What would your dream music festival be? Which bands would you want to see there?

These are two of the questions that every concert lover and music junkie in South Africa has asked themselves at least once and probably spoken about many times with friends into the early hours of the morning. We had been looking very forward to the 'concert singing' part of the Mlungu Trek since before we even left South Africa and we couldn't have asked for much more than Oxegen 2011 with its cocktail of Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Slash, Black Eyed Peas and the cherry on top, Beyonce! These were just the headline bands. Other bands included The Script, Arctic Monkeys, Bruno Mars, Weezer, The Strokes, Beady Eye (Oasis) and My Chemical Romance. Acts we missed (due to the most irritating time clashes) but would have loved to see were Jimmy Eat World, Eels, Brandon Flowers (of Killers), Deadmau5, Swedish House Mafia and Keisha. Just joking about that last one, though she did perform…if you can call it that. And these were only the names we recognized. There must have been at least 60 other bands there that we didn't know. Not bad for three days of live music insanity in Punchestown, Ireland.

This festival was voted the best line up of Europe's 2011 music festivals. The dates of the festival also worked perfectly for us. So we put all our chips on black and did everything we could to ensure that we were going to be there. We even crystalised our attendance by booking about 1.5 months before the concert…which is very un-mlungu like. We made sure that we also booked our accommodation very early to guarantee a spot in the "luxury" campsite…thanks to some very wise words from Romy Hofmeyr. Her advice about getting a pair of wellies was also spot on. So much so that when we arrived in Dublin from the airport the bus driver announced at the stop we had to get off at "This is where all of you wearing wellies get off." It was really cool to see all the concert goers stomping around Dublin the day that the festival started in their wellies…from the good ol' faithful Dunlop greens to the designer multi-coloured styled. They've become so much a part of the festival that they're as much an accessory as they are a necessity.

Our trek to Oxegen 2011 had been preceded by the Bahamas, USA, Iceland and England (with Iceland and England happening on the same day as our trek to the festival!) - this meant that we had visited 5 countries in the last week and 3 countries in the previous 24 hours (if you include Ireland)!

We arrived at the festival the day before it started along with thousands of other music and party enthusiasts. Our backpacking skills came in really handy as we managed to quickly and smoothly bee line through the masses of lesser prepared rolling suitcase pullers, which really don't work well when being pulled through mud, stones, grass and puddles along with a thousand other people all trying to get into the campsites as quickly as possible. The organization at the entrance to the festival grounds was incredible. And just as incredible was how everyone listened to the officials and organizers and did what they were told - something these mlungus weren't used to coming from the chaos of SA organisation. It didn't take long before we were snapped into our wrist bands and heading for the green campsite. The luxury campsite was really just pre-set-up tents but we went one small step further and got a pod - effectively a wooden tent - with a door that locked properly to try make sure our valuables (read passports and electronics) were as safe as possible. The site also had a slightly better ratio of toilets and showers to people than the open self tenting blue and red campsites. The most important thing about the luxury site though is that the people staying there are generally a bit older and more chilled and less likely to burn your tent, steal your stuff, look for a bit of a bovver or generally disrupt your festival than they are in the red and blue campsites…well worth coughing up the extra Euros for. You also don't lose any of the camping spirit by going this route and we met and became friends with all our neighbors and other random enthusiasts in the campsite.

We could talk for hours and hours and hours about our experience at the festival, but we thought we'd give our first co-mlungu, mlungutjie, who joined the trek for a few days, a chance to write our first guest blog post. So without further ado, we welcome the words below of mlungutjie Brad Stein. Thanks for joining the trek and the write up below.

Trek on…Brett and Darren.

P.S. keep checking in for new picture albums.

Guest blog by Brad Stein - Oxegen 2011 Naas, County Kildare, Ireland 8th July 2011 - 10th July 2011

It's 1am Sunday night and I am finished. Have just gotten home, unpacked and sorted everything as far as I could. Even though I will feel like death warmed up tomorrow I need to start putting pen to paper now before I forget the incredible music experience I had this past weekend.

