The Editors are not ripping off Interpol, they are both ripping off Joy Division, who I never liked in the first place. Even JJ72 have gone all moody, dark and forgotten how to play guitar or write proper melodies. The curse of Joy Division strikes again. Nine Black Alps are promising, if similarly retro (though more 1992 than 1982). I like Maximo Park. Honest and fresh and optimistic about life. One gets the impression that Paul Smith has been far closer to Ian Curtis' state of mind than the likes of Mark Greaney, but doesn't feel compelled to pose as a morose troubled soul. The singles are far better than the rest of the album but IMO are strong enough to make it a must-buy anyhow. Hopefully the likes of the Magic Numbers will remind people of the shallowness of the Joy Division wannabes.

I don't trust people who don't like Joy Division.

maximo parks are the new inspiral carpets

the inspiral carpets were an over rated sack of poop

ah, thought it might be something like that!

In fairness, Apply Some Pressure, Graffiti and The Coast is Always Changing are top, top tunes. I agree that the album is not a great debut release but am still glad I bought it. In these days of the iPod, those songs deserve to feature on every punk-pop-rock fan's playlists. Apart from that, Paul Smith seems to be a class frontman with genuine presence, intelligence and has lots of time for the fans. I am well looking forward to seeing them at Oxegen and Glastonbury but have a nasty feeling they will clash with other acts. UP THE PARK!

SATURDAY Green Day - Made up, kid punks who've been peddling the same riffs for years and years. ' American Idiots ' The Frames - Over earnest, become more slickly corporate by the day, lazy last album, predictable. The Prodigy - Unless it's a resurrection of Jesus proportions this is to be missed.. Why? For the Nostalgia? Snoop Dogg - Seriously irrelevant untalented drug hyping rubbish. Queens Of The Stone Age - Oddly intelligent and slightly good Kaiser Chiefs - What???? Pub pop at it's very best. It's easy when there's that much money thrown at them. Watch out Eurovision Ian Brown - Genuine living legend. Enough humble modesty to make sure it's not up it's own a*&e and enough new good stuff to make sure were not being smothered in Irony Kasabian - Nasty retro stylings from a nasty bunch of nasty people. Nasty Razorlight - Processed beats is a song by Kasabian. Processed Band would suit there guys Bloc Party - Possibly genuine article, possibly not. I like Luno. But then again I like Germany and that doesn't mean I like Hitler The Bravery - My mates say ' Dave , they're rubbish ' . I say ' Mates, they're not! ' Interpol - Oh, the beauty. The only band so far I'd want to see Foo Fighters - Merciful Jesus. Angry rock n' roll in the same way a gentle breeze is a wild storm. Avoid. Keane - I'm not very ' BANDNAME' on these chaps. Dreadful stuff. Like water dripping onto a Piano late at night, when you're trying to sleep The Killers - Both my sisters have it. Most of my female work colleagues too. My mum was considering buying it. That means it's either the new issue of Heat or it's this rubbish. Doves - Sprawling, brilliant tunesmithery. Band number 2 for me so far New Order - Like watching you Dad run up the stairs ( You know he was once able to do it with ease, but now it's not so easy ) The Streets - Not my cup of heroin but not bad if I'm to be honest ( Not that anyone's bothered reading this far ) Jimmy Eat World - I'd rather get slaughtered and burned Audioslave - Laughable James Brown - Purely for comedic balue, surely there'll be no real fans here? Is there OAP parking? The Beautiful South - Gentle pop that's about as offensive as winning the lotto. Wouldn't get my runners mucky mind Josh Ritter - Lonely guitar hero in the same way that Pol Pot was a hero. Rodrigo y Gabriela - Harmless. Catch them on Grafton St for free, Saw Doctors - Rousing, GAA gang pleasers. Seriously though, it's pound for pound the worst line up in recent memory. It might be perfect for the US loving gang but it's a poor, poor genre mix. The Frames in between Green Day and the Prodigy is a big mistake in terms of momentum building. I really think they've gone for a big name too many this year and it'll be electric picnics gain. Is anyone REALLY that excited about going to see any band ? Considering nearly all the bands have played here at some stage in the last 2 years, and the fact electric picnic has Rev, Lips, Fire, Cave and Werk !! Come on people!!!

aye, electric picnic takes it hands down, gotsta scrounge enough cash for a ticket now.

Green Day - Great pop band, with one of the album's of last year, and some of the singles of the last decade; Basket Case, Geek Stink Breath, Good Riddance, Hitchin A Ride etc The Frames - Bad albums, entertaining live, as long as Glen keeps shtum Mylo - Brilliant stuff, happly energised electro The Prodigy - Never released a bad album, but hardly cutting edge. Spitfire should be good. Slam - should be energetic, interesting will they stick to the house hide of things, or play it harder Snoop Dogg - brilliant rapper, classic hip hop Black Strobe - GOLD house Queens Of The Stone Age - not a fan, good bass player Kaiser Chiefs - Excellent pop, definate crowd singalongs - I Predict A Riot, Oh My God etc Ian Brown - beyond rubbish live Erick Morillo - weird pick for the top bill. expect a harder set than the Reel to Reel stuff Kasabian - Album is a bit all over the place, but a couple of excellent tunes LCD Soundsytem - probably one of the most exciting acts on the bill. Essential party music Razorlight - Borrell is an arrogant asshole, but a great post-Rats band anyway, great live, by all accounts Bloc Party - Fantasic Athlete - 'anthemic' er, no. An English band that will never be popular here The Bravery - fake Interpol - I leave that one for everyone else to masterbate over. Good band, but incredibly overrated Foo Fighters - past it, quite boring live. Grohls voice doesnt hold up Keane - ewwwww. Calculated piano pop, although Somewhere Only We Know is a good song The Killers - Released possibly the best album last year. Were amazing at Oxegen 04 Doves - Past it New Order - Worth it for th classic tunes The Streets - Best British band of the last 5 years, unforgettable live Jimmy Eat World - college rock scum Audioslave - New single is awesome, worth it for the heavy weight factor James Brown - legend etc The Beautiful South - personally, I despise Josh Ritter - good for whelans maybe, not a festival Rodrigo y Gabriela - absolutely excellent live Saw Doctors - sure, why not? The Tears - pass the pay cheque Super Furry Animals - rashackle crazy live indie Jacques Lu Cont - brilliant and increasingly popular since he turned up at Backlash Deep Dish - the closest an act on the bill comes to good deep house and techno

