I’m back from the temporary bog that is currently Punchestown for almost 24 hours now and even though that should be ample time to recover and really appreciate the whole thing, I still can’t figure out and decide if it was the most breathtaking and electric weekend of my life, or if it was the most depressing and boring crock of shite that I’ll ever have the privilege of spending €250 to see. This blog will mostly be me trying desperately to recall the highs and the lows of the weekend and is more for my own benefit in helping me make heads and tails of the entire experience. Hopefully you might be able to muster up an awkward smile or chuckle at my expense at some point though.

The “fun” all started on Wednesday when I went into work and realised that I was rostered to be on until 5am which would be cutting it fairly tight to catch my 6am bus had I been ready to go but was borderline pisstake given that I hadn’t even found a bag to pack my stuff into! I managed to swap a shift with someone else which gave me a few hours packing time to play with but meant I was forced to pull an all-nighter on the eve of Oxegen. Probably not the best of starts I could have hoped for.

I just about managed to catch the 6am bus after spending my last moments at home desperately trying to transfer my chosen poisons for the weekend of Vodka and Buckfast into plastic bottles. Once on the bus I had to fight with myself to stay awake. An odd slap every so often to the face seemed to do the trick though. The journey did get that little bit easier to cope with once Gift Grub came on the radio with their Oxegen special and all the weather reports and commentary on the radio seemed to indicate that it would be a great weekend with little to no rain. I think I came off the bus with a smile as wide as my face, thinking my decision not to bring welly’s would be vindicated.

How little I knew.

While I was standing around in the freezing cold in Enniscorthy waiting for John to come chugging along in his overloaded Zafira, I thought back to a flyer that I saw in Waterford Bus Station which advertised a special offer of €10 return to Naas. “That could have been useful”, I thought to myself as I happily paid €10.80 for a single journey down the road. I really wished I opted to travel by bus the entire way when I saw John pull up in his people carrier that was practically bulging at the sides, like a fat child who gorged their way through 7 hamburgers, thanks to the tents, sleeping bags, clothes and beer that was packed inside it. I struggled to get into it and there was still 4 people left to clamber in!

If ever there was a moment where I honestly thought “fuck my life”, it was when I sat in the back of that car with a can of Tubourg practically half up my arse and a bag of cans falling onto my head every five minutes which always woke me up from whatever little sleep I was getting and meant I saw the two people in front of me with their tongues down each others throats. I nearly got sick.

Once we found our way to the venue (and believe me, it was no mean feat after passing through the same village three times), we looked for a suitable spot to set up camp. Thankfully – but at the same time frustratingly – one of the guys who I traveled with was a camping expert. I was thankful because I’d never pitched a tent in my life but frustrated because every prospective site we went to was inspected with Ray Mears-esque precision. We eventually set up shop a stones throw away from the Thursday Night Stage and the Xbox Live Stage. Hmmm, the site may have ticked all of Ray Mears’ boxes but his checklist obviously didn’t have anything that asked whether you have the slightest fucking hope of getting some sleep throughout the whole weekend! We were there to stay though as none of us fancied lugging our gear around for another 2 hours while watching him roll about the grass checking for thistles and shit.

As it transpires, pitching a tent is embarassingly easy.

Anyway, once we had our “settlement” up and running there was nothing left to do other than open up the cans, sit back, relax and wait for the music to start. First up was a 80s covers band from Germany. Hearing some of Rock and Rolls greatest ever productions being sung in a distinct German accent was a bit disappointing though, but a few cans later the sound of “Highway Star” was enough to draw me out from our makeshift courtyard with my 2L bottle of vodka and coke and into the chaos that was unfolding in the mosh pits in the field opposite us. I came back with my arms lovingly wrapped around my bottle which had somehow survived the madness unscathed which was more that could be said of my body that emerged with a cocktail of bruises.

