Key Notes' Oxegen Overview

Organisationally, Oxegen 2008 was one of the best music events this blog has ever attended. As this was the first festival it had ever attended as ‘working media’, Key Notes was pleasantly surprised at how respected media people (considering his own distaste for some of them). As soon as you flashed your white wristband you could almost kill someone and get away with it, in fact, so helpful were the stewards, they would probably have joined in.

However, outside all the great (and not so great) music, the most important lesson learned this weekend was that people still struggle to understand how you can watch the same act as them and come to a different conclusion. It’s amazing isn’t it? Having an independent thought and worse still, allowing it to escape, sends people into all sorts of apocalyptic convulsions. So what if Key Notes didn’t like the performance of your favourite band? Why would you let this blogs have any bearing on your enjoyment?

It’s not just anonymous online comments either. At the event lots of random punters, upon seeing his white wristband, would ask what Key Notes thought of a certain performance and then proceed to tell him he was wrong. How can an opinion be wrong? You might like The Ting Tings, but this blog don’t think the drummer can actually drum all that well. You may hate keyboards but Key Notes thought that Holy Fuck were one of the greatest bands he’s ever seen. It is an opinion, a subjective, emotionally based opinion, not fact, in much the same way Key Notes is of the opinion there is no nicer alcoholic beverage than Guinness but he knows this won’t stand up to scientific scrutiny. Why should music be any different?

Key Notes has written about this before and yet people still don’t seem to get it. Nobody can experience an event the way you did and likewise, Key Notes can only write reviews based on his own experience, nobody else’s. This blog is not a sheep, and will always write what he thinks and what he feels and never what he thinks people want to read.

Anyway, Key Notes really enjoyed Oxegen, how could he not? He saw some sparkling performances from the likes of Holy Fuck, Roisin Murphy and Hot Chip. He got to see pet hates like White Denim and The Prodigy crash and burn. Best of all he got to spend three days in the company of Mrs. Key Notes, surrounded by music and meeting interesting people, musicians and punters alike.

Oxegen 2008 really had everything; great organisation, clean toilets, organic tofu burgers and a wide spectrum of performances. So why can’t there be a wide spectrum of opinions?

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