Music Blog
Oxegen 2011: The Top 10 Acts to See
Monday 4 July 2011
The National? Zzzzzz. The Script? Yeah, right and who let Pete Doherty into the country? With five stages and over 130 acts, there's a lot to see and hear at Oxegen. Alan Corr rounds up the top 10 acts not to miss!
Beyoncé (Sunday)
After her Glastonbury performance, the naysayers lined up to condemn Beyoncé's inclusion on the bill in the first place. Maybe they should go and chug on some more warm beer at Reading and listen to indie landfill. The Queen of Pop (and anything else you care to mention) will roll regally into Oxegen with that fab all-female band, those dancers and some impressive fireworks. With a great new album (4) and classic hits to perform, it sure will be surreal seeing Lady B getting bootylicious in a muddy field in Kildare.
The Strokes (Friday)
Yesterday's men? Pah! Festival veterans The Strokes may have missed an angle or two on their fourth album Angles but with a debut that set such high standards (2001's Is This It?), it was always going to be hard to keep the engine purring all the time. However, Angles did contain at least five new songs that still exude these young turks' insufferable cool and hey, what a back catalogue to call on. The New Yorkers still deliver a live show of short, sharp shocks.
Leftfield (Friday)
And now for our older listeners . . . a reformed Leftfield are touring the festivals with their transplendid 1995 game changer Leftism and you'd be well advised to be front for these ageless trailblazers.
Metronomy (Friday)
Far down the bill on Friday sit English nervy electro heads Metronomy. However, their compelling album The English Rivera will feature high up on the end of year best of lists. Make sure you're front and centre to catch every nuance of this intriguing trio. Hugely recommended.
Foo Fighters (Saturday)
Sneered at by critics and music fans who are too busy pretending to like the new Radiohead album, the Foos always deliver a sledgehammer of a live set. They may verge on the cartoonish but for sheer guts, glory and bravado Dave Grohl's rock `n' roll survivors are hard to beat. Try not to get a lump in your throat during The Best of You. Go on try.
Arctic Monkeys (Saturday)
Fears that the Monkeys had lost it in the desert with Josh Homme on 2009's Humbug have been summarily dismissed by fourth album Suck it and See, a return to form that bristles with menace but also a wounded tenderness in the lyrics of Alex Turner. Sullen by nature but electrifying live, Arctic Monkeys will be a truth communal experience on Saturday night.
deadmau5 (Saturday)
Joel Thomas Zimmermann, as his mum and the taxman calls him, will be the only performer taking to the stage wearing a giant mouse head at Oxegen this year (although with Ke$ha on the bill, who knows). Expect unadorned synth heavy house from a man who's no stranger to Ireland having wowed Oxegen's dance tent in 2009, Belsonic in Belfast, and the Olympia and o2 in recent years. He is the mau5 that roars.
Eliza Doolittle (Saturday)
If you're not already, pray for a sunny day for the equally sunny Ms Doolittle. The 22-year-old Londoner slipped out her fine debut album last summer and it was a top 10 hit here. Her cute mix of rinky-dinky ska, chirpy pop on songs like Skinny Genes and Pack Up have a light touch which should ease you into day two of Oxegen.
Primal Scream (Sunday)
Most Oxegen attendees were doing the backstroke in uterine waters back in 1991. That was the year garage rock recidivists Primal Scream discovered dance and made Screamadelica, the album that was to become the sacred text for the UK's indie/dance crossover. The fact that songs like Higher Than The Sun and Movin' On Up still provide a Proustian rush for old codgers while also sending young uns into paroxysms of joy speaks volumes for the potency of Screamadelica. Watch them perform it live in its entirety on the twentieth anniversary of release: Bobby Gillespie stalks the stage like a magpie while former Stone Rose Mani nearly steals the show from under his nose.
Friendly Fires (Sunday)
FF's bright, jubilant feel-good pop deserves a higher placing than Black Eyed Peas on any festival bill. As it is they malinger down the bottom of Friday's line up but get along to hear some of the most life-affirming pure pop you'll hear all year. Their fantastic new album Pala has already united the dance and indie tribes with its effervescent summery vibe of Ibiza hands-in-the-air euphoria and even (eek!) slap bass that may find you having fond memories of Level 42. No, really . . .
RTÉ Ten and RTÉ 2fm at Oxegen
RTÉ 2fm will be providing almost 30 hours of live music radio covering the Oxegen weekend and throughout the for the first time there will be integrated coverage of Ireland's biggest music weekend on radio, the web and tv on New Now. Ruth Scott and Paddy McKenna will kick off coverage on Friday and over the course of the weekend, Jenny Huston, Dave Fanning, Dan Hegarty, Cormac Battle and Jenny Greene will be broadcasting interviews and music from some of the world's biggest acts.
Here on RTÉ Ten, we'll also have coverage of Oxegen bringing you bang-up-to-minute reports, interviews and atmosphere from Punchestown.
Have your say - who are your Top 10 Oxegen acts?
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