Live Preview: Oxegen 2010 [Saturday Preview]

My look at Friday is available here: http://bullblacknova.blogspot.com/2010/07/live-preview-oxegen-2010-friday-preview.html where you'll find the reasons for doing the post this way, etc.

Highlights Per Stage:

Main Stage: A fantastic line-up on the Saturday - a real festival one. Biffy Clyro, Kasabian, Florence, Muse... A who's who of the top festival acts really. As a highlight I'm going to suggest Kasabian (21:05-23:10) I caught them last summer at Slane with the Prodigy and Oasis and they totally stole the show.

Vodafone Stage: A good selection here too, catch Two Door Cinema Club (16:05-17:20) if you can. Irresistible pop hooks, they rival the Drums for the quintessential summer act of the festival I think.

Heineken Green Spheres: I'm going to cheat a little bit on this one and suggest that you catch the one-two of Wallis Bird (15:00-16:15) and Cathy Davey (16:15-17:35) These two are at the peak of their game now and are among the best Irish acts playing the festival. Why bother moving from the stage when you can catch them one after the other?

2FM/Hot Press Academy: Yeasayer (21:00-22.10) Without a doubt. I loved their new album Odd Blood at the start of this year and are one of the acts I'm most looking forward to.

Red Bull Stage: Wild Beats (19:10-20:25) released one of last year's standout albums and got the nod ahead of the fantastic Dirty Projectors here as they are up against the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Editors and the Gossip - all of whom I have either seen or have no interest in.

Dance Stage: French Horn Rebellion (17:45-18:45) These guys came to my attention due to a number of remixes of obscure indie songs (The Antlers was the one that got me I think!) and might well be worth a look as they do their own thing. As I said yesterday, the dance stage is poor all weekend despite the best dance acts in the world being in attendance.


One Not To Be Missed:
As I said yesterday I'll try and pick a more obscure act for this one each day. For Saturday it's Tinariwen (Vodafone Stage 14:55-16:05) African legends, Mojo magazine honoured them last year with an award in recognition of their absolutely fantastic most recent album and they will offer a completely different experience to anything else on offer. The songs that I have heard combine African tribal singing, bluesy guitars, sitars and drums... Could be really special if you want something totally different.


One You Can Afford To Skip:
Ellie Goulding (Heineken Green Spheres 17:35-19:00) Over-hyped, over-exposed and (from what I've seen) not great live. I don't mind hearing her on the radio, but in a live setting it becomes clear just how much production has gone in for Ms. Goulding. A clash with Biffy Clyro and Florence & The Machine should see her lose a huge portion of the crowd who would have gone to her too I think.


The One EVERYONE Will Be Talking About:
Muse with their glorious live reputation and legions of fans? Guess again. I'm convinced Florence & The Machine (Main Stage 18:05-19:35) will draw the biggest crowd of the weekend. Not to everyone's taste, Florence Welch has an amazing following in terms of the rock and pop crowds and will not polarize fans to the effect that many of the bigger acts will.


The Irish Act You Shouldn't Miss:
Again, Wallis Bird and Cathy Davey are the best Irish acts on offer. I mentioned above how they play one after another on the Green Spheres stage and could be fantastic.


What I'm Going To (Hopefully!)
14:00-15:20: The Stranglers (Main Stage)
15:00-16:15: Wallis Bird (Heineken Green Spheres)
16:15-17:35: Cathy Davey (Heineken Green Spheres)
17:00-18:05: Biffy Clyro (Main Stage)*
18:05-19:35: Florence & The Machine (Main Stage)
19:10-20:25: Wild Beasts (Red Bull Academy Stage)**
20:25-21:40: Dirty Projectors (Red Bull Academy Stage)***
21:00-22:10: Yeasayer (2FM/Hot Press Academy Stage)
22:00-23:20: Hot Chip (Heineken Green Spheres)****
23:00-END: Muse (Main Stage)
*Depending on when Cathy finishes! I should hopefully some Biffy.
**Depends on Florence's running length.
***Will be leaving early for Yeasayer
****Will stay until the end and catch Muse after, but there shouldn't be an overlap here!