T In the Park, Balado, Scotland

T In the Park

July 8-11, 2010

Balado, Kinross, Scotland holds the 17th T in the Park Festival with 85,000 revelers, who are welcomed with brilliant sunshine on Thursday afternoon and a beautiful sunset in the evening. This is the perfect start to one of the biggest festivals of the year. Campers are still arriving but that doesn’t stop The Temper Trap, drawing a huge crowd to the Radio 1/NME Stage on Friday afternoon. In awe with his surroundings, lead vocalist and guitarist Dougy Mandagi dedicates his band’s hit single ‘Sweet Disposition’ to the crowd.

Poor sound quality doesn’t help Jamie T‘s set, which consists of him mostly muttering into the microphone and squatting at the end of the stage. ‘Sheila’, ‘Emilys Heart’, ‘Sticks n Stones’ and ‘If You Got the Money’, however, are perfect in the sun and make up for the awful PA system.

Florence and the Machine bellows out her harp-led harmonies from her debut album, while Faithless attract a huge rowdy crowd at the Main Stage. Festival-goers were go crazy for the dance trio’s energetic set, bouncing to the floor fillers from beginning to end. The atmosphere is electric, creating the perfect setting for an outstanding headliner.

This night is also Muse‘s chance to shine again after an awesome performance at Glastonbury with the help of The Edge a few weeks ago. Keeping their stage presence and effects to a minimum (with just a few lazers), frontman Matt Bellamy dons a silver shimmering suit looking somewhat like a Christmas decoration. He leaves drummer Dom Howard to do the talking, while bassist Chris Wolstenholme smokes a pipe and blows his harmonica.

As campers battle the elements on Saturday, Chipmunk, Scouting for Girls and Newton Faulkner start the day over on the Main Stage. “Being on your own up here is scary”, Faulkner tells the audience, before serenading them with ‘I Am A Sexy Ginger Man’, holding an electric guitar for a change.

We Are Scientists are conveniently sheltered from the rain under the King Tut’s Wah Wah Tent, as crowds of people queue outside the entrances and exits until the barriers burst when the band arrives on. Fully equipped with their sarcasm and wit, the trio play a storming set, reflecting on their first song they played at their first T performance – ‘Nobody Moves Nobody Gets Hurt’.

Crowds then flock the NME/Radio 1 stage to catch 30 Seconds To Mars, as Jared Leto enters to a pounding drum solo. With a bleach-blonde mohawk, an “I Love Scotland” t-shirt and a red-check kilt, he certainly looks the part. He also fits in perfectly with the Scottish tongue – not one sentence is said without expletives directed at the crowd.

Despite being 50 minutes late and wrongly referring to his crowd as “Edinburgh”, Eminem‘s grand comeback is the highlight of the weekend. The big screens project show fans squashed up against the front barrier rapping along to every word. You don’t even need to be a fan to know his songs and the incredible atmosphere.

Ellie Goulding kick starts Sunday at the King Tut’s Wah Wah Tent, which reaches full capacity. The stunned songstress asks everyone to raise their hands in order for her to believe the amounth of people there to see her. The sea of greasy heads dance along to the drum solo ending of ‘Salt Skin’.

The sun finally comes out for Dizzee Rascal‘s show, but the hurricane winds forced the screens to be taken down, preventing half of the crowd to see the UK’s biggest hip hop star.

And then Biffy Clyro take to the stage. Lead vocalist and guitarist Simon Neil has to be carried on stage by a bandmate (following an incident at Glastonbury that involved him jumping off an amp and cracking his knee). Although he appears to be struggling, he continues to jump off some more amps and bounce around vigorously throughout the hour-long set. “It’s good to be back”, he says. “They’ve never left!”, mutters a zealous fan next to me. The crowd bellows along to their songs, but ‘Bubbles’ grabs the biggest reaction. ‘Machines’ and ‘Many Of Horror’ give the crowd goosebumps and even induce some tears! It is a special moment to watch such a patriotic band play at home.

Hip-hop mogul Jay-Z follows with his band, taking the safe option of referring to the crowd as “Scotland” and “T in the Park”. This also beats Fergie‘s efforts of “Glasgow!”. Jay-Z “cranked it up to 99″ before playing the prolific ’99 Problems’, ‘Hard Knock Life’, ‘DOA’, ‘Empire State of Mind’, but ‘Encore’ conjures up a deafening sing-along.

Meanwhile, David Guetta‘s performance at the King Tuts Wah Wah Tent is bursting at the entrances, and Madness have everyone bopping up and down at the Radio 1/NME Stage. Kasabian close the festival on the Main Stage, but the poor sound quality has people charging to the Sound Tent in an attempt to turn up the volume. The energetic crowd stuns Tom Meighan as he dubs the crowd “the best in the world”. Flares are lit and lanterns are released during hit single ‘Fire’. The band end with ‘Vlad the Impaler’ and ‘LSF’ with an almighty sing-along from the crowd. Traditional bagpipes follow and fireworks light up the sky.

T in the Park is a different world, and no other festival compares. T has the patriotism to make any musician’s jaw drop. Despite the inches of sludge, constant rainfall and hurricane-like winds, this year’s T in the Park is an experience of a lifetime.

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