On my meandering path back to my tent I couldn’t help but notice that a 6 man tent was being pitched across the way from us in what was a “No Camping Zone”. For some reason, I took particular offense to the fact that I couldn’t now walk straight from our tent to the stage and instead had to take a light detour around this gigantic tent. I figured that I should send them a friendly message… by running through their tent. It wasn’t pegged down, so I thought that I could run straight through it. I’m pretty sure it will materialise as a video on YouTube in the near future, but basically I sprinted across the road and jumped into the front of the tent in the hopes that I’d carry on and come out the other side. Unfortunately for me, there was someone on the other side of the canvas and and I just bounced off them and sent them flying. I stumbled away without a clue of what to do because I didn’t for a second think my plan would fail. There was some awkward moments as I first claimed I couldn’t see the tent due to it blending in with the grass and then changed my story to simply wanting to come over and make an entrance and say hello. We shook hands and somehow I was off the hook. We were to receive poetic justice a few nights later though…

The rest of the tribute bands were pretty decent. There was an AC/DC band that did a great cover of “Let There Be Rock” that once again saw me in the middle of some madness with my bottle of drink being clung onto for dear life! Later on there was a strange band that was playing hip-hop and rap songs from the 90s. Rocking out to an all-white band who are pumping out the likes of MC Hammer with disturbing accuracy was pretty entertaining, not to mention surreal!

When that was all finished, we went off to the fun fair where I haggled with this girl who was selling tickets to a ride she didn’t want to go on. I kind of shot myself in the foot when it turned out that no-one I was with wanted to go on it either! My bottle had very obviously depleted at this stage as I not only went on it twice by myself, but then went and spent another €10 to go on it again. I’m such a weirdo. I can’t really remember how I got back to my tent but was somehow perplexed by how I managed to neatly fold my clothes and put them in the corner yet can’t remember how the fuck I got back to my tent!

I didn’t have time to worry about such anomalies though because it was Friday and it was an early start! The first band I wanted to see was God Is An Astronaut, who were playing in the Green Spheres tent. I wanted to get there early and ended up catching the last 20 minutes or so of the Dirty Epics set. They’re a fun little band who I’ve seen play in the Forum in Waterford a few times before. They play infectiously catchy indie pop songs and try their best to get the crowd going, which is more that can be said for some of the other bands who were playing over the course of the weekend! I managed to wriggle my way up to the front for God Is An Astronaut and they didn’t fail to impress. I’m pretty terrible at remembering the names of songs of sets so all I can say was that I was blown away. It served as the perfect gig to pump me up for the rest of the weekend and I came out of that tent thinking that not even the rain was going to get in the way of me enjoying it! Is it too far-fetched to suggest that this unstoppable feeling that God Is An Astronaut brainwashed into me was what kept me away from the Welly Exchange stall??

Our next stop was over to see James play on the Main Stage. All of their songs seemed pretty alien to me and because we were over to the very right of the stage, sound was quite patchy and the volume ultimately depended on what direction the wind decided to blow in. I was told that they were some big band in the 90s but it wasn’t until they played Come Sit Down that I started to get into it. It also happened to be one of their last songs so it was one of the less enthusiastic performances that I saw over the weekend but they’re a great band to kill time with… if that’s of any compliment at all. It probably isn’t though. I also thought they were a bit gay. Just an observation.

I then went exploring and happened across Therapy? who were playing on the O2 Stage. I only caught the last twenty minutes of their show but I immediately wish that I had told James to fuck off and left earlier to catch the entire show. I hadn’t listened to much of their stuff in quite some time and admittedly a lot of the stuff outside of Troublegum would be as familiar to me as a fist up my nose. I tried my best to fit in around the hardcore fans by humming riffs every now and again as I shimmied my way as close to the front as I could. I’m actually surprised at how well this worked throughout the entire weekend. I shimmied my way to the front of pretty much every act I saw and no-one seemed to mind. Of course when I did get up near the front I’d have nearly bitten the ear off anyone who even dared get past me!