I joined the Mlungu Trek on their excursion to the Oxegen music festival in Ireland. My experience was the more 'menschadikke' (decent in Yiddish) approach as I managed to find a hotel nearby to stay in rather than rough it with the guys. In my defence I probably would have 'luxury' camped with them if I could have but the cabins only hold 2 people, and I managed to find a very decent hotel (Holiday Inn standard) for a fraction of the cost of camping, so to me it seemed a no-brainer.

The Mlungu Trekkers arrived in the UK Wed night to little fanfare (I think the News of the World possibly had other issues keeping them busy). After hardly any sleep I am sure, they left for Ireland early Thursday morning (talking 4am here!) in order to get to the campsite in Punchestown. The only intel coming out at this stage was a text I received from my brother comparing it to amixture between the first day of camp (ala Bnei Akiva days) and what he reckons 'Nam must have been like. You could say I was a tad apprehensive.

Having said that though, as soon as my day started early on Friday morning I could not help but feel excited. It was chaos as usual on the roads to Heathrow, and there were the usual stresses I had created for myself coming back to bite me:

●I decided to drive in rather than cab it, which is great for coming back but stressful going in, and of course I had no idea where the car park was. Turns out it is miles away from the terminal and you need to catch a 10 min bus ride, so needed to factor that into the journey as well.

●I wasn't going to mess around with extra baggage, wanted to get on and off the plane as fast as possible, but it meant my bags were stuffed and would not have met Aer Lingus' impossible hand luggage criteria if checked, and they were checking (luckily though I still managed to sneak them through). Also, it meant I could not take a lot of toiletries as you are only allowed a max of 100ml of any single liquid or gel as hand luggage, something the manufacturers of most products haven't cottoned onto yet as it seems that nothing other than toothpaste comes in less than 150ml containers.

As it turns out the Aer Lingus flight was delayed by almost 2 hours so I ended up having plenty of time. Unfortunately that is what flying has come to these days - moments of extreme deadlines and panic as you frantically try to get to the airport on time and get through security without pissing anyone off (G-d forbid you don't have your bag ready, laptop out, jacket and shoes off, belt undone, and liquids in a teeny, tiny plastic bag by the time you get to the front of the queue). This is all followed by just waiting around, checking stuff out. Airports and airline staff are by far the most bipolar organisations and people I have ever seen. On the one hand you are invited to peruse the fine goods on offer at duty free, while you take a leisurely stroll through the terminal. You are requested to come to the gate in a calm manner and wait for the flight to be called, giving you an opportunity to congratulate yourself on a fine job of getting to the airport on time and buying those things that you really had no idea you even needed....

But...once the flight is ready to go it's game-on like Donkey Kong. It's as if the staff have been caught napping as they frantically try get everyone to line up and board the plane immediately. You half expect to meet Bruce Willis in Die Hard 2 as you prepare to run for the plane and dive in just as it is about to leave, hanging on to the wing for dear life. I have no idea why it is like this though, it's not like you are going to miss out on a seat and have to stand the whole way. Then of course you finally get on the plane and are calmly asked to take your seat and peruse the fine goods on offer at the onboard duty free so that you can buy things you had no idea you even needed....

Anyways for me I was stoked, the plane was packed and I even picked up on a few Saffa accents onboard. Being a South African living overseas I find our home grown accent always manages to cut through the buzz straight away. Sure enough I caught a glimpse of the guy's bag and he was from Edenvale of all places.

I also had visions of things to come with some people wearing their wellies onto the plane, which I thought was a bit of overkill (I mean I know the toilets on planes are disgusting but this was taking it too far).

After all the chaos and madness the flight was over almost as soon as it took off. Dublin actually has a very modern airport and is very easy to get around. After I got through customs I went to one of the information booths just to get a feel for the place (something we used to do on arriving into a new city back in the day before the Interwebs came around, so just going back to what I know). My traveller's karma seemed to kick in straight away when I came across a cabbie who had been prebooked by some dude who was going to the exact same business park where my hotel was. As I have always known but was to be even more confirmed on this trip, the Irish are really nice and so incredibly warm and helpful. The cab driver insisted that he drop me at my hotel and that I split the fare with the guy who called him out (which, when we found him, he was only too happy to do). This was of no added benefit to the driver, but that did not seem to matter to him at all, brilliant.

