down through the years.
I can honestly say that last year’s Oxegen was THE single worst festival I have ever been to. As a festival ‘experience’ this teenage wasteland is without equal. Since it moved from Fairyhouse to Punchestownm changed beer companies and rebranded itself from Witnness to Oxegen it’s always been a rather unpleasant experience by virtue of its bland, dirty and utterly unattractive site. Punchestown may have a decent lay-out, but it’s hardly rolling green hills and attractive natural oddities. Its long walks over gravel and concrete, lack of ancillary ‘features’, generally poor sound and lack of pleasant relaxation areas (aside from the VIP area of course) makes it one hard slog. Add in bands not being suited to either the festival itself, or the particular stage they’re on, and then ancillary stuff like a dreadful selection of drinks, the fact it ALWAYS seems to rain and ‘the kids’ on the piss (and pissing everywhere) and you get a bad old days festival. No matter how many millions are spent on upgrading the CCTV, or adding a big Stonehenge yoke at the gate, or adding teepees and tribute bands to the campsite, it’s always been a decidedly unpleasant experience.
But strangely, there was always a pull to go, largely because of some incredible bookings – Nine Inch Nails, Jane’s Addition, Orbital in a tent, Brian Wilson, Sigur Ros, The Who, Blur, Jay Z, Fever Ray etc etc. But after this year I can safely say that I, my family, and quite a few of my friends, will never, ever attend “Europe’s Greatest Music Festival” again.
Not only did my wife suffer a hugely unpleasant time, my sister was threatened by a group of nasty girls for having the audacity to sing along to Arcade Fire and a good pal – a rather well-known journalist and photographer as it happens – had the living crap kicked out of him on the Saturday night because he had the audacity to challenge a lad who had stolen his food; food he had just paid for in the main arena where thousands had gathered for Muse. He went after the guy who robbed it who fell, and next thing all hell broke loose as he was blamed for tripping the food thief! One randomer loafed in support of the food thief knocking my friend to the ground and kicking his glasses into his face causing cuts, then four more lads – completely unrelated to any of the other participants and totally unprovoked — reigned kicks and punches in, injuring him quite badly. Such was his fear he had to get the Gardaí to bring him off site.
It’s telling that the slew of ads in the last few weeks and the main mail-out image featured few band names, but rather a sea of damp people at the main stage cheering in the daylight under the slogan “it’s your festival”. Well, the ‘shareholders’ can fucking keep it.
Oxegen has never been about the music and it’s certainly not about the ‘experience’ the same way as Glastonbury, Bestival, Electric Picnic, Body & Soul at Ballinlough or anything that could market itself without listing any band names. It’s a piss-up, plain and simple. Aside from the incidents that had a direct impact on me, there was definitely more to it last year than just Heineken and smuggled in Buckfast. There was a genuine air of menace throughout the site, and as is my thing at festivals, I walk every inch of the site. As someone who’s worked in the music business all my life I love festivals, and I love exploring them.
There was always a gang of us who went to the Big O, but over the past few years that big gang has been reduced to just a handful of hardy souls. A 250 quid ticket is genuinely no problem to a lot of people I go to gigs and festivals with. They’d pay €100 (and have done) to see any of the big Oxegen bands do shows on their own. I think Oxegen’s biggest problem is that the people, the music lovers, who used to make up the lions share of the audience – at Witnness and at the first couple of Oxegen’s – just won’t go anymore. And that’s down to the crowd it gets now. “It’s your festival” they say. Well, it’s not. It’s ‘shareholders’ want to go on the piss; it’s for people who’ll happily queue for an hour at a big name fast food or pizza stand instead of an Irish trader with a handmade sign and delicious grub; it’s for people who have never held a music magazine in their hands in their life, who rarely buy music, and who only go to one gig a year and that gig is in Punchestown.
The oft mentioned ‘identity crisis’ has been with Oxegen since day one and in the past two years I think promoters MCD have recognised this with their TOTP bookings such as Lady Ga Ga, Beyonce, Jessie J, The Script, David Guetta, Black Eyed Peas, Kesha etc etc. Very few people sing along to Arcade Fire when they’re pissed and very few there this year will have one iota about the massive impact of Screamadelica. It’s thrash the shareholders want, and next year the promoters should just cater for this and just turn the Big O into T4 at the Beach. Their other bookings, the ones might attract genuine fans but who attract a few hundred stragglers into a tent can and should be corralled together into something like Lattitude, which was pencilled in for Belvedere in Mullingar not-so-long-ago but never materialized.
