Oxegen Festival
Punchestown Racecourse, Naas, Ireland
08/07/2011 – 10/07/2011

Ireland’s largest music festival might be more Beach Break Live than Field Day, but the juicy musical titbits The Fly ordered are tucked just behind that throwaway-pop facade. The Strokes, for example, might be relegated to the pre-headline slot on the second stage, but a stormy set featuring ‘Reptilia’, ‘Juicebox’ and ‘Last Nite’ helps us forget the cringe factor of Black Eyed Peas’ bizarrely DJ-focused pre-hiatus show, taking place just around the corner.

Earlier in the day, My Chemical Romance were in a heavy mood, whipping out pre-concept album emo smashes like ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’ in an unusually stark showing, while Peter Hook has us shimmering to the brilliantly dour throbbing of late-70s super-smashes ‘Transmission’ and ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’.

Saturday sees rock’s big hitters roll in, with Dave Grohl promising Foo Fighters will “play until we’re kicked off”. Forgoing an encore in favour of an extra song, he bangs out a unyielding barrage of career spanning tracks, with a lengthy guitar dual during ‘Stacked In Actors’ the highlight. Beady Eye claim to have put Oasis behind them but still sound like they’re performing the B-sides, while The Vaccines overcome the damp with a bouncy disposition and hooky riffage. Arctic Monkeys are on form, too, despite Turner’s vocals seeming a tad mono-tonal live.

Come Sunday we’re all rained out, yet local heroes Fight Like Apes eclectically squawked tracks on themes like face battering – performed in morph suits – put us right. OFWGKTA and Crystal Castles each bring the butchery, with Tyler’s explosively violent set seemingly aimed at ruining the word “bitch” for us all. Alice Glass’ finest moment is the vocally harrowing yet compulsively danceable ‘Celestica’, accompanied by pulsing lasers and 10,000 girls in uncomfortably short shorts considering harsher haircuts. A sleep deprived festival finale needs just the right vibe, and Primal Scream’s 20th anniversary ‘Screamadelica’ set is just that. With trippy visuals, gospel singers and all, Bobby Gillespie tops the party off with ‘Rocks’ and ‘Country Girl’; a lush melodic cherry on one muddy, messy, slightly-characterless cake.

James Hendicott