The reason why my hotel was so cheap is that it is based in the outskirts of Dublin, but for my purposes was perfect as it is literally across the road from both train and bus links that will take you anywhere. I think what I love about this kind of travelling is the excitement of the unknown, and the large potential payoff when it all works out. For me the clock was now ticking as I had no idea how to get to the concert, and it was about to start with the first major act we wanted to see (Weezer) coming on in a few of hours. So after checking in and going past the local pharmacy to stock up on toiletries I decided to try the train route to get to the festival. Having had conflicting reports from people how to get there I thought I would have to go back into Dublin and then get another line out, but it was way simpler than that. Literally 3 or 4 stops away from where I was is the Sallins & Naas station (pronouced Naas as in 'face', not Naas as in '...on de udder hand Darrem" Naas Botha). The Oxegen website had mentioned that there was a free shuttle from Naas with the closest station being Sallins & Naas. What they don't tell you is that you need to get from the station to the town centre to get the shuttle. It's not far, maybe 2kms but there was no communication on this from the organisers which was quite bad. Again my traveller's mojo started working as I came across 4 people who turned out to be from Norway also looking to get to the festival. So I hooked up with them and we trudged around for a bit before finally finding someone who shed some light on how to get there.

From that point on I must say the organisation of the event was just brilliant. Tons of security helping and guiding and everyone was in such high spirits that getting there was almost too easy. I could relate to my brother's comparisons to 'Nam as I did feel like Forrest Gump at one point getting on the bus with everyone. All I could think was "seat's taken", especially after sitting next to some guy who was seriously out of it. The good news is that he was the most vrot (drunk/out of it in Safrican) person I saw the whole weekend with most other people taking it fairly easy on the drinks and being very well behaved.

Seeing the site for the first time is breathtaking. It is absolutely massive, and bathed in the Irish-green countryside is really an incredible sight, particularly on what at that point was a beautiful, sunny day (it would later rain buckets). Off in the distance all you could see were the huge blue tents and ferris wheel, as well as the main stage and I must say the excitement was palpable.

Some points to note, if you want to have a good time at one of these festivals:

●Yes you will need wellies. Save yourself the trouble and just wear them from the start, don't bother with your other shoes, they will just get messed. It will most likely rain and be very cold at points so you need to be prepared.

●Yes you will have to get comfortable with using the porto toilets/makeshift urinals, and yes they are absolutely disgusting (I honestly don't know how women cope with it all, and what ever happened to that 'she-wee' product? I really hope they have done well although I didn't see them on sale anywhere at the concert, could be an opportunity...?). It is a long day and you really need to stay hydrated.

●Yes there will be massive crowds and lots of mud. Ala hitchhiker's guide if you don't panic with the crowds you will be ok, all you need is some handgel and the rest will take care of itself.

●Yes you will have to forego any notions of eating healthily. The available food is not great and very expensive, but you do need to carbo load a bit as you are on your feet most of the day. For me staying outside of the site I had an opportunity to buy healthier food from the local Spar which made a big difference.

My traveller's payoff came when I finally got through, and met up with the Mlungu Trekkers at the ferris wheel. It is such a great feeling to think how far we had come to meet up at that point and how it had all worked out, and that this was just the beginning of a serious jol (party in Safrican). This is what travelling is all about.

The boys convinced me to put on my wellies even though it wasn't raining and we threw ourselves straight in, going for the pit at the main stage. The pit is the front part of the audience separated from the back by a canal that is used by security personnel. In SA we called it the Golden Circle. You are really close to the bands but if you chill towards the back of the pit like we did you still have the comfort of not being surrounded by thousands of people as well as being really close to the action, by far the most enjoyable way to view it all.