I had the pleasure of watching Blur from the side of the main stage with Alan Yentob from the BBC in 2009. Prior to this we’d walked through the site and he genuinely could not believe his eyes. We talked about previous festivals, and bands that had played, and when we came to The Who, he was astonished they had done it. Betcha Pete Townshend was too when he looked out at thousands of people waiting for the theme tune to CSI. Teenage Wasteland indeed.
36 Comments
Makes me glad reading this that I never went to Oxygen, nothing worse than a mob on the piss.
Couldn’t agree more, Glastonbury is a festival, Oxygen is just some outdoor gigs in a menacing, overpriced and hostile environment. Last time I had the misguided idea to go, a security guard stopped my buddy from bringing his fold-up camping chair into the arena. Having trudged for what seemed like miles from the car, he decided to dump it at the gate (No point in even hoping that he might have got it back after the gigs). After getting through the gate lo and be-f**king-hold, there’s some skanger selling camping chairs just inside the gate for vastly inflated prices. Oxygen is a scumhole, MCD should take the opportunity to concrete over the place during The Cold Black Jayzees or whatever dross is headlining this year.
reminds me of my own oxygen experiences..
my girlfriend went off to the toilet with her friend in the campsite, they came back 20 minutes later frightened and humiliated because they were surrounded by 20 or more scumbag idiots who mauled and man handled them for a few minutes before leaving them go, no security in sight on the campsite…
I’ve also heard detailed stories of the sexual assualts on a more serious level that took place. Granted not first hand but incidents of sexual assault at oxygen have surfaced a few times.
(http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/gardai-investigate-second-sexual-assault-at-oxegen-festival-1432035.html)
Theres just a general air of menace at the festival, Im sure other people thankfully have had beter experiences but this has consistently been mine..
Spot on, 2007 was my last one after going for years. “Air of menace” very much intact. There were three of us there, all fairly big blokes, one Guard and we spent the weekend fighting off gangs of idiots. The site as a whole was unreal but the campsite was like something out of World War 1.
I too can agree with the comments about being applauded at the stories i’ve heard that went on at Oxygen. I’ve been twice and thankfully both times i had a good time but it wasn’t for the crowd that surrounded me but the people i went with. I really felt the shift in the crowd to any other festival i’ve been to and i’ve even been at Rock am Park and Rock am Ring and they get messy. But Oxygen has that “up to no good” feel about it. I’ve had friends attacked with knives, tents that got burnt down, and general horribleness. There is no reason how so many countries and festival get it so right that we as a country and nation can let this get so wrong…i even had the chance to go free this year and i just had no interest. hope your wife has recovered and your anger has calmed…mags
Spot on Ronan!
as much as i agree with everything, this isn’t news. Oxegen has been this horrible for a long long time. i’d have to be paid to go. maybe a return to Witnness would be a a move in the right direction. sure people are too full of stout to fight! but Poxegen pre and post 2011 can indeed, fuck right off.
It’s a pity journalists are confined to twitter & blogs complaining about this stuff. They should be writing about it in the papers.
Well put couldnt agree more!! Lost its appeal years ago way too much scum at it had my mobile stolen years ago at it at least 6 scumbags gathered around me and one just took it out of my hand as i texted and walked away into the crowd
absolutely shocked reading this, but at the same time not surprised. I had gone to Witness 2 years in a row and had a great great time– then i went the year they had rebranded to oxegen– it was the worst time of my life– constantly getting hassled by little scumbag kids– so much so to the point that i spent all 3 nights sitting in my tent depressed. I just kept thinking how much it was like college rag weeks with even worse scumbags.
I went to Oxegen for 4 consecutive years from age 16–20. I actually quite enjoyed it but once i saw the change in the crowd from actual music lovers to pure knackers I knew it was time to move on.
I dont understand the people that pay €200+ for a ticket and sit in the campsite and just drink all weekend. The last one I went to a group of scumbags in their 30s were destroying all the tents around them, just jumping in on top of the tents, even when we were in our tent. It was far from easy for me and my 2 friends, both girls, to try put up an argument against 8 or 9 scumbags.
I reckon oxegen is a lost cause. Good riddance to it.
Viva Electric Picnin.….lets just hope the knackers dont find out about it.….
