Musical vibes to woo 60,000 at Fairyhouse

Here comes the fun. Perhaps not the sun, but it's all right. If anything is likely to tempt the sun into its dancing shoes this weekend, it's the biggest musical line-up seen here, Witnness. With 60,000 tickets sold, the two-day funk-fest begins at the Fairyhouse Racecourse near Dublin this afternoon. Witnness - sponsored by GuiNNESS (Geddit?) - will be the biggest music festival in terms of number of acts, with over 70 international rock, dance and pop acts on five stages.

Among those playing today will be David Gray, Ocean Colour Scene, Leftfield, the Undertones (minus Fergal, sadly), the Happy Mondays, Belle and Sebastian and the Afro Cuban Allstars.

Hedonists are expected to go another day and bask in the vibes of Travis, All Saints, the Asian Dub Foundation, Beck and Paul Weller tomorrow. The event will run from 12.30 p.m. until 1 a.m. each day.

Ms Nicola Watkins of the Witnness office said she was "extremely excited and thrilled to be involved in what is going to be the best musical event ever staged here".

There will be three public bars, two VIP bars as well as one bar in the Witnness "Treatment" area. Being a Guinness-sponsored event, Ms Watkins said the company was "determined that people will be able to get a perfect pint of Guinness".

To this end the expertise of 24 technical and quality personnel has been engaged to attend to any glitches in the 150 pumps or the 14 40-foot refrigeration containers.

Witnness will be broadcast on the Internet during and after the event. The site at www.witnness.com is up and running with information on the venue, travel details, band information and the running order on each stage.

There will also be broadcasts from the event on MTV and TV3. There is a "huge" media interest in the event, Ms Watkins said.

"Over 400 media personnel have been accredited for the two days, including 70 photographers and 12 television crews," she said. "There'll be MTV, UTV, BBC, The Big Breakfast from Channel 4, RTE and TV3."

Fairyhouse Racecourse is about 25 minutes from Dublin city centre on a good day, though anyone aiming to be there in time for a particular act should give themselves plenty of time. Traffic is expected to be heavy, though buses are running from O'Connell Street from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. and then back again at night.

On-site there will be 160 medical staff and people are advised to bring sunscreen (wishful thinking?), an extra sweater and drinking water - and they should eat a good meal before leaving home.

Whatever the weather, the eclectic choice of music should leave a song in even the hardest of festival rockers' hearts. Incidentally, in keeping with the vibe, Met Eireann is promising a "mixed bag" for the weekend, singing in one key about "scattered showers", and "cloudy but dry" in another.

PA adds: The wife of Boyzone lead singer Ronan Keating is expecting the couple's second child. The singer said Yvonne was expecting a baby next February.

The couple already have a 15-month-old son, Jack. Keating (23) married longtime friend Yvonne, a 26-yearold model, in the Caribbean in 1998.