Oxegen 2007

OK, first of all, I know this is about a month too late, but who cares? If I thought that anyone was waiting then I'd cry, but I think I'll take the chance.

This was the first Oxegen I've been to, mainly cause I wasn't bothered with the other ones, but my brother bought the tickets, so I thought, why not? I've learned a few things since then, that would have been nice to know before hand, such as:

• Prepare to be dirty. Very dirty. Even without leaping about in the mud, simply getting from the campsites to the stages means you're trashed
• Runners are not acceptable footwear. In fact, just thinking about wearing runners deserves a slap in the head. Boots, perhaps. Wellies now, you're on the right track
• Don't get emotionally attached to any of your clothes. They will die
• A giant lunch box full of pasta and sausages makes a surprisingly tasty dinner for a few days. Especially Mallons sausages. Why don't they export them?
• Note that while you can take alcohol into the campsite with you, you can't take it out. So either become a professional at speed drinking, drink before you leave the site, or learn to like smelly Heineken
• Slap anybody that tries to put mud on you. Slapping makes a bold statement of intent, preferably if it's followed by a mudball to the face
• Getting close to the stage is pretty pointless - especially if it's Daft Punk and they have a kick ass lightshow
• Make sure the people lifting you onto their shoulders are actually capable to stand by themselves
• Muse are overrated
• Rodrigo y Gabriela aren't
• Walking to your tent when it's pitch black, the ground is trying to swallow you, and there's thousands of people packed around, is hard
• A couple of people in the crowd going "Moooo..." when thousands are trying to walk back to their tent in pitch black is quite funny, and strangely, uniquely Irish
• If you lose a shoe, pray to God, or learn to walk barefoot
• Almost no-one owns the deckchair they're sitting in
• If guy-ropes were fitted with landmines, thousands would die
• Don't even think of trying to sleep, or if you are, invest in a proper sleeping bag, and not a £40 tent/sleeping bag deal seen in Argos
• Jumping/swimming around in the mud is deadly craic. Until the sun goes down. Then you die of hypothermia

Still, though, it was a good laugh, and seeing Snow Patrol and Daft Punk play was alone worth it. And the look on my mother's face when I brought out the washing. There's a few pictures below of some of the highlights, where I a) remembered to bring my camera, and b) remembered I had it.

Update 19/08/2007 19:18 - It has been brought to my attention, rather quickly indeed, that the first Snow Patrol photo was taken by my little sister Maria, and thusly deserves a credit. Now I don't really remember her taking it, but if you've ever had a constant buzz in your ear (amazing what you can do over Gmail chat), then you'll quickly learn to agree. So, just so there's no confusion, the first Snow Patrol image was taken by Maria, and a big thank you goes out for her gracious permission to put it up on my site. How foolish of me to not seek it in the first place... (happy?)