Our Summers Past series mines the Irish Times archive to find interesting articles from previous summers. In 2000, the oddly spelled Witnness music festival – which would later become Oxegen – took place in Fairyhouse racecourse, and Róisín Ingle was there to bear, well, Witnness.
Fairyhouse had never seen this kind of punter, but the verdict after the first ever Witnness music festival was that it was a winner all right.
Casual attire being more appropriate for the potentially muddy conditions, there were few contenders for best-dressed lady, but we were spoilt for choice in the Crustiest Reveller category. And those camping out in a nearby field grew crustier by the day.
An estimated 35,000 people descended on the racecourse over the weekend to watch 400 ultra-diverse acts on four different stages, Witnness Main, Witnness More, Witnness Rising and Witnness Dance, each stage emblazoned with a cute pint of the black stuff. The corporate and the musical have never been more in tune.
Festival virgins spent their time sampling every delight possible – so many body-piercing and tattoo stands, so little time. Catherine (16), from Dublin, tried to pretend the Chinese symbol on her shoulder was the real McCoy but it turned out to be far-from-permanent henna, a skin accessory the funkiest festival-goers were sporting.
She also wore a “Dublin big hat” and gave the following assessment of her first festival, which also-contained a funfair. “It’s about getting drunk and meeting loads of lads and now I’m going to boogie on over to the Dance tent,” she said. Fake ID was also a must-have for those under-age fun-seekers who wanted to indulge at the beer stands.
For those puzzled by the name it should be pointed out that Guinness and Witnness both have two Ns. Posters were designed to drive the much-laboured PR concept home. There was a Togethernness sign at the Meeting Point, a Thirstinness sign at the bar and the people collecting empty glasses in the bar wore Emptinness T-shirts.
But the best slogan could be found around the portable loos where people were directed to relieve themselves at Weenness. The Guinness, incidentally, was £2.50 a pint, and the sponsors might be interested to know that the stuff on offer over the weekend was described by one reveller as tasting not dissimilar to a pint of cold coffee.
Saturday began with grey skies and drizzle, with that festival stalwart mud the order of the day in the Dance tent. On the main stage Mullingar crooner Jack L threw flowers to the damp crowd and kicked footballs out over their heads.
Under the cover of the massive blue More tent, Paddy Casey treated an adoring crowd to a spot of impromptu breakdancing. The sun came out, and stayed out, when the Undertones took to the stage. It was setting under pink and blue skies as Ireland's adopted son, David Gray, belted out Babylon, which judging by the numbers singing it drunkenly on the bus home was definitely the inaugural Witnness theme tune.
Another day, another star-studded line-up. Fans of the normally ultraglam All Saints may have been a tad disappointed to see them complete their set in jeans’n’T-shirt style yesterday.
Meanwhile, devotees of defunct boyband Take That were delighted to spot former member Mark Owen wandering around with a Big Breakfast cameraman. Just one problem – "They keep asking, for Robbie", said a mock-dejected Owen, looking uncannily like the cute one from the Monkees. He was kipping in a tent to get the authentic festival buzz but hadn't bought a sleeping bag and so was "bloody freezing" on Saturday night.
The sustenance on offer at the festival showed just how far things have come from the burger-and-chip vans of Féile. You could choose from a Japanese Noodle Bar, Cajun nachos or a Vegetarian and Wholefood stand. Quirky T-shirts were a big seller elsewhere.
The man selling poppers on one stand wasn’t quite sure about the legality of the small bottles of room odouriser that apparently have an uplifting effect when sniffed. The chilled-out atmosphere of the relatively trouble-free festival meant that apart from a small number detained for drug-related offences it was a stress-free bank holiday weekend for the gardaí as well.
The abiding image of Witnness 2000 was the sight of people watching the gigs sitting on brightly coloured inflatable furniture which they purchased for about £15. There were armchairs and sofas and even chairs for children.
And at the end of each night, tired and not a little emotional, they carried the still inflated furniture home on their heads. Lit up against the black sky, the Big Wheel kept on spinning. And so will Witnness if the success of the last two days is anything to go by.
