Kevin Courtney reviews day two of Oxegen at Punchestown, Co Kildare.
After the atrocious weather on Saturday, day two of Oxegen felt like a new dawn, and the main problem was how to lure the punters out of the sunshine and into the tents where the bands were playing. No such worries for the Feeling and the Kooks, who played on the outdoor NME stage to a sea of smiling faces, and got their big summer hits out for the lads and lassies. The Feeling lifted the crowd with their fine, Beach Boys harmony-laden Sewn, and the Kooks trotted out their jaunty tune, She Moves in her Own Way. The Zutons won the afternoon, though, with their big, brassy indie-soul sound, as featured on tracks from their two albums, Who Killed the Zutons? and Tired of Hanging Around.
The crowd had to hang around a bit for Goldfrapp, who was suffering from a sore throat, but had decided against doctor's orders to go ahead with her performance. Good thing, too, otherwise we'd have missed her saucy 1980s-style synth rock and her troupe of bikini-clad dancers wearing wolves' heads.
Over on the Pet Sounds stage, young British soul diva Corinne Bailey Rae performed her silky smooth hit, Put Your Records On, and a selection of sophisticated tunes that prove that, whatever she might lack in experience, she makes up for in effort.
Cult roots soul artist Ben Harper is a past master of the game, and he had no problem being both entertaining and enlightening. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah suffered from long periods of indecision between songs, but the crowd was decisive in its enthusiasm for the offbeat Brooklyn band. Icelandic soundscape artists Sigur Ros turned the tent into a shimmering echo chamber with their beautiful, swirling, symphonic sound.
On the New Band Stage, Californian duo Giant Drag were like The White Stripes in reverse, with the girl (Annie Hardy) on distorted guitar and vocals and the guy (Micah Calabrese) on drums and mini-moog. They played tunes from their fine Hearts & Unicorns album, including This Isn't It and My Dick Sux, and a scuzzy version of Chris Isaak's Wicked Game.
In the Green Room, the Charlatans brought back the twin spirits of baggy and britpop, with such past hits as One to Another and The Only One I Know, and Paul Weller kept the mod torch burning with a gritty, spitfire set that included Walk on Gilded Splinters, The Changingman and You Do Something To Me, ending with a version of his old band The Jam's A Town Called Malice.
On the main stage, Kaiser Chiefs demonstrated how far you can go with a few la-la-la choruses and some lyrics about predicting riots. Franz Ferdinand got the crowd marching to the art-rock beats of Do You Want To, Matinee and Take Me Out, but when you strip away the intellectual pretension, FF don't seem much deeper than the Kaisers. Headliners the Red Hot Chili Peppers are overplayed and over here too often, and their new album, Stadium Arcadium, offers up the same tired old Californication.
Flea's funky basslines are losing their spark, Anthony Keidis's auctioneer's rap is losing its edge, and John Frusciante's twiddly guitar lines are losing their inventiveness. The Chili Peppers need to go away and dream up something with a little more spice.
