Oxegen 2008
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This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future events. It may contain tentative information; the content may change as the event approaches and more information becomes available. |
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| Location(s) | Punchestown Racecourse, County Kildare, Ireland |
| Years active | |
| Founded by | |
| Date(s) | 11 - 13 July 2008 |
| Genre(s) | Rock |
| Website | www.oxegen.ie |
Oxegen '08 will be the fifth Oxegen festival to take place, following the dissolution of its predecessor Witnness in 2004. It is set to take place on the weekend of Friday July 11, Saturday July 12 and Sunday July 13 at Punchestown Racecourse near Naas in County Kildare, Ireland. The festival is to be headlined by Kings of Leon on the Friday, The Verve and R.E.M. on the Saturday and Rage Against the Machine and Kaiser Chiefs on the Sunday.
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[edit] Tickets
Presale tickets went on sale at 8 a.m. on Friday November 30, 2007 at a cost of €197. Actual sale tickets went on sale at 8 a.m. on Friday March 7, 2008, with 4-day camping tickets priced at €244.50 and 3-day camping tickets priced at €224.50. Thursday camping passes cost €20 extra. Three-day weekend camping and four-day weekend camping tickets along with day tickets for Saturday July 12 were sold out by Monday March 10, 2008. A very limited number of three-day (no camping) tickets and day tickets for Friday July 11 and Sunday July 13 were still available for a period after going sale, before the Oxegen website announced at 14:09 on Wednesday May 7, 2008 that all tickets were sold out. [1] [2]
[edit] Confirmed acts
On November 27, 2007 at 5 p.m, Kings of Leon became the first band to be announced to play Oxegen this summer. The band topped an online poll which asked festival-goers for their dream line-up and so the band were immediately asked and confirmed. Vocalist Caleb Followill said: "We love playing in Ireland, the fans are brilliant and we can't wait to play Oxegen 2008". [3] [4] [5] They will headline the opening night of the festival. [6]
On February 15, 2008, R.E.M. were confirmed for Oxegen 2008, the second act to be announced and joining Kings of Leon. [7] [8] [9] Meanwhile Kaiser Chiefs confirmed themselves and Rage Against the Machine as Sunday night headliners on their official website; however this announcement was edited on February 18 to bear no mention of Rage Against the Machine who had yet to be officially confirmed. The words "directly before headliners Rage Against The Machine" were removed from the page. [1] Tim Burgess also revealed that The Charlatans will be appearing although that too was hushed up soon afterwards. [10] [2] The Pogues too confirmed themselves online.
On February 19 at 16:29, Kaiser Chiefs, The Raconteurs and Ian Brown were announced on the official website [11] [12], followed by The Fratellis, Interpol and Counting Crows the next day [13]. February 21 saw Hot Chip, Justice, The Chemical Brothers, Aphex Twin and Alabama 3 added to the line-up [14] [15] [16]. Finally, at 09:14 on February 22, Rage Against the Machine were confirmed as headliners by the organisers [17]. On Sunday February 24, The Verve were confirmed on the official website for an appearance at Oxegen 2008. Stereophonics, Band of Horses, Seasick Steve, The Courteeners and Future Kings of Spain were all confirmed by the official website on February 25 [18], with official confirmation of The Prodigy [19], Panic at the Disco, The Feeling [20], DJ Koze, Kaz James (BodyRockers) and Crookers on the following day. On February 27, there were calls from the Catholic anti-drugs agency, Crosscare, which runs counselling programmes in the Dublin Archdiocese for teenagers caught with cannabis at Oxegen not to be arrested. They claimed: "Our time is being wasted every year by mostly Leaving Cert students who don’t have an addiction problem but have been arrested for a smoking a joint" [21]. Justice minister, Brian Lenihan rejected the proposal saying that it would amount to the legalisation of cannabis, of which Mr. Lenihan is severely intolerant [22].
