Thousands rock as Oxegen heats up

THE thousands of revellers that arrived at the Oxegen campsite yesterday will be relieved that, despite dull, grey conditions, the rain held off.

Irish celebrities also began drifting in by late after-noon with Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy), model Glenda Gilson and singer Paddy Casey mixing with VIPs.

Kings Of Leon headed the bill on the main stage as did Groove Armada on the O2 stage. Fans expect to see REM, the Verve, Manic Street Preachers and Amy Winehouse today.

But the vast majority of concert-goers won’t give a second thought to the behind-the-scenes operation which will keep Oxegen ticking over and, above all, clean.

As the music dies down, the night is alive with clean-up crews. The stages, arenas, dance areas and fields will all be worked on by teams clearing a mess from 80,000 people.

A cleaning company, founded in Australia, has been hired to breathe fresh air into hundreds of acres of concert complex.

Their job? To collect hundreds of tons worth of junk, including plastic, metal, wood, broken tents, abandoned clothes, food and package waste.

The firm, Cleanevent, has worked on large-scale shows and events, including at London’s 02 arena.

“At one o’clock in the morning when the arenas are emptied out, we actually go in with a large crew and rake, bag and remove all that waste,” explained Duncan Price, Cleanevent’s regional operations manager.

Over 160 crew will carry out the clean-up, not finishing until 9am.

This year’s MCD festival aims to be environmentally friendly.

CO2 emissions will be offset by two renewable energy projects — one an initiative from Turkey.

cleanevent.com

oxegen.ie