SCOTLAND'S T in the Park music festival will celebrate its 15th birthday this year with alternative rockers REM, the Verve and Rage Against the Machine among its headline acts.
The line-up for the three-day event was announced in Glasgow yesterday, with bands such as the Kaiser Chiefs, the Prodigy, the Raconteurs, Kings of Leon and Aphex Twin the other major draws.
Scottish acts confirmed for the event include the Fratel
lis, Primal Scream, KT Tunstall, Amy Macdonald and Biffy Clyro.
Festival organiser Geoff Ellis said: "For the 15th year we really felt we wanted to push the boat out.
"A lot of people didn't think we'd get past one year, never mind to our 15th. The festival is now four times the capacity that it was in the first year. We didn't even sell 20,000 in the first year, we're now selling tens of thousands of tickets in minutes and we could probably sell out twice over."
Crowds of 80,000 are expected to attend the festival, which is Scotland's biggest outdoor music event, on 11-13 July.
This year, for the first time, festival-goers will be able to camp from the Thursday, while on Friday both the main stage and NME stage will now be showing acts.
XFM Scotland DJ Jim Gellately said of the line-up: "I'm not particularly excited about the headline acts generally, but further down the bill is where I look and so acts like Sergeant and the Kooks, ones I've been following, it's great to see them move up a level and play the bigger stages.
"I came here having an idea about what was playing and not feeling particularly excited about it. But hearing everything in context, I'm excited about T in the Park again."
The festival's green credentials were given a boost by Scottish environment minister Michael Russell who attended the launch. He praised its carbon neutral status and the organisers' efforts to encourage festival goers to think about their impact on the environment.
"Climate change is a challenge for all of us. We are already seeing its effect through increasing temperatures and dramatic increases in rainfall in the winter," he said.
"As we are officially home to the world's largest carbon neutral festival, Scotland is again seen to be leading the way in its approach to tackling climate change, but there is still much more we can do.
"Last month we launched our ten greener pledges for 2008. I would urge everyone going to the festival to sign up and make a difference to the environment."
The organisers also announced improved parking facilities including the addition of permanent roads on the site. Last year's road congestion brought traffic on the M90 to a halt for hours with a combination of security checks carried out by police in the wake of the terrorist attack on Glasgow airport last year and torrential rain that turned the car parks into quagmires.
STAYING GREENFOR festival-goers wanting to ensure that they do the least amount of damage to the environment while still enjoying themselves, there are a number of steps they can take:
• Take the bus: T in the Park annually recommends that music fans travel by bus rather than brave the motorway congestion and now offers combined festival and bus tickets.
• Reuse plastic bottles wherever possible to avoid creating additional waste.
• Use designated recycling areas to dump any cans, paper or plastic.
• Take only phosphate-free soap or shower gel to the festival, as the chemical can lead to algal blooms, which starve water of oxygen. This has particular relevance to Balado Park, site of T in the Park, and its loch.
• Campers should also take advantage of any "grey water" dumping-points to avoid pouring polluted water into the ground.
• Many festivals have set up cash incentives for recycling. T in the Park has established a new cup recycling scheme, which issues tokens for drinks that include an additional 10p cost for the cup. When the consumers are finished with it, they take the cup to a recycling point, where the 10p deposit is redeemed.
TAKING THE STAGEThe headline acts are:
FRIDAY: The Verve, Stereophonics, KT Tunstall, Feeder, the Wombats.
SATURDAY: Rage Against the Machine, the Fratellis, Kaiser Chiefs, the Kooks.
SUNDAY: REM, Kings of Leon, the Prodigy, Primal Scream.
Other acts confirmed so far:
Chemical Brothers, Interpol, Ian Brown, the Raconteurs, Biffy Clyro, Counting Crows, Pigeon Detectives, the Enemy, the Feeling, Amy MacDonald, Panic at the Disco, Hot Chip, Aphex Twin, the Charlatans, the Pogues, Ben Folds, Reverend and the Makers, Pendulum, Justice, DJ Hell, Erol Alkan, the National, Band of Horses, Seasick Steve, Eddy Grant, Alabama 3, Sons and Daughters, the Courteeners, Slam, Paul Heaton, Lightspeed Champion, Ting Tings, Black Kids, Sergeant, the Law, Gabriella Cilmi, Sons of Albion, the Script, Aphex Twin.