First up were "geeky" Weezer who I thought would be kiddy, punk, pop rock, but actually blew me away with some classics that I did not realise had been done by them. The diminutive lead singer (Rivers Cuomo, that is his real name I had to look it up) has a great voice and they really rocked with thumping guitar sounds and got our festival off to a great start with Teenage Dirtbag, Island in the sun, My name is Jonas, Say it ain't so and of course Hashpipe.

They were swiftly followed by My Chemical Romance, who brought out the crowd pleasing Na Na Na as well as Welcome to the Black Parade, which was great.

Next up was The Script, who are home grown Irish favourites. I initially thought they may resemble a boy band but they seriously proved me wrong. They did fantastic versions of The man who can't be moved, If you ever come back, and We cry. The crowning moment was when they were joined on stage by Tinie Tempah to cover his song Written in the Stars - this kind of musical creativity with differing acts playing together is what live music and festivals is all about and we saw quite a bit of it this weekend, which makes it all the more worth it. You just don't get it anywhere else. Towards the end of The Script's set we split up with myself and Mlungu Trekker Darren going to check out Calvin Harris and Mlungu Trekker Brett going to check out The Strokes. On the way out we heard The Script play two more legendary songs - Break Even and For the first time.

Off to Calvin Harris playing inside one of the massive tents. We caught maybe 15 minutes and it was really cool, and very different with a much more ravey feel. I found though that the acoustics in the tent were not as good as the main stage outside, and with an act like Calvin Harris he really needed the bass to be way louder than it was.

We then rushed back to the main stage for Fri night's headline act - The Black Eyed Peas. Having seen them before in London I know the kind of insane show these guys can put on and was interested to see how they would cope without their special effects. I was not disappointed, these guys are one of the biggest groups in the world with hit after hit after hit. It is difficult to put them in a box as you have the incredible voice of Fergie (who can belt it like no one else), coupled with the great rapping of Will.I.Am and the 2 other guys (who are those guys anyway? :) Taboo and apl or something.) In all honesty no one really knows who they are but they definitely glue the group together and are great rappers and dancers in their own right. You also have the brilliant mixing of really funky sounds and some serious bass, and finally on stage they had a full band as well, so their music was not purely electronic either.

They did most of their solid hits except for Let's get it Started. Will also did a brilliant 5 minutes straight of what seemed like totally improvised rapping at serious pace, as well as a good 15-20 minutes of proper DJ'ing where he mixed in everything from Michael Jackson, to the Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana in way that could easily compete with the likes of David Guetta and Paul Oakenfold. Again, this is the kind of stuff that makes live music so enticing. One common mix I picked up over the weekend used by a few of the acts was Nirvana's Smells like Teen Spirit + White Stripes' 7 Nation army. They also threw in the odd U2 riff, just to get the crowd pumped as it always will in Ireland.

And so came to an end our first night. And so began my long trek back to the hotel. To get back I had to get the bus from the site to the Goffs park & ride and catch a cab from there. Again I was really impressed with the organisation. Everyone was helpful and made sure that you got to where you needed to go safely and quickly. There was no doubt I had a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out) when I left the 2 boys to try find my way back. But by the time I did get back and was able to really appreciate a good shower and comfy bed, the last thing I wanted was to be sleeping in the mud.

The Saturday, after a really refreshing sleep and fillup at the local Spar I headed back taking the same route I had taken on the Friday (another traveller's note - to manage risk, once you know something works, stick with it. When you are in one place for a short period of time you don't have the luxury of trying different things so go with what works if you are sure it will. Having said that, you also need to be able to modify your plans at a moment's notice if necessary).

The weather today was gorgeous, with all the mud from the prior evening now dried up and the sun really blazing. You could really get into the festival vibe and just lie on the grass and listen to the music if you wanted, the conditions were perfect.

Today I had a chance to check out the entire site and it really is massive, with the Vodafone stage almost as big as the main stage. Next door to the Vodafone stage was the Red Bull "Electric Ballroom", which was really this airplane hangar sized venue used for rave acts.

Our first gig today was Bruno Mars, and I reckon he is the best musician/artist around at the moment. He can do it all - write, play and perform. He blew the crowds away, most memorably with Billionaire, Grenade and Nothing on You. He also did a brilliant solo guitar mix covering everything from MJ to Nirvana. He was supported by a band similar to that used by Amy Winehouse, reminiscent of the big bands of the 50s.