They should turn it into a no camping affair or staying on the site affair, where you have to arrive each day for the bands, that would attract more real music fans and less scum who go for a pissed up camping trip, as someone pointed out its an expensive camping trip for the lowlifes but where else can the prey on 80,000 people?
its great to read what i think is a very important review on possibly the worst festival in the world. its pure shite. for the money you spend and all you do is watch your back for a whole weekend whilst trying to support the bands you love. i hope this is read by all the proper music lovers of ireland and beyond and that they realise what theyre getting themselves into. friends of mine have had theyre tents stolen. theyre belongings stolen and theres absolutely nothing done about it.
But for decent real music lovers theres always electric picnic. last year i camped beside some great people who were very happy to invite my friends and i for breakfast in the morning and the atmosphere was pretty much the same in everybody i had the pleasure to meet there. ok its expensive but you have a great time and feel safe. thats all i need anyway. so lets leave oxygen to the knackers while the rest of us enjoy a nice picnic
I stopped going to Oxegen in 2002 the year that I noticed the rot and the fact that people were going for the wrong reasons. Idiots chatted at the tops of their voices and disinterested made human pyramids while Kings of Leon were on the main stage. Incidentally these same people are now their biggest fans! The same year I went to Leedswhere all the scumbags got pissed in the camp site while those of us who wanted to see the great bands on the line up were left to enjoy and appreciate them. That year we left the campsite at breakneck speed as the knacker element set fire to tents and toilets all over the campsite. Still, this was one of the best experiences of my life because the crowd there to see bands were great and you felt the appreciation and as one when watching the bands. Oxegen will never have that again as the festival going crowd in Ireland has changed. People are going to Oxegen this year to see Beyonce and Black Eyed Peas! Enough said! Unfortunately Electric Picnic is going that way too. When I last went you could barely stand still without some young one off their heads coming up to hug you or get you in a headlock. Bring back the days of 15,000 crowd capacity! Sad that things have gone that way but glad to read this article and see that it’s not just me who sees this. Most of the people who rave about it now never knew it before the asshole and scumbag element got their claws into it.
Last time I was at oxygen I had a ticket whipped out of my hand, I was then surrounded by these fucking magpie scumbags who told to walk away. I was only just after arriving!! Luckily it was a ticket I was given to flog and not my own. I hate that feeling of being on edge all weekend. I was there to enjoy music, which I did but I was all the time wishing for eyes in the back of my head. I have heard more unfortunate stories from others. Its not been taken seriously. Very disappointing.
I’m 21 and this is my first year going to Oxegen, this article makes for very interesting reading and also the comments that follow, but I am a firm believer in not knocking something until I try it so I shall see what the weekends experience has in store for me, hopefully I can make it out alive to share it ha.
Well said man. I last went in 2006, having been there previous years in a work capacity. It’s hellish…full of thugs and scum just out looking to cause trouble. I don’t actually think there’s ever actually been 80000 people at the festival (mcd wish) and, judging by how many tickets are being/have been given away on radio comps, etc. I reckon they’ll be lucky to get 15k people there this year, the majority comp winners.
As the last poster mentioned, Electric Picnic has already started to take on some of that element who feel they’ve worked their “magic” on Oxegen & that it’s time to bring another festival to it’s knees.
Have given up on all Irish festivals years ago. They are over priced and badly organised with sub-par line ups.
Have gone to various festivals on the continent the last 5 years and they are much better affairs. Plus they are much better value for money. The crowds are generally much better behaved and indeed the only people you generally see acting the maggot are Irish or English.
If people boycotted irish festivals maybe the promoters might actually get the finger out.