I caught some of Lily Allen on my way back across the arena but told myself that I’d only stay and watch if she was either having some kind of wardrobe malfunction. She wasn’t. I managed to catch the last few minutes of Fight Like Apes who were playing to a pretty full tent. I know that the pissing rain probably had something to do with some smaller bands playing to massive crowds. Fight Like Apes are basically Ireland’s answer to the plethora of electro-indie bands that have been imported across the shores over the years. I really did enjoy what I saw of the gig and was surprised that even people near the back knew the words to the songs. I was creeping around back there in anticipation of Mogwai who were due to play right after.

To express how disappointed I was with Mogwai, I think I’ll talk a bit more about Fight Like Apes, the band I only saw because I wanted to be early for Mogwai. I think they have a very bright future ahead of them. Their music is catchy and upbeat but if I’m allowed one word of criticism it’s that they try a bit too hard to be “random”. I’m all for getting the crowd going but they all they achieve by climbing scaffolding and banging chairs off barriers is distract us from their music – which is quite good.

It was around this time that I had to use one of the toilets. I had managed to get over to the arena when it opened at the beginning of the day when I had to use the ATM. They were spotless then but fast forward 7 hours and take into account that the only food that could be bought comprised of nothing but fat and grease and you have a completely different story. I decided my best course of action was to just queue up behind a girl. Guys only use Portaloos for one reason, and it’s never pretty! My hypothesis was somewhat proven when I saw a guy come out with a big dirty grin on his face and have a girl go in after. Within seconds she ran out and got sick all over the ground! The girl in front of me was armed with bleach and baby wipes, so I was safe as houses. I did leave with a big grin on my face though. God only knows what happened to the poor soul who went in after…

All that was left to do for the night was try get in a good spot for the two headlining bands, Blur and Snow Patrol. Snow Patrol were up first and it was the third best gig I’ve ever seen (right after Tool in the Point in 2006 and God is an Astronaut in Electric Avenue last year). The atmosphere was electric with the entire arena packed with every single fan singing along to every song. I was so caught up in the experience that I even threw a girl up on my shoulders and somehow managed to not drop her even though she was trying her hardest to kill us both. As for Blur, I was torn between seeing them or 2 Many DJ’s. I’ll admit that I was more of an Oasis man during the 90s but the very fact that this could be my only opportunity to see Blur live meant that I chose to stick around. I wasn’t disappointed.

On our way back to our tent we were absolutely gutted to find that someone had set up a tent in the 4ft wide empty square in front of us. Just like that our courtyard was ruined. When we woke up the next morning though, the occupants were to give us all the biggest surprise of the weekend…

(Jesus this is a long post, I’ll try have Sat and Sun’s blog up soon)

So I pretty much fell for that free gym trial hook, line and sinker. Within 5 minutes of entering the gym, I was in the office handing over my credit card making me possibly the only person in the world who goes in for a free trial and ends up not even getting the free trial but signing a year contract! At least I got a good deal anyway.

I’ve been out of the whole voluntary exercise spiel for quite some time and I knew that I’d take to it like a cat to a freezing pond. I brought my MP3 player with me to help get me through it but I soon learned that the type of music that I walk down the street with isn’t exactly ideal for a stint on the treadmill. I found myself just closing my eyes and running to the beats of the music… and almost being flung off the end of the treadmill. I now understood why gyms always play an endless bombardment of “UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ” over the stereo systems – insurance reasons. People would be flying off treadmills left, right and centre should they dare to play anything decent!

This poses a problem for me as I go to the gym to exercise and not to have blood slowly trickle from my ears thanks to being exposed to such drivel. So I’m on the look out for an alternative work out playlist which would ideally encompass some rock and electro and result in me not having to worry about being flung across the room. A quick Google revealed a few suggested playlists but they didn’t really appeal to me so I went trawling through my music collection to see if I could find anything that would be of interest.

A few months a go, I started to hear good things about an artist going by the name of “Girl Talk” whose made a name for himself for having a knack for fusing together the latest chart hits with timeless power ballads of yesteryear and topping them off with hip-hop beats. You can say what you want about people who “mashup” songs, but there’s no arguing that Girl Talk’s end product is extremely fun to listen to! It should see me through a few miles anyway.

