Bloody brilliant: Drunken Scots with flags, free food and Tennent’s, and some darn good music – what could be better?
Getting dropped off a half hour walk away from the media box office at 9.30am, I was in it for the long haul from the start. But the first three hours consisted mainly of getting my wellies substantially muddied, hovering aimlessly round hospitality like some Billy-no-mates and being ripped off with a £2 bottle of coke (before I discovered that one of the perks of a media wristband was freebies).
Alas, the day kicked off superbly with a visit to T-Break, famed for playing host to several previously unsigned bands that later go on to fame and fortune. Snow Patrol are a good example, going from T-Break wannabes ten years ago to this year’s Sunday headliners. And Attic Lights look set to follow, having just signed a 5-album deal with a major label. The Glaswegian five-piece showed no signs of premature pomposity though. Their genuine delight at playing at T to an enthused crowd was blatant, with guitarist Tim grinning to himself every ten seconds, and frontman Kev bounding about like some kid on a fruit shoot buzz.
Then it was on to King Tut’s Wah Wah Tent to catch my long awaited Camera Obscura fix. Allow me to mention the presence of tartan guitar straps and amps at this point. Another fine example of Glasgow produce, the band made their T debut with an effortlessly faultless set, but perhaps the biggest cheer came when they asked the crowd who was drunk! I caught up with Tracyanne and Carey later on:
ITM: So this is your first time at T in the Park?
CO: Well yes, playing.
ITM: How did your set go?
CO: It went really well but we were a bit shocked at the number of people who turned up.
ITM: Yeah, I saw your set and heard you saying you were expecting about 50 folk to turn up…
CO: Well we don’t see ourselves as a festival band so when they asked us we were like, “Us? Really?”, but it was a good surprise to be invited to play.
ITM: And especially at home?
CO: Definitely.
ITM: So who are you hoping to catch later on?
CO: We were gutted that Amy Winehouse cancelled but, I dunno, maybe Bright Eyes and….Sinead O’Connor – does that make us sad?
…I think it does, yes.
So after pocketing a few free ginger snaps, off I trotted to the Radio 1 NME stage hoping to catch The Thrills, only, to my disappointment Little Man Tate appeared. I was all set to turn around and retire to hospitality for a while when they launched right into their indie pop repertoire and the crowd erupted. Banter, it seems, is frontman Jon’s forte, (besides his musical talents of course); an amusing yarn about a girl at school that he lusted after although he knew he “could never get in her knickers” got a big “weeeeyy!” from the crowd, and ‘Sexy in Latin’ provided their highlight – as well as a wee bit of collective madness. I managed to have a word with Maz and Dan from the Yorkshire quartet after their set, where they lived up to the reputation they’d created in the media village as the nicest and funniest band in the place:
ITM: Is this your first time at T then?
LMT: This is our first time yeah. We’re T virgins.
ITM: I was at your set actually, the crowd was going pretty wild for you…
LMT: Oh absolutely, we couldn’t believe it. It was a hundred times better than we could have ever imagined.
ITM: So which other festivals have you played or are you playing this year?
LMT: The last one was Germany for Rock AM Ring last week, but this is our first proper British festival.
ITM: It’s alright for your first one then?
LMT: Yeah!
ITM: And everybody says that Scottish audiences are one of the best…
LMT: That’s an understatement. They like what we like. They like a drink and they like to have a good time, you can’t fault ‘em.
Fourth was Drive By Argument, another T-Break act that managed to get the crowd jumping under the canvas. On seeing them, I disapproved of their haircuts and branded them as ‘emo’…until they started to play and despite the many possible comparisons to the likes of those current indie/dance outfits, I enjoyed the tunes. More the atmosphere than the tunes actually, but still, I was pleasantly surprised (not counting the irritating teenybopper complete with glo stick in my face).
Next I hotfooted it to Pet Sounds with a good half hour to prepare for the wonder that is Bright Eyes. Please note: I’ve wanted to see Oberst and co. for, well, ever, and therefore this section of the review may appear slightly biased. I apologise for any inconvenience. Dressed in white, complete with mini orchestra and two drum kits, the Omaha outfit opened with ‘Clairaudients’ from ‘Cassadaga’ to a muted response, before delivering life-changing renditions of ‘I Believe in Symmetry’ and ‘The Calendar Hung Itself’, followed by the latest album’s lead single, ‘Four Winds’. But the pinnacle of the set was always going to come in the form of probably their best known single, ‘First Day of My Life’, where the communal crowd voice far outdid that over any other song in the set.
So, after I took a few moments to come back to earth and ring my mum to tell her how good Bright Eyes had been, I went back over to hospitality to grab a drink, but who should I see on the way out but the boys from Drive By Argument…
ITM: I’ve been asking everyone this, but you’re playing in the T-Break stage so I’m assuming this is your first T experience?
DBA: No it’s our second time. Or third time? No wait, we’ve been plenty of times but we’ve played twice. Oh is it played or been?
ITM: Played, let’s go for played.
DBA: Twice. We played T-Break two years ago.
ITM: So the crowd seemed to enjoy you, seems like you’ve got a big following.
DBA: I think we’re just happy enough that we always get slots at the same time as shite bands so everyone else is just like “Let’s just go and see that Drive By Arrogant whatever-they’re-called.” But yeah, the crowd were pretty good today. This has been one of the best gigs we’ve ever played.
ITM: Will you be staying around to watch any other bands then?
DBA: We’ve just seen Jamie T there, he was pretty good. How about you?
ITM: I just went to see Bright Eyes.
DBA: Was it good?
ITM: Unbelievable.
DBA: Really? Yeah time was pretty tight between our slot at T-Break and theirs at Pet Sounds, otherwise we would have been there.
ITM: I’m sorry, I have to confess that I did leave your set early so I could have a good half hour to push my way to the front for them.
DBA: Shame on you!
Shame on me indeed – for badly judging these guys. I definitely like them more than I thought; I especially approve of their choice of friends, after the drunkard accompanying them offered to take a photo of us with my dictaphone. Classic.
Finally then, I couldn’t have gone to T and not seen the headliners, but I’ll make this short because you’ve done well if you’ve read this far. Brandon Flowers and his cohort gave a set that generated atmosphere of colossal proportions, with buzzing Scottish folk as far as the eye could see. Obvious high points, ‘Somebody Told Me’ and ‘Mr Brightside’ would have blown the roof off of any arena; dare I say it, they’re epic presence and the echo from the crowd seemed like they could only ever fit comfortably into T in the Park. So after a euphoric pick and mix run-through of their catalogue to date, all too soon it was time to depart. But not content with the prospect of the end of the penultimate day of T, the entire crowd carried on with a loop of “I got soul, but I’m not a soldier” from ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’ as the mass exodus to the campsite and carparks commenced. All in all, for me, Saturday was right up there with the best.
…And it didn’t even rain.