Punchbowl, Id love to see a suggested line up from you keeping in mind that the people who wish to attend the festival want big international acts mixed in with local and new talent Ive been to all of the witnness/oxegen festivals so far and theres no way, comparing it to other years, that you could say its the worst line up in recent years... If this is the worst of the line ups id be interested in knowing from you the order in which you put the previous lineups

one good song does not a band make

Green Day - Lowest common denominator punk pop for kids and redneck guns' n' roses fans. The Frames - Last album was the worst of their career. Great live act but totally over rated in this country by a blinkered fawning fan base which seems to now comprised exclusively of teenage girls. Mylo - Has got a couple of quality funky house tunes but nothing spectacular live. The Prodigy - Once they were one of the best live acts on the planet but haven't released a great record in 8 years. Slam - Their brand of Tech-House wouldn't be my cup of tea but Positive Education is a tune. Snoop Dogg - Made a seminal record 12 years ago but has been treading water ever since. Occasionally Dre or the Neptunes will grace him with a quality beat but he's pretty lazy on the mic nowadays. Black Strobe - Quality dirty sexy electro. Queens Of The Stone Age - One of the best live bands on the planet. Kaiser Chiefs - Disposable fun pop. Jump along to I Predict a Riot and then head along to the hot dog stall when they start playing filler. Ian Brown - Worth it just to hear F.E.A.R. and a few Stone Roses tracks. Erick Morillo - Cheesy obvious popular house. Kasabian - Couple of good tunes, a lot of filler and a lot of unwarranted arrogance LCD Soundsytem - Quality. One of the best albums of the year. Razorlight - One good tune and a couple of middling ones. Lead singer's a deluded c*nt. Bloc Party - More quality. One of the other best albums of the year. Athlete - Sh*t. The Bravery - Disposable manufactured pop. Enjoy it while it lasts. Interpol - Quality. One of the best acts to emerge over the last few years. Foo Fighters - They were poor at Slane and they're becoming increasingly MOR with every release. Keane - Sh*t The Killers - Ridiculously over hyped band. They've got a couple of good tunes but they're so overplayed I can't enjoy them anymore. Doves - Seriously under rated band with a great back catalogue. New Order - They've got a great back catalogue but have you heard that new single? The Streets - First album's quality but he pretty much ran out of ideas after that. No great shakes live. Jimmy Eat World - The Middle's alright but apart from that... Audioslave - Sh*t. James Brown - One of the greatest artists of all time. The Beautiful South - Far too MOR for a "youth festival" like Oxegen. Josh Ritter - Another mediocre singer songwriter that we've tried to adopt as one of our own. Rodrigo y Gabriela - Don't know enough about them to comment. Saw Doctors - Not my cup of tea but good luck to them. The Tears - If they just turn up and play the first suede album in it's entirety than they'll be alright. Super Furry Animals - Quality. One of the best acts on the bill. Jacques Lu Cont - Hit and Miss. He's done some great remix work over the last few years but most of his recent stuff has been very forgettable. Deep Dish - Flash dance was b*llocks.

Why is everyone slagging Green Day? They're a great pop band, and American Idiot is an excellent album. Maybe it's not cool to like pop punk. Whatever.

New Order are more pop than Green Day! Green day are alright, wouldn't be really into them, suprised they were allowed back after the mud fight they started a Witnness/Oxegen one year. Don't seem too bright as a band really, during the same perfomance the lead singer thought it was a fantastic idea to stick his head into one of the huge amp/PA speaker cones, eejit.

woah, forgot about that mud fight. That was Braveheart s**t. Just found out I wont be working the weekend of Oxegen so now I can go to the whole thing instead of just Sunday. yipee.

Sad to see music preferences being reduced to one-line throwaway verdicts. The NME has gone more and more in this direction where they declare a certain band or act to be 'in' or 'out' and manufacture snappy little justifications for all the younger teenagers to remember so they can pretend they know music. I'm not saying that's the case here, just that it's a debased way to consider music. It is good to see the acclaim of Bloc Party and the disdain for those chancers Kasabian. Have to stand up for Keane. Quality songwriting that 95% of bands couldn't match if sat down with a piano and drumkit. And simply one of the best live vocal performances I've ever heard. Unsurprisingly, the NME tendency have deemed them "dull" (as opposed to those MADMAD people in Kaiser Chiefs or whatever). I suspect this is code for "posh", used by people who'd never have the patience for anything without guitars and who don't own a single classical CD. Sure the lyrics are mostly crap but the music is quality.