After that we headed to the main stage, where the Mlungu Trekker's plans were to stay there for the rest of the day due to the expected demand for the upcoming acts. The crowds were huge and it was definitely the right strategy, as I was to find out later...

Beady Eye were next up, and for those people who have never heard of them (like myself), they are the offshoot group formed by Liam Gallagher (50% Oasis). I must say that even though I did not really recognise their music, Liam's distinct nasal voice did resonate, and the band is really tight. He tries to come across as off-handed, almost arrogant, but actually I think this kind of festival is a really big deal for the band and the crowd loved them.

By this stage, the Mlungu Trekkers had adorned themselves in their SA flags and were attracting a fair amount of attention from both Saffas living in Ireland, and locals who had been to SA. The Rainbow Nation is clearly well known across the world.

After listening to a few songs by the Arctic Monkeys who were up next I decided to leave the Trekkers and venture to the Heineken tent to try catch a bit of Brandon Flowers. He was really great doing his solo stuff and even ended with the classic Killers song Mr Brightside. For my money I would have put him on the main stage, he can really hold a massive crowd, but was grateful to have heard his voice first hand in any event.

Then it was on to my final gig, and the last one for the Saturday night - Foo Fighters! The demand was so great that they had blocked off the entrance to the pit. It was one of those serious FOMO moments as I realised that I may not get to see the Fighters close up with the Trekkers and have to sit miles away towards the back. But, my traveller's mojo kicked in and after nearly being squashed by the crowds and witnessing some very good crowd control by the security team we were told just as it started that actually we will all be getting into the pit, so long as we don't run :) It felt like one of those Shaolin Temple/Fight Club moments when even though you are constantly told to leave the area, to those brave souls who stick it out they are then finally granted entry.

The Foo Fighters were awesome. No over the top electronic music, no over the top special effects, just simply 5 guys with real instruments and their voices in the middle of a field under clear Irish skies. Dave Grohl promised that there would be no interruptions and no encore, all they would do is keep rocking until asked to leave the stage (which everyone knows no one would ever do). They played most of their major hits: The Pretender, Best of you, Rope, My Hero, Times like These, Learn to Fly, Monkey Wrench, and my favourite was an electric acoustic version of Wheels. I have one poignant memory of Dave Grohl screaming "I'm not gonna die", perhaps referring to his lost band mate Kurt Cobain.

And so ended Saturday night, and my Oxegen experience. I decided to spend the Sunday touring Dublin due to the bad timing of my flights. Knowing what I know now I would have taken Monday off and flown back then rather. Unfortunately I missed out on Slash, Beyonce and Coldplay (as well as Deadmau5 due to an overlap with the Foos). But, as I am now a solid fan of the festival experience there is always next year.

I'm going to end with a transcription of something Dave Grohl said while he was singing Wheels. I have it recorded on my iPhone and is a great souvenir from a great weekend:

"Tonight before I was coming out here this guy asked me, he said "are you f*ckin' nervous about getting out there in front of that many people?". And I said "you know, I used to be, but, nowadays when I come out and play a show like this in front of all you people, I look at you and I can see your f*ckin faces, you know that right?...I can see you people out there...And I tell ya I don't feel f*ckin scared at all because I feel like, when I look at you people and I can feel you lookin' back at the Foo Fighters...I feel that I'm just as much of a jack-ass as you. So when I get to sing a song like this in front of this many people, I think: I got the greatest f*ckin job in the world."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Trek on and let the beat rock

Brad

Details of trip and costs:

Flights - Aer Lingus return -£99

Taxi from airport to hotel - EUR 15 (normally EUR 30)

Accomodation - Aspect Hotel Park West - EUR 40 per day

Train from hotel to Sallins & Naas - EUR 5

Taxi to shuttle in Naas - EUR 5

Taxi from Goffs park & ride to hotel - EUR 40

Bus from Dublin to airport - EUR 7 (catch outside the Costa Coffee)