It would have to be a mighty fine line up to convince me that a pilgrimage totalling almost one thousand miles was a good idea. But it was a mighty fine line up, so off I went to the stunning scenery of Balado in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for the pinnacle of my summer: T In The Park.
Thursday to Sunday tickets sold out at light speed so as a southerner it was Friday – Sunday or nothing (infuriatingly, the festival organisers brought out a fresh batch of Thursday camping tickets a matter of days after I booked my travel). Arriving just in time to set up camp and down a few celebratory beers, my agenda took me straight down to the arena to see Everything Everything and kick off the weekend. Admittedly, Everything Everything weren’t a band I’d listened to before, but some friends assured me they would make an impact on me – and they did. Aside from the cutesy bass player (Jeremy Everything) and the fact that Jonathan Everything (lead singer) looked like he was dressed for a Star Trek convention, what impressed me most were the harmonies. Under the pressure of opening King Tut’s Wah Wah Tent to an unsurprising small audience (any festival goer can sympathise with the trek from the campsite to the arena) as a support band for the likes of La Roux, Hot Chip and Calvin Harris, Everything Everything managed to hold it together and give an amazingly tight performance.
An irritating aspect to such an amazing line up is that sacrifices have to be made. My Friday sacrifices were Hot Chip and Florence And The Machine (both of which I’ve fortunately seen before and can assume they gave fantastic performances) in favour of Faithless and Muse. Maxi Jazz donned his kilt and the whole Faithless crew proceeded to ensnare the audience with a cracking set list which, of course, included ‘Insomnia’, ‘We Come 1’ and ‘God Is A DJ’. I danced my socks off and it was incredible to see the whole audience doing the same.
Before Muse came on I had a feeling that I may have peaked too soon; I was absolutely knackered. How foolish I was to think that Muse couldn’t pull me out of it. My God, Matt bloody Bellamy, what a bloody genius. I’m not sure it’s possible to put into words the feelings I got watching Muse live, but they managed to keep me mesmerised – singing and dancing for a further hour or 2.
Saturday was just as (if not more) successful than the Friday. Firstly, I have an admission to make: I enjoyed Paulo Nutini. My opinion has been going to and fro for far too long so I’d like to put a stop to it and proclaim myself a fan. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not rushing out to buy his back catalogue, but he put on a ruddy good show. As an Englishwoman, the patriotism shown by the mass of Scots was admirable, and on a grizzly day Nutini managed to brighten the mood with his faux-ska-pop. Admitting to not being a huge talker, he stuck to what he does best belting out hit after hit, each being received by the crowd with more gusto than the last.
Similarly, Vampire Weekend managed to keep thoughts away from the rain (which was pretty much torrential by this point) and I’m holding them partly responsible for my lack of voice as lead singer Ezra Koenig did his usual crowd participation by getting the crowd screaming “Blake’s got a new face!” whatever the hell that means..
And now for the headliner: Eminem. Well, what can I say – phenomenal. Before I arrived at T he was on my list of people to see, but I wasn’t prepared for him to be a highlight to my weekend. Arriving about half an hour late prompted the audience to get a bit irritable and the booing commenced. I was slightly concerned that Mr. Mathers may have taken this as an insult and affected his performance, but at the first sight of the man himself the crowd went absolutely crazy. Obviously altering his set list to accommodate a festival audience, he broke some songs down into rockier versions of themselves and his performance was littered with outstanding guitar solos. His new material got an airing, but I was more interested in the older tunes and he didn’t disappoint. Every song was a crowd-pleaser – ‘Stan’, ‘Cleanin’ Out My Closet’, ‘My Name Is’ – I could go on and on. Eminem’s comeback was outstanding.
The final day started off with a raging wind which dried up the mud but destroyed a fair few tents. The wind, however, seemed apt for another unstoppable force at T In The Park: Skunk Anansie. A full fifty minutes late (presumably because of the wind; the stage lights were all over the place and the screens were lowered – fortunately I secured a place at the front) they burst out onto stage and Skin gave the most energetic performance of the weekend. Infuriatingly, the delay in the performance means I could’ve squeezed Darwin Deez into my schedule and not missed out on an apparently fantastical performance which included choreographed geeky dancing (I’ve since YouTubed “Darwin Deez dance” and suggest you do too).
Scottish patriotism came in handy when Biffy Clyro rocked the Main Stage. As I’m not a huge fan of the Biff I headed over to the Radio 1/NME Stage for Babyshambles and The Cribs. I’m not sure that Babyshambles’ music lends itself to such a large audience. I’m sure in a more intimate gig it would’ve been an outstanding performance, but on this scale it didn’t astound me; kudos to Pete for showing up though. However the Jarman bros and co stepped up to the plate and The Cribs soon got me jumping.
And now the final headlining band who, unlike Babyshambles, can grab and hold the attention and admiration of an audience of thousands: the almighty Kasabian. The personalities of each and every band member shone through and supported the music so powerfully. Their rock star attitudes helped them put on a perfect show whilst they maintained an air of humility which reflected how much fun they were having – almost as much fun as me. After the encore, out came a bagpiper in full bagpiper getup and belted out the Scottish national anthem. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t recognise it, but seeing me bemused, a random Scot whispered (well, shouted) what it was in my ear, grabbed my hand and I was back in the zone. As fireworks flared it was a beautiful end to the weekend.
I really wish I had time to elaborate and tell you all about the other attractions, (the fun fair, Healthy T, The Red Bull Tent, The Boom Bus, the people) but I thought it was far more important to cover as much of the music as possible. All I can say to summarise is that T In The Park is by far my favourite festival to date. I’m left with post-festival blues and no voice but some absolutely wonderful memories.