Hi Ronan
I wish to express my sorrow for what your wife experienced at Oxegen and hope she is alright. Alas this is jut one of the many horror stories that keep re-eppearing yearly. Something has alway been missing at Oxegen. Now I must admit being a regular lush merchant at Feile during its all too brief time with us and no more that you have attended a fairly broad range of festivals and in my errant youth there was nothing more I like that a good piss up but when it came to it„ the music is what was important. Feile with all its madness and disparate line ups from year to year attracted music minded people, Witness too as have the other you mentioned EP, Body and Soul, also don’t forget Cavan’s Flat Late, Sea Sessions in Bundoran, Castlepolooza and Temple House in County Sligo. I have attended all of these many of the regularily and enjoyed every one because the crowd was there for the music and it was fun. Oxegen attracts too many post junior and leaving cert teens who have never been too a festival, added to that the MCD shareholders dictum of attracting a wider Top of the Pops audience and the surge in recreational drug use over the last few years and you get one whopping mess. The unfortunate aspect is that it sells out, its crazy at 39 I looked at this years line up and Big Country were the only band I really wanted to see. Every one else I have seen already or couldn’t be arsed. Sadly i feel Oxegen will be with us for a long while yet and the periphery aspects ie ssite layout, substandard food, poor camping, high percentage of scumbags married against an exceptionally low percentage of intelligent security staff etc etc I can’t see improving. Oxegen is a payout for all and sundry and a big one at that. It still amazes me, I go to Electric Picnic every year and have never seen or heard of a fight, Sea Sessions(albeit a smaller festival) one person remover from the site, Castlepolooza and Body and Soul, never any trouble, Temple House the only trouble was it wouldn’t stop raining, yet Oxegen every year there are days and days of people ringing radio stations reporting thefts, assaults (physical and sexual) Tents being burned, overly aggressive security measures, little Garda presence when needed, under age drinking the list is endless and yet it recieves its license every year.
Strange how money will always win the arguement
Mark
I agree with absolutely everything you said — 100%. Hope your wife is ok after that attack.
Ronan,
I am sorry to read of your bad experience last year at Oxegen and I hope your wife is ok. I did not attend last year due to the TOTP nature of the line-up but I am glad to be going again this year. Weezer, The Strokes, Noah & the Whale, The Naked & The Famous, Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters.….……Best line up for me in a quite a few years.
I have been to quite a few oxegens over the years and have never experienced or witnessed anything like that being mentioned above. I have heard the horror stories like everyone but have never experienced it. I wonder is this because I only go to the concert and do not camp or that I don’t tend to hang around after the last act or that I avoid the dance arena totally.
Of course I have seen the drunken youths (who hasn’t been one) but for the large part I always thought they were good natured and I don’t get the general feeling of menace discussed here. For me it is about the music, I am not into the whole festival experience outside whats on the stage and despite the muck and poor facilities if I like the line-up, I will still go.
I hope that this blog and the comments following it are representative of the belief that most people who bother to make written comment these days are those with a negative experience or an axe to grind. I am amazed that no-one who has read that has had anything positive to say about the festival.
Spot on review Ronan. It’s a pity the Oxegen bank-rolled media don’t report the truth about this shame-fest that somehow manages to get worse every year. It might coax the “organisers” to do something resembling an aqequate job. The security are mostly untrained goons and the overall Poxegen experience is miserable. I have seen the word “menacing” used a few times to describe the atmosphere and this is accurate.
I hope it crashes and burns and they lose their shirt on it. It shows a severe disrespect for music fans. I had gone to all of them up to 2009 but it’s unlikely that I will ever go back.
Hang your heads MCD.
Cheers for all the comments folks. Didn’t think there’d be that kind of a response!
The wife is fine. Despite our own lushness it was always about the music for us. I think the event itself just got too big, and there’s plenty of other festivals I’d rather be at. Of the dozen or so so far this year, Flatlake was head and shoulders above the rest. There was a review of it on the site here last month.
Anyway keep the comments coming, will get back to them when I get a bit of time this weekend!
Its so true!!
I saw 2 people shagging RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME last year?
I still cant listen to certain Goldfrapp songs without thinking of that!
The best solution to the Oxegen problem would be to napalm the entire site, simultaneously ridding Dublin of the thousands of shitheads that infest the streets of the city. Two birds, one stone.
agree 100%. Oxegen is not about music, its about drink and 17 year olds off their heads. If only they increased the minimum age to at least 18 (not that they police it anyway) if not 21 they might get some sort of cred back. Pissing,Burning Tents, Hooligianisim,etc, you can keep it all MCD. I have just completed an 800 mile round trip drive to Worthy Farm in Sommerset for Glastonbury 2011 and boy were my eyes opened. What a truly great experience.… I’m with you on Oxegen Ronan.
My husband and I went for the last time 2 years ago and it was simply a disappointment. We were on a one day ticket and my husband was driving so he was drinking coffee, when a little pissed gimp wearing a wife beater and black pants tormented him for nearly 5 mins simply because he wasn’t having an alcoholic drink, we walked away from him but he continued to shout at us. We passed a Guard without stopping and the guy starting shouting ‘tout’ at us. We got over that, thankfully we were both sober so we moved into the crowd. There were young boys and girls (they looked approx 17/18) vomiting right where they stood.
