Tens of thousands had been arriving since Friday to pitch their tents in the festival campsite. Security on site was strict with any noncamping music fans having their alcohol confiscated. Stewards were also electronically scanning tickets following fears that forgeries were in circulation. Roadworks on the N7 caused large-scale congestion en route to the festival.

Just after Irish band The Marshals had christened the main stage with the first set of the day, seven girls from Cork were already looking forward to today's headliners, the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The Californian band have played numerous times in Ireland in the past few years, but that didn't matter to Susan, Grace, AnnaMaria, Maeve, Aisling, Charlene and Kate, all 18 years old. The girls had arrived in the campsite on Friday afternoon. "The toilets are a disgrace, " said Maeve. "They're filthy already, but I suppose that's all part of the experience." They all recoiled in horror at the thought of using Oxegen's latest feature, Shepees disposable female urinals. "No way!" shouted Anna-Maria. "We're ladies!"

A garda spokeswoman at Oxegen's on-site office was satisfied yesterday afternoon with how the event was progressing. "We've only had around four or five arrests as yet, mostly for drugs, " she said. "Parking was the biggest problem so far. We had 53,000 arrive on Friday."

The biggest draw yesterday was the Arctic Monkeys, who shot to fame last year. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paul Weller, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Sigur Ros, Mylo and Dubliners Humanzi will headline the festival's five stages tonight.

Ryan's Event Cleaning, which is running waste management at the site, says it will collect 350 tons of rubbish over the weekend, using 50,000 black rubbish sacks and 6,000 pairs of gloves.