Of course, once I figured that I was craving an eclectic mix of rock and electro, 2 Many DJ’s / Soulwax immediately sprung to mind. As well as consistently knocking out top-class remix after top-class remix of some of the best songs released on the alternative scene over the years, they’re also infamous for their “As Heard on Radio Soulwax” series which were sets of (usually) alternative songs that were transformed thanks to the magic Soulwax touch. With 2 Many DJ’s, you can expect great songs to somehow be made better and you’ll find yourself growing fond of songs that you weren’t too keen on to start with! Admittedly, some of their sets sound as if they don’t really have their shit together, but most of them sound as if they were hand-picked for me!

There is absolutely tonnes of material from both of those artists available free online (as in legally). I’d advise you to seek them out if you’re growing tired of the music typically found in gyms! Hopefully I won’t have any carpet burn to report!

I got that giddy feeling again. I hadn’t felt it since I went to see Tool in the Point in 2006. God is an astronaut were coming to town! I’ll admit that I’ve only recently grown attached to the whole Post-rock genre but in the time I’ve been listening to it, God is An Astronaut are a band that constantly stuck out. Accessible, yet intricate.

Electric Avenue, Waterford was the venue – and it was packed!. However, to put things into perspective, God is an Astronaut have been selling out large venues all across Europe all Summer long,yet I describe Electric Avenue as being packed whenever there’s more than twenty people spread out around the place! It’s as intimate as it gets, and even though I only arrived to see the supporting act, Library Tapes, finish up, I was still able to get a table right at the front!

Even though I’ve been listening to them practically non-stop for the past month in anticipation of this gig, I can’t recall their set list! I can only say that it was absolutely mind-blowing! There was something old and something new with each and every one of their songs leading up to epic climaxes. This was the type of gig that you didn’t jump around to, or mosh to, but simply stood there in awe, desperately trying to take in not only the statutory rape of your ears, but the assault of your eyes through the form of a synchronised visual display!

In hindsight, that was my problem – I paid too much attention to the music instead of my drink! I made the “newbie” mistake of leaving my drink on the edge of the table I fought so hard to get. On the very first song, once the sound of the guitars and drums married each other for the infamous “wall of sound” effect of post-rock, my pint slid off the table! I heard the glass fall, but assumed it was one of the skangers behind us who must have taken a wrong turn and ended up in this place! Anyway, I turn around and go to take a drink – an invisible drink! Not to worry, I only have to buy another. If it was any other band I probably would have complained though!

The rest of the show was epic to say the very least. When it was over, I went up to the band to congratulate them on their show because it’s always nice to see bands put so much energy into a small show like this. I bought their intriguingly self-titled latest album and a t-shirt and asked the entire band to sign it. I also talked to Thorsten, their “frontman” so to speak, about how their gear was stolen earlier this year. I have a lot of respect for a group of people who can bounce back from a set back such as that and continue on. A lot of people would have had their souls destroyed there.

Afterwards, and I suppose this leads up to this present moment, I wonder if they felt weird signing an album. To most people, Torsten Kinsella, Niels Kinsella and Lloyd Hanney aren’t household names yet to me, I hold them in the same regard as I do my all-time favourite band; Tool! I wasn’t able to get the John Hancock of Maynard and co when they came to Dublin two years a go, but I’ll happily accept the signatures of God is An Astronaut on my newly bought album!

Despite being together for eight years or so, I don’t think the time has come and gone for God is an astronaut. Their new album is fantastic and they deserve to be playing all the biggest venues worldwide and to adoring fans of all ages. I admit I have a hidden agenda though. When they “make it”, I might just ask them to buy me that pint they owe me!

About 5 years a go on a school tour, I was browsing around HMV in Dublin and came across a BOGOF offer (I’m reliably informed that this means “Buy One Get One Free”) on several books… all of which I had never heard of. I decided to buy them anyway as any kind of reading material was better than having to endure the 3 hour bus trip sitting beside someone I had little (and probably nothing) in common with yet was extremely enthusiastic to share his life story with me at every opportunity and reading was a great excuse to ignore them. The two books I opted to buy were; Bringing Down The House and Ugly Americans, both by Ben Mezrich.