That ended our desire to go Oxegen ever again. I’m so glad I’m not going this year.
ive given up on this festival a few years now. i was someone who attended the first couple of witnesses and a few oxegens before it turned into a complete annual scumbag reunion. slashed and robbed tents are common. you are lucky if you escape a beating to be honest as gangs of thugs roam looking for trouble. i really dont care too much if teenagers are locked drunk but when you caome back to a robbed tent and its as usual lashing rain it would put anyone off no matter how good the line up is. its become way to much of a hassle and you are paying good money for the privilege. some comments ive seen already:
KetchupKid
Our tent was robbed while we were sleeping last night n most tents were hit or attempted. MCD security is useless, they’re only here to protect MCD, not the paying customer. Beware knackers everywhere!!
df1985
mates brother and friends had phone and wallets robbed last night.…lot of tents hit. oh the joys, heading off soon.
NUFF SAID!
I can’t believe the negativity. Oxegen is for young people to go and enjoy themselves and to enjoy the current popular acts. The promoters aren’t going to get bands that late twenty/thirty somethings want. Oxegen is for 18 — 30 year olds. If you don’t fit into that age bracket stop giving out about Oxegen because it’s not for you… It is a venue that young people go to let their hair down and enjoy a camping EXPERIENCE. It mightn’t be Electric Picnic but who wants a picnic in a load of mud anyway. I would agree that knackers are a pain in the ass but when are they not.
I was at Witness and have been to Oxegen numerous times over the years. Usually we would camp in the red or blue campsite and although there are some knackers most people are there to enjoy themselves, knackers included. Last year however we were feeling a bit old so we went for the green campsite. It’s an extra hundred euro or something but we didn’t mind paying for the extra space, showers, toilettes…Our tents were up waiting for us and there was security, knackers won’t pay an extra hundred euro anyway.
This year some of our mates are going up on Friday but we’re just going to go on Sunday for the day and night.
I’m sorry that you have had some bad experiences at Oxegen, I’ve had a few too myself but life goes on and it’s time for youngsters to enjoy their experiences. You’ll get to see some coverage on the RTE news in your slippers and you can laugh at all the wasters getting pissed on…
D’ya think they care though ; )
Hey Ronan– best wishes to your wife– have heard several similar experiences from friends and even work colleagues.
I was a regular Oxygen goer and had nothing but good experiences up to my second last Oxygen in 2005. From 2006–2008 I didn’t go simply because I wasn’t fussed about the line up or the ticket price. My last time at Oxygen was in 2009, and I couldn’t get over how the festival goers had changed in the four years. It wasn’t just an air of menace, nobody (and I mean NOBODY) I came into contact with was there for the music– it was all about adolescents letting loose in the absence of parental supervision.
And as for the security and first aiders– on the Friday afternoon (5 hours in to the festival!) my sister and I came to the aid of a girl who had been raped, and shockingly neither security nor the roaming first aiders gave a damn, offering us no help to get the girl to a first aid tent. I left Oxygen later that day and never returned.
I’m very sad for your experience.
I work in the media business & I have to say that music journalists aren’t recognising the fact that Oxegen is actually a very dangerous place to attend. Right now I am looking through the #oxegen hashtag on twitter & I am seeing a lot of journos / PR people / Hanger on-ers posting pics from side stage & backstage. They have no clue how the festival operates. I know the majority of them are taking the bus up & down each day.
I think it’s a disgrace that most of these journalists are against skangers yet continue to fuel the rampant disregard Oxegen attendees have for their fellow attendees.
The “pushing over of the missus by some chav on coke, as people stood around and did nothing” incident happened to my wife too. At Electric Picnic. 4 years ago. It’s not the festival. It’s the people. BTW if I was there, I’d be your neighbour in that jail.
The whole place screams District 9.
lets be honest, the crowd at oxygen is just a reflecting of the type of youth the celtic tiger produced.
ignorant, uncouth, middle class (wannabe) chavs in adidas and celtic gear.
go too any town centre in ireland, small or big and these and the people you see hanging out.
somehow we many to produce these disgraces with. money when you would expect them to be products of a society without money. maybe i hate them but what i really hate is the society that has churned them out without any sort of reflection or realisation. island life i suppose.
‘Stephen
Posted July 12, 2011 at 8:42 am | Permalink
The whole place screams District 9.’
classic man, why waste time typing tales of woe when you sum is all up in one sentence!
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