Next week you need to know about . . . the Oxegen festival

Ninety thousand people will descend on Punchestown Racecourse, in Co Kildare, next weekend for the annual Oxegen music festival…

Ninety thousand people will descend on Punchestown Racecourse, in Co Kildare, next weekend for the annual Oxegen music festival.

It’s perhaps more of a rite of passage for Irish youth than anything else, and the predominantly young crowd will be enjoying a post-Leaving Cert celebration and catching a series of headline performances from acts such as Black Eyed Peas, Foo Fighters, Coldplay and Beyoncé. Expect Beyoncé’s husband, Jay-Z, to be at Punchestown and maybe even get up and do a star turn.

Running since 2004, Oxegen has picked up a few best European music festival awards and is viewed as having one of the strongest line-ups of all the big summer bashes. Tickets are still available for next weekend, with a one-day pass costing €99.50 and a weekend pass with camping costing €224.

With so much to see and do on site, you can have a busy Oxegen weekend without actually seeing or hearing any music. This year, Oxegen’s fun fair will feature Europe’s largest travelling Sling Shot, which can propel brave festival-goers at 160km/h.

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If you are going to the festival, do check the weather forecast before setting off. If there’s even a suggestion of rain you will need a sturdy pair of wellies. And an awful lot of patience. oxegen.ie.