The e-mail sent out with pre-sale ticket information to those registered on the official site confirmed that Bowling for Soup, Kate Nash, Editors, The Hoosiers, Newton Faulkner, Pendulum, Scouting for Girls, The Zutons, Battles, Róisín Murphy, Lightspeed Champion and David Jordan would also be playing [3]. These twelve and Richard Hawley were confirmed by the official website on Monday March 3 [23] [24]. On Thursday March 6, Tom Dunne's Pet Sounds show on Today FM (between 7 pm and 10 pm) broadcasted an Oxegen Special previewing this year's line-up alongside festival highlights from previous years. Meanwhile Hot Press were among the first to confirm that Amy Winehouse is again scheduled to finally appear at Oxegen [25]. Several bands and musicians such as Echo & the Bunnymen, The Wombats, The Pigeon Detectives, The Subways, Ben Folds, Delays, The Script, Kavinsky, Mindless Self Indulgence, and Boys Noize have also confirmed themselves to play Oxegen '08 according to their official websites.[26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35]
On Wednesday March 5 in the late evening, the Oxegen website began a revamp for the release of the tickets on Friday March 7. On Thursday March 6, Oxegen 2008 was officially launched with the confirmation of appearances by Amy Winehouse [36], The Pogues, The Charlatans and The Swell Season, featuring Oscar winners Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. [37] A breakdown of the acts was also revealed for the first time [38]. A spokesman for promoters MCD said: "This year's line-up is one of the strongest ever. Music fans have quite literally the most diverse and strongest line-up of bands we have seen in Ireland. We are expecting tickets to sell very quickly." [39] Glen Hansard told the Irish Daily Mirror: "I think Oxegen is just as exciting as appearing at the Oscars", saying "it's a dream come true for any Irish musician" [40]. The festival line-up was widely praised by the print media. The Irish Examiner called it a "fairytale line up for a festival", adding that "the fairytale of Naas will come alive this summer".
On Tuesday May 6, Tom Dunne confirmed a host of other acts on his Pet Sounds show on Today FM. These included Manic Street Preachers, Feeder, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Ting Tings, Black Kids, MGMT, Bell X1, The Coronas, Concerto For Constantine and Delorentos. These and others including The Kooks and Groove Armada were confirmed by the Oxegen website the following day, [41] [42] [43] along with details of the Dance Stage. The headliners were confirmed to be Unkle, Justice and David Guetta respectively for the three days. Also confirmed for the Dance Stage on the Friday were Calvin Harris and Annie Mac amongst others, for the Saturday were Boys Noize, Mylo, Kavinsky and Japanese Popstars amongst others and for the Sunday were Luciano, Kaz James, Crookers and Does It Offend You, Yeah? amongst others. [44] On Friday May 16 at 09:36, more acts were announced; these were The National, Tricky, The Go! Team, Feeder (again), The Pigeon Detectives, The Enemy, One Night Only and The Whigs. [45] [46]
[edit] Platform III
Bands with Kildare connections are being invited to compete for a chance to win a slot on the Oxegen bill. Details of this year's Platform III competition are being announced - two winning groups will perform on the New Band Stage in Punchestown this summer. Editors and The Killers have previously cut their teeth on that stage. Platform III Project Manager, Susan Boyle said that at least one band member should have Kildare connections. [47]
[edit] New additions
- Campers at Oxegen '08 should be prepared for some environment-friendly changes to this year's sites and camping gear. [48]
- Oxegen '08 has been awarded Carbon Neutral status, making it Ireland's biggest ever Carbon Neutral event. In keeping with World Environment Day (June 5), organisers announced that they have been working closely with The Carbon Neutral Company to look at ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions produced from the festival. [49]
- The reusable Eco-cup will be introduced to reduce the 10% of CO2 emissions attributed to waste that is unrecycled, i.e. landfill emissions. Festival-goers purchasing a drink at any of the bars can pay a €3 deposit for the Eco-cup for their first drink. When buying further drinks the customer exchanges their old cup for a new one at no extra cost and at the end of the night, they can either be exchanged for a full refund or taken home. Irish owned company Earthstream Bio Packaging will also be offering all Oxegen food vendors the opportunity to use bio-degradable packaging. [50]
[edit] Problems
- There was some difficulty selling all available tickets for Oxegen 2008 but they eventually sold out in May. [51]
- Planners for Oxegen 2008 want to cut the parking facilities by one quarter, despite massive problems last year when a downpour saw the parking facilities shut and transferred to another area away from the site. [52] Because an estimated 70% of emissions at Oxegen are associated with travel, festival goers are strongly urged to consider one of the public transport options to get to Punchestown for the festival. Bus Éireann will be running express services from destinations around the country and Dublin Bus will operate a shuttle service from Parnell Square. Car drivers can use the Oxegen Park and Ride site, and take the free shuttle bus to Oxegen. Those wishing to drive are encouraged to car share and as an incentive a free parking ticket is provided when you present four camping tickets at any Ticketmaster outlet.
[edit] Stages
Oxegen 2008 will definitely have at least four stages, with more expected to be announced in the coming weeks to bring the total up to that of previous years. Aside from headliners Kings of Leon, R.E.M., Rage Against the Machine and Kaiser Chiefs amongst others scheduled to perform on the Main Stage over the weekend, the return of the NME Stage, the Pet Sounds Stage and the Dance Stage have also been confirmed.
- Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová have been confirmed as Sunday night headliners of the Pet Sounds Stage.
- Both The Zutons and One Night Only have confirmed on their MySpace pages that they are set to appear on the NME Stage on the Saturday.
- The full line-up of the Dance Stage has already been announced and will include headliners Unkle, Justice and David Guetta.
[edit] 2008 Line-up
The acts that will play the festival:
