THE rain held off despite the grim, grey clouds circling overhead. The sun even poked through at intervals. Most importantly, there was precious little mud – the 2008 edition of Scotland's biggest festival was shaping up nicely.
Bigger doesn't
necessarily mean better, of course. But in T in the Park's case, its rapid growth does mean more diversity than ever. Only steps away (in relative T terms) from the crass, blaring funfair zone was the Chai Chapel, a plucky attempt to bring a little corner of the Glastonbury experience to Balado, with raffia mats and wooden loungers on which to recline, and a perpetual drumming workshop that attracted considerably more custom than the plates of vegan cakes.
Meanwhile, Sharleen Spiteri had been slotted into the mid-afternoon Main Stage line-up for a brief acoustic set. She performed a couple of tracks from her debut solo album, released today, but stripped of their lush, Spectorish arrangements, they just sounded like average Texas songs. Mindful of their unfamiliarity, she also included a token festival cover version of The Killers' All These Things That I've Done, which at least gave the crowd a singalong opportunity.
There are so many stages at T in the Park that I failed to make it round all of them. But I did find my way to the Pet Sounds Arena. This newish zone is a "mind, body and soul" enclave tucked away from the general madness, with a comfy teepee café – and capoeira demonstrations. It became my favourite corner of the site.
Out here, Lightspeed Champion – aka Devonte Hynes, so you can understand why a silly pseudonym is justified – delivered an engaging indie folk set with more punk clout than his recordings suggest is on offer, while over in the King Tut's Wah Wah Tent, there was further punk clout from Sons & Daughters, the Glasgow band who have not yet attained the success they deserve. They are perhaps not traditional festival fare, but they attracted a good-sized crowd who appreciated some intense Caledonian noir under brooding clouds.
By now, Biffy Clyro were bashing it out with equal intensity on the Main Stage. With their quirky musical intricacies, they are also unlikely festival heroes but, having played T in the Park more often than any other band, they deserve to have a zone named after them. All three members were wearing matching red trousers and look-no-shirts – full kudos to the peely-wally ginger twins who have gone along with rock god frontman Simon Neil's sartorial suggestion.
Their fans are notoriously ardent. Consequently, they were the first band of the day to feel like an event, with the taut, mighty and oddly uplifting Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies a particular overwrought highlight.
The Hold Steady, in contrast, are a band to soundtrack the good times. Their effortless blue-collar indie-rock could raise a smile in the most miserable monsoon conditions.
A full 15 minutes before Glasvegas are due to play, it was clear that the modestly proportioned Futures Stage would not be able to cope with the demand to see the dour but epic Glaswegians who have been hailed as the best new band in Britain.
I opted instead to see the best new band in my record collection. The sunshine hippy psychedelia of Brooklyn's MGMT was also, as suspected, one of the biggest draws of the day, with the Pet Sounds tent at sweaty capacity for their wonderfully insidious pop set. The breathless indie funk of Electric Feel had the crowd in raptures. Having geared up for a party, this was not a good time for the technical troubles that impaired their euphoric debut hit, Time To Pretend, but fortunately the crowd was happy to fill in the blanks.
They were followed by Band Of Horses, a motley bunch of hirsute, blissed-out country rockers who looked like gas station attendants from Hicksville, USA, but offered us a majestic, uplifting sound; an Earth-bound version of The Flaming Lips.
By this point, with still no sign of the forecast rain, the big guns were starting to fire. In the main arena, The Fratellis were so loud they could probably be heard from every stage on the site – they certainly appeared to have lured the lion's share of the audience away from The Raconteurs on the Radio 1/NME Stage.
This was understandable – although all musicians probably quake when Jack White walks by, it was The Fratellis who delivered the wham-bam festival set, while White and his cohorts felt as if they are starting to get a little too comfortable with their reputation as A-grade ramalama rockers.
Their bluesy set was non-stop and supertight but also indulgent and, worse, derivative – mostly of White's heroes, Led Zeppelin. However, they hit their formidable stride with Level, the Bowiesque swagger of Many Shades Of Black, the rootsy warmth of Old Enough and their catchy debut hit Steady, As She Goes.
Not everyone likes to end their day at T being shouted at, so Radio1/NME Stage headliners Kaiser Chiefs were the happy, frothy choice for many. Their set was also where all the tunes were. There were no revelations, just such unassailable festival knees-ups, inevitably including I Predict A Riot.
Main Stage headliners Rage Against The Machine played the first T in the Park in 1994 and they have remained one of the most mythologised rock bands of the age. Their red star backdrop and simple stage set-up were striking and austere.
Rage are a well-oiled machine, powered by intensive drumming, funky bass and the economical work of muso guitar hero Tom Morello, and from the off they bristled with righteous energy.
Even from a distant portaloo, their frontman, Zach De La Rocha, could be heard working himself into an apoplectic frenzy about the war in Iraq – one really had to admire his band's doggedly ideological stance when faced with a field full of punters more intent on partying through the night than fighting the power, no matter how many Che Guevara flags were being waved.
