Rain stays away as Kings hail Irish fans

The Kings of Leon paid tribute to the Irish fans who have helped make them one of the biggest bands in the world.

The Kings of Leon paid tribute to the Irish fans who have helped make them one of the biggest bands in the world.

The largest crowd of the festival to date, in the order of 50,000 fans, watched their late night headlining act at Oxegen.

The four piece band from Tennessee, consisting of the three Followill brothers and their cousin Matthew Followill have been creeping up the bill at Oxegen since their first appearance in 2004 and were the most requested act from the fans.

Lead singer Caleb Followill said: "We still consider ourselves a small band, but you make us feel so big. It's still a dream to play places like this. I was really looking forward to this one".

Elsewhere, the Green Room, which can hold 9,000 fans was filled to overflowing for Mundy's set and fans raced from other venues for the encore Galway Girl which he performed with Sharon Shannon.

Opening act Amy MacDonald performed a cover version of The Killers' When You Were Young, Paddy Casey played with a string quartet and the Dublin Gospel Choir and the Editors set on the main stage was very well received.

US math rock band Battles drew a huge crowd to the Pet Sounds Arena for their set which showcased material from their debut album 'Mirrored' while fans passed a full-size blow-up doll through the crowd.

The rain stayed away for most of yesterday and the sun made a brief appearance. The amount of remedial work done on the site was apparent from early on and mud was conspicuous by its absence.

Day 2 begins at 1.30pm with Bowling for Soup on the main stage. REM and The Verve headline this evening, but the question on everyone's lips is whether Amy Winehouse will turn up for her set which begins at 6.45pm.