Everyone’s spirits had to be lifted by the sign of sunshine and the lack of rain on Sunday morning, if a festival deserves some decent weather it’s gotta be Oxegen, I was rearing to go again.

Up first was a quick stop at the Red Bull tent for Robot Koch who drew me in with some serious dubstep, obviously too early for many others. The early interest was for The Middle East who I’d heard lots about even if I was largely unfamiliar with their work. The expansive rootsy folk perfectly suited the time and surrounding and ended the set on an impressive note (think the song’s called ‘Blood’). I’m one of many new fans gained. Next a complete shift off to the Dance Arena once again for The Golden Filter, another new one for me but I was assured they were no jokers. The set was enjoyable but they’d benefit from a more suitable setting with the Dance Arena not properly designed for ‘bands’.

6pm is generally when festivals tend to hot up and true to form enter Jamie T the main attraction on my Sunday list. He didn’t disappoint with his distinctive blend of punk, folk, hip-hop and flowing insightful streetwise lyrics sending the adoring crowd into a rapturous state as he happily strutted around lapping it up, winding up the security before losing his shoes in the crowd. High points were ‘Man Machine’, ‘If You Got The Money’ and ‘Chaka Demus’ – best of the day so far.

It seems I’d spent most of my weekend in Red Bull Academy and that was the destination of choice for Delphic who I was interested in seeing again following a very good show in Dublin earlier this year. Delphic may get a bit of stick for similarities to New Order but that’s a pretty lazy assessment, they do the synthy indie rock thing pretty damn well (so well that I made sure I had ear plugs this time).It was yet another great set in the Red Bull Academy, surely one of the biggest successes of this years festival.

There was still time for two big names at the 2fm/Hotpress Academy Stage to see in Laura Marling and Julian Casablancas. The former only played for just over 30 minutes which was a bit disappointing as was the overbearing sound of the Main and Vodafone Stage, she none the less put in the best performance possible in the circumstances. I especially enjoyed ‘Ghosts’, next time please find somewhere more suitable for folk acts. The Strokes frontman suffered no such sound difficulties as he played out an electric set which included ‘Out of the Blue’, ’11th Dimension’, some Strokes tunes (one was ‘Hard to Explain’ I think) and a very Ramones-esque ‘I Wish it was Christmas Today’ – hard to believe tucked away in this tent was a guy who only a few years back people were charging to the Main Stage for, our treat and the crowd absolutely loved it.

There was still some time to catch part of The Prodigy on the Vodafone Stage as they ran through hits both old and new before I finally drew closure on this years Oxegen. Overall it was a good weekend but certain acts being booked for dodgy slots was pretty annoying at times. It may well do with returning to a two-day festival next year with a smaller crowd particularly Friday but it has me in the mood for Electric Picnic all the more now. Thanks for reading and excuse mistakes and haziness as this is all from memory – no fancy phones for me………..yet!

Click for coverage of Friday & Saturday at Oxegen

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