OXEGEN ENDED yesterday as it so rarely does: with baking sun and a languid air.
In contrast with the mudfests of previous years, the only problem this year, environmentally speaking, was the clouds of dust everywhere from the parched earth, which did not churn up as a result of the apocalyptic deluge that closed the M7 for a time on Friday evening.
Despite one of the strongest line-ups in years, the event did not sell out and day tickets were still being heavily promoted yesterday morning.
Stall holders did not appear to be as plentiful as in previous years. One stall that was busy all weekend, however, was the Penneys concession, which had continuous queues yesterday afternoon.
There was a surprise appearance yesterday evening by Fergie from Friday's headliners, The Black Eyed Peas, who did a duet with guitar legend Slash on the main stage. The pair played a rare live version of the song Beautiful Dangerous from Slash's self-titled solo album, with Fergie in rock-chick mode.
The man himself was mobbed when he appeared in the VIP section yesterday afternoon.
There was heavy traffic on the road to Punchestown, with many music fans availing of the good weather and a strong final-day line-up to buy day tickets.
In particular, a considerable number of day tickets were sold for the star attraction, Beyoncé, who arrived on a private aircraft from Scotland. A superstar in her own right, she had to settle for second on the bill behind Coldplay, who closed the festival.
Things got under way on the main stage yesterday afternoon with a performance by the Rubberbandits. They brought with them a troupe of altar-boy dancers who whipped off their clothes to reveal fake tans and itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie neon speedos.
At one stage the Rubberbandits brought the crowd to their knees, asking them all to genuflect in homage to their greatness.
Girl band The Saturdays, who include Irish singer Una Healy in their ranks, led the crowd in a version of Olé, olé, olé, olé in a packedHeineken tent.
By yesterday afternoon, gardaí had not arrested anyone in connection with an incident at 4am on Saturday morning in which five fans sustained stab wounds in the blue campsite.
A teenager from Co Tyrone was taken to hospital in Dublin for treatment, while four others, three from the North and one from the Republic, were treated on site for slash wounds to the arms and face.
A knife has been recovered but gardaí said the assailant had not yet been found.
A Garda spokesman described it as an “isolated incident” and not indicative of the atmosphere at the festival in general, where he said there had been fewer incidents than in previous years.
