Desmond’s Bumper Weekend

Denis Desmond looks to have profited from his festival interests over the July 9-11 weekend as Scotland’s T-In-The-Park and Ireland’s Oxegen Festival pulled close to 500,000 people across three days.

The 85,000-capacity T In The Park at Balado Park, Kinross, shifted 40,000 “earlybird tickets” – at 2009 prices – by the first week in September, so it was hardly a surprise that all three days sold out.

In Ireland there were 70,000 at Punchestown horse racing track to see the opening day of Oxegen, which was followed by a sold-out second-day crowd of 80,000. It drew 75,000 on the third and final day.

Across the two festivals, Desmond, who owns Oxegen and has a 33 percent stake in T-In-The-Park, shifted 97 percent of the 495,000 tickets available to him. Another third of the fest is owned by LN-Gaiety, a joint venture between Live Nation and Desmond, while Simon Moran’s SJM Concerts owns the rest.

Live Nation’s weeklong run at London’s Hyde Park sold 180,000 fewer tickets, although the events are limited to a capacity of 55,000.
Glastonbury drew 420,000, counting the Somerset festival’s sellout at 140,000 for each of the three days.

The loosely twinned Scottish and Irish events also shared some wet weather as both were hit by showers during the early part of the weekend.

The acts on both the Oxegen and T In The Park bills included Jay-Z, Eminem, Muse, Kasabian, Florence & The Machine, 30 Seconds To Mars, Paolo Nutini and Biffy Clyro.