FridayIT WOULD be safe to say that the Friday night slot at T in the Park is still not quite established as an essential part of every festival-goer's schedule.
And the organisers tacitly acknowledged this by lining up a bill that consisted of tyro groups who barely have a toe-hold in the industry and festival warhorses so far into their careers that the kudos of the headline slot is no longer an issue. Still, playing to a barely warmed-up audience is always going to be tough.
Newton Faulkner can't have been savouring the prospect of taking the Main Stage just minutes after the gates had opened to the early-bird campers – if ever there was an arena that needs its crowd warmed up, it's this one.
But the sun made its one and only serious appearance for the day just as he hit the stage, sending a wave of good feeling that his easy-going acoustic rock surfed on. Whether it was the sun or perhaps just the euphoria at the beginning of proceedings, even whey-faced goths and emo-kids were waltzing around the arena. No mean feat in the first hour of the festival.
For South Wales newbies Kids in Glass Houses, their answer to the early slot conundrum took the form of "when in doubt, pummel your audience" approach. I suspect the allure of this group will be lost on anyone over the age of 21, favouring as they do the "bouncy castle" alt-rock that involves each song consisting of a relentless barrage of guitars, while singer Aled Philips yells over the top about teen angst of varying types. Still, it went down pretty well in the mosh pit, and it was entertaining to watch the band leap around in such a way as to appear as if they were taking part in a hard-fought game of dodge ball.
Less entertaining were indie also-rans The Music, who while they seemed to please their fans with their techno-flecked rock, anyone less partisan could be forgiven for wondering what the fuss was. If it's possible to be dull and histrionic at the same time, The Music managed it.
The first of the big names to appear was Stereophonics. A jolly-looking Kelly Jones and his fellow travellers did what any long-serving, middle-ranking rock group does at a festival: trail out a crowd-pleasing greatest hits set. Safe, but still entertaining.
The Verve's appearance as first-night headliners saw them welcomed like conquering heroes. Opener This is Music saw them race out of the blocks, singer Richard Ashcroft having lost none of his chest thumping (literally) passion, while the group whipped a storm around him.
But for all the sound and fury, the energy trickled away quickly, in part because of endless guitar changes and technical hitches, but also down to the fact that their songs are almost uniformly mid-paced, long and, in parts, dare I say, boring.
Having said that, when the band found their feet, it worked brilliantly: Lucky Man, Northern Soul and The Drugs Don't Work kept the crowd going, before a gargantuan Bitter Sweet Sympathy, which Ashcroft modestly signposted by asking if "anyone has ever written a classic"; their big sound ending helping to put the seal on that difficult first evening.
Something for everyone, from rock 'n' roll racing drivers to reformed bands from bygone daysTHE sun made up its mind to stay for the final day of T in the Park yesterday, keeping spirits largely buoyed to the end.
Saturday's proceedings suffered from colder, overcast weather, that saw groups of T-shirt-wearing music fans huddling together for warmth.
Many who had arrived on Friday wearing fancy dress still sported their costumes, and though many were yesterday adorned with tattered angel wings and dirty faces, the smiles had stayed in place.
Among some of the acts to attract large audiences were newcomers the Ting Tings, who packed King Tut's Wah Wah Tent, as did US indie hopefuls Vampire Weekend, while Scots rocker Amy MacDonald received a rapturous welcome on the main stage.
But it was not all breaking bands. Among some of the most popular and anticipated acts of the day were recently reformed Britpop act Shed Seven, and veterans of the late-80s baggy scene The Charlatans.
Former Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan appeared on the Pet Sounds Arena tent with his band Eddie and the Robbers.
There was an air of anticipation around the site as to whether troubled soul singer Amy Winehouse would appear, having cancelled at the last minute last year, but she began her set just after 6pm.
However, many were looking forward more to seeing US stadium veterans REM and rave act The Prodigy headline the two main stages and bring the weekend to a close.
Robert Paterson, 23, of Broxburn, said: "I'm really looking forward to seeing REM. I'm a huge fan of them but I've never seen them.
"Today has been the best day of the weekend. I saw the Ting Tings and Seasick Steve this afternoon and they were great."
For Wendy Johnston and Lorraine McGuinnitey , both 38 and from Glasgow, the weekend had been about the smaller tents.
"We saw Glasgvegas who were brilliant, so were The Pogues," said Ms Johnston.
"I don't really care about the big stages that much, it's more the tents. But it is all about the music for us.
"We ran into one guy who said he didn't care about the bands, he was just here for the atmosphere, so it shows that it appeals to everyone."
Ms McGuinnitey said "The ones we really want to see are Echo and the Bunnymen and The Charlatans.
"We've seen a lot of good stuff so far. But those are the ones we're going to get down the front for."
The full article contains 2007 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