For this post, I’ll ignore Ugly Americans, I didn’t actually get around to reading it for many years later but I will talk about Bringing Down The House, the riveting story of an MIT card counting team that managed to beat the house edge and take Vegas for millions. Their system was based around Blackjack, a card game I was familiar with but had no understanding of basic strategy of other than the commonly practised “gambooool” theory which, to the delight of casinos worldwide, isn’t very effective. For those of you who haven’t quite made the connection yet, this book was adapted for the big screen in the form of the recent blockbuster movie, “21″. And trust me, I’m being very generous in saying it was “adapted” for the big screen, more like molested, mauled and mutated!

I’m not saying the movie was bad, moreso it was different to what I expected. It was your standard movie aimed at kids with exaggerated drama, dumbed down content and a predictable love story thrown in there for good measure. Oh and there’s a happy ending which the audiences always like. In saying that, it was an enjoyable movie. True, the storyline could have been better but it was flashy, glamorous and entertaining to watch. There were plenty of continuity errors which made it seem as if the film was based in a time void, for example the actual story happened in the mid-ninties but the film is unashamedly based in the present given the clothes that the cast are wearing while still trying to sell the idea that some casinos aren’t yet using biometric face recognition security systems. But then again the vast majority of the target audience for this film wouldn’t know that!

So to conclude, 21 was entertaining and I’m sure Las Vegas must be licking its lips at all the wannabe gamblers that are flocking there based on the image portrayed by the film!

Recently (okay, ages ago!) I posted about how I thought that The OC Season Four wasn’t particularly up to scratch when put alongside it’s previous outings. However, the new season soon grew on me and I was actually pleased with how the show was being directed. So it came as a surprise to learn that FOX were cancelling the show with its last episode being aired in the US on January 22nd.

To the best of my knowledge, no European broadcaster, such as Sky, has snapped up the rights to season four. E4 have been working their way through Season 3 for the past few months now but I’d imagine that they’d be very cautious about acquiring the rights to a show that not only has been experiencing its lowest ever ratings but has also been cancelled outright by its network! Therefore I’d be surprised if English fans of The OC ever get to see season four at all!

The writers of the show had an uphill battle when setting out to write season four. They were down their most popular character, a character that they had tried so hard to demonise throughout season three which undoubtedly led to a slice of the fan base losing interest. With all of the main characters graduating from high school, they had to try and find other characters to carry and propel the show into the future. It wasn’t just the characters that were graduating though, its viewers were also coming of age and began to tune into other shows such as Greys Anatomy and CSI – shows which were directly competing with The OC! This is where they stumbled! Season 4 made a very sluggish, uncertain and at times haphazard start. We were presented with drastic changes in vital characters that turned people off the show. It just didn’t seem solid. You just couldn’t even take a guess about where the show was going to go!

After the first three or four episodes, the show began to find itself on more certain footing. People had some idea about what was happening but it was already too late! The show had plummeted in the cut-throat ratings war that is American Television. People had already left the show in their droves and from there-on-in it was just a matter of retaining its loyal audience. Fox invariably decided that that audience was far too small an amount to be practical.

In a press release, Josh Schwartz noted that “The O.C. Season Four finale will also be the series finale. This feels like the best time to bring the show to its close. Thanks to the hard work of our cast, crew and writers, we have enjoyed our best season yet, and what better time to go out than creatively on top. It has been an amazing experience and a great run. For a certain audience, at a certain time, The O.C. has meant something. For that we are grateful.”

For me, The OC is drawing to a close at an apt time with my 18th birthday being only a few months away! I mean can you imagine me being 18 and STILL watching The OC. It’s bad enough that I watched it already! And there, in one paragraph, is a typical example of the battle that Josh and his partners were facing – a battle against age, which any “seasoned” adult will tell you is futile!