The 19th T in the Park is in full swing and today’s 85,000 strong crowd are in great form and looking forward to a highly anticipated performance by The Stone Roses tonight, with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Jessie J and Simple Minds also taking to the stage in Kinross later today.
Yesterday a record Friday capacity of 85,000 music lovers flocked to the Kinross-shire fields, as the biggest ever T in the Park got off to roaring start. The heavens smiled on the first day of the festival - it stayed dry, and it stayed glorious.
On the Main Stage, Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine floated from pounding tune to pounding tune. The swirling baroque’n’roll of Say My Name and No Light shimmered into the night sky. Copper of hair and swishy of gown, the Brit Award-winning Londoner was greeted with rapturous applause from the bedazzled T in the Park masses.
Over on the Radio 1/NME stage, Professor Green was on blistering form, belting out hits from his debut Alive Till I’m Dead and his platinum-selling second album At Your Inconvenience. The highlight: a guest spot from fellow Hackney-ite, producer/writer/star Labrinth on Oh My God. And, when the INXS-sampling riff of Need You Tonight blared out, the crowd were jumping.
The Cribs rocked the huge King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut Tent with their heads-down, lungs-out, agit-indie. The Yorkshire outfit’s punchy anthem Men’s Needs easily fulfilled everyone’s needs. There was more bounce in the T Break Stage from Edinburgh band Bwani Junction, with Paul Simon’s Graceland as an Orange Juice/Vampire Weekend mash-up.
Cometh the midnight hour, cometh the festival’s favourite sons. Snow Patrol headlined the Main Stage, in an appearance that saw them light up the crowd with their huge anthems. Massive heart, massive singalongs, massive love in the arena – this was Gary Lightbody and co at their best, ticking all the right T in the Park boxes. There even a surprise special guest appearance by Ed Sheeran, who joined the band on stage for New York.
T in the Park – what the artists have had to say so far
Peanut, Kaiser Chiefs: “T in the Park represents a great weekend, always. And for the bands, it’s the people who make these events. It’s nice knowing we’re coming back for our fourth time. It feels like a home festival to us.”
Justin Hawkins, The Darkness: “That first year, we were sort of becoming fashionable at that point, and they made a slot for us – we were on before the openers. They opened the gates 20 seconds before we were on. And everyone ran to the front to the stage and it was just a great party. A really fantastic day, and it set us up for the whole year.
"I really like the opening slot. I really like a daylight T in the Park audience - they’re fresh. The breakfast slot – I’m a fan. The Darkness provide brunch-rock.”
Ed Sheeran: “I was a special secret guest with Snow Patrol. I went on for two minutes to sing New York with them. They took me on tour with them in America, and they’ve become very very close friends of mine, and I hang out with them pretty much on a daily basis. So I thought I’d get a flight up here - on my day off – and sing a song with them. I love Snow Patrol. It was an honour sharing a stage at pretty much their homecoming headline gig.”
Labrinth: “This is my second festival summer. Last year was really good – it was an educational year for me, and it was that time to say, “guys, this I what I do, this is what I’m about.” And there’s a bit of that this year, but I’ve got fans singing songs back to me. It’s been an amazing feeling.”
The event team has a team of photographers documenting the weekend’s highlights. Images (free to use) will be issued to photo desk email addresses at regular intervals or can be downloaded from the Media Room at www.tinthepark.com/media - password - bringitonbalado. Please contact the T in the Park Press Office if you would like these emailed to you direct.
For regular T in the Park news, check out www.facebook.com/tinthepark and follow on Twitter @Tinthepark
