Will "dance" breathe new life into Oxegen?

The festival is back, but the focus is now on dance music, says Ed Power

AFTER a two-year hiatus, Oxegen, Ireland’s longest-running, mainstream music festival, has changed. Oxegen was renowned for its pick’n’mix booking, with acts such as Jay-Z appearing alongside underground artists like Arcade Fire.

Rather than appeal to a diverse audience, now Oxegen has a laser-beam focus on dance and pop. If your heaven is raving along to David Guetta and Calvin Harris, then Christmas has arrived five months early. By focusing on dance, Oxegen’s organisers are copying the UK, where festivals appeal to a segmented market. Thus you have V, for devotees of pretension-free rock; Latitude, for older, more eclectic fans; and Download, for metal heads. Festivals must know their niche.