Helena Christensen watches Interpol

Rather than listening to the music, many journalists spent much of this weekend's Oxegen musical festival in hot pursuit of Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood.

Throughout Friday and Saturday, there were unconfirmed reports that the veteran 61-year-old musician, who was reported last week to have moved in with a teenage cocktail waitress, was there.

"No, I haven't seen Ronnie and I couldn't think of a worse place for him to come. Half the journalists in the country are here," one Oxegen insider told the Sunday Tribune.

There were enough celebrities at Oxegen to keep the paparazzi happy, including supermodel Helena Christensen, who was at Oxegen for a second year in a row. Christensen arrived late on Friday evening on a tour bus from Dublin's Morrison Hotel with boyfriend Paul Banks, the lead singer of Interpol, who played the main stage of Oxegen later that night.

Other VIPs spotted included Westlife star Mark Feehily and his boyfriend, Kevin, model Glenda Gilson and singer Mary Black, who was at the festival to support her son Danny O'Reilly, lead singer with indie band The Coronas.

Among the more unlikely gig-goers was communications minister Eamon Ryan. "This isn't my first time here but this year I came down to see R.E.M.," he said.

And the minister got his wish when Michael Stipe & Co took to the main stage at just before 10pm last night.