Saturday @ T In The Park
Saturday at T in the Park introduced us to an element we would come to know very well over the course of the weekend: rain. From light rain in the early morning hours to almost torrential in the early afternoon, it rarely let up and constantly soaked us. I can safely say that I have never seen so much mud in my life, and coming from a born and bred Island Girl, that’s an achievement in itself for Balado.
I had originally pegged myself in to see Chipmunk open the day’s entertainment on the Main Stage (he is, along with N-Dubz, an awful guilty pleasure of mine), but due to in incident the night before involving a younger sibling, stolen beer and a tent too close to the walk paths we were rather late in starting. So instead of a wonderful UK Urban act starting off our day, we were eased into a hard day’s drinking by the adorably chirpy Kate Nash on the King Tut’s stage. A complete contrast to the gloomy rain outside, the atmosphere within the tent was that of a sunny day in a London park - as Kate bashed her way through old favourites such as “Foundations”, “Mouthwash”, “Pumpkin Soup” and newer hits such as “Doo-Wah-Doo” and “Kiss That Grrl”, I half expected the Mighty Boosh’s Noel Fielding to swish by in his famed Glitterball suit with an army of roller-disco Grease fanatics right behind him. Despite her long absence from the charts, Kate played her way through her set as though she’d never been away and safely reclaimed her seat within the top ring of female artists from the London scene while encouraging any and all females in the audience to pick up an instrument and compose, ending with the familiar words “Just do it.” Quirky, melodic and endlessly charming, she left us waiting in the tent for the next act with a smile and a warm beer that had been in hand, and left untouched, since the beginning of her set.
Next on the bill for the King Tut’s set was a home-grown favourite, and one of my most anticipated acts of the weekend, Frightened Rabbit. The last I saw of Frightened Rabbit was an acoustic set by front-man Scott Hutchison in the west end of Glasgow’s Tchai Ovna tea room three or four years ago. It was a set that introduced me to the band as a whole, sent shivers down my spine for years afterward and has stuck with me ever since. There was barely a handful of people in that room and the atmosphere was electric; you could barely squeeze an extra hand into the King Tut’s tent this year and the atmosphere was indescribable. Blasting through several songs of their three album back catalogue, including favourites “The Modern Leper”, “Good Arms,” “Keep Yourself Warm” and “My Backwards Walk”, the band fulfilled every single want and need of the buzzing crowd and the reaction gained from their hard work was overwhelming to watch; seeing a home grown band who have worked so hard over the years make such an impression on notoriously nitpicky, drunken Scots was absolutely wonderful and more than deserved. The cheers lasted far longer than the time it took the band to leave the stage, and I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more.
Following Frightened Rabbit was the ever quirky and fun We Are Scientists. Though I’ve been a fan of We Are Scientists for a number of years, I’d never managed to catch them live so here was another band that I anticipated greatly. Between their famed cheeky banter (“That’s our name, don’t wear it out”, “We’re staying in room mumblemumble, come hang!”) and boundless energy was an absolutely flawless set; a balanced mix of old and new, they had the crowd dancing from the get go and it only stood to get even more raucous when it came to the major fan favourites. While recent single “Rules Don’t Stop” was received extremely well, older hits “Nobody Move, Nobody Gets Hurt” and “Great Escape” were undoubtedly the highlights of the set, and an emotional finale of “After Hours” had the entire tent bouncing and singing along. It was a finale that gave me goosebumps all over, owing to nostalgia and an overwhelming reminder of why I adored the band in the first place. I left feeling extremely satisfied and looking forward to their return.
For the evening sets, my friend and I settled into the Red Bull Bedroom Jam tent to watch the wonderfully cheeky Mystery Jets and ever fabulous Laura Marling raise the roof and hush the crowd respectively. Performing one after the other (though sadly not performing their recent collaboration “Young Love”), the Mystery Jets set the standard with an upbeat set including “Two Doors Down,” and an absolutely heart-wrenching acoustic version of “Behind the Bunhouse”, which brought tears to many an audience member’s eyes. Laura Marling followed up next with a semi-acoustic set and where the audience were previously upbeat and dancing, they steadied and hushed for the London musician almost as soon as she appeared on stage - it was as though they knew the drill, knew what to expect and were all too eager to just absorb. Mixing folky sounds with syrupy vocals, clear Celtic influences and an all too self-aware, expressive set of lyrics, Marling truly sets herself apart from the current onslaught of females emerging from the music scene at the moment, and it was evident from watching the crowd that they were completely hypnotised by her. With a strong set of acoustically driven tunes including the wonderful “New Romantic,” “Devil’s Spoke,” “Alas, I Cannot Swim,” and, what was the highlight for me, the hauntingly beautiful “Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)”, this was an act not to be missed. Those of us who were in the tent, I’m absolutely certain, came out of it more than relieved that we hadn’t.
Rounding off our evening, we headed back to where we first began in King Tut’s tent to see the absolutely outstanding Mumford & Sons. I cannot begin to describe how utterly wonderful they were live; my original plan was to watch the first half of Eminem’s set on the Main Stage and hot foot it over to the KT tent in order to see Mumfords, but due to what was described as Festival Jitters, Eminem ran far too late - I was gutted, but all disappointment was forgotten as soon as the Mumford boys walked on stage. The reception they received as soon as they appeared was mindblowing for such a small tent - not a single person in the crowd was silent or unmoving and it continued all throughout the set. The band performed the majority, if not all, of their recent album “Sigh No More” and I fully understand why; not one song on the album is filler, not one song deserves to be left behind and in a tent full of drunk, enthusiastic Mumford fans it did not go unappreciated.
Playing with seemingly endless amounts of energy, it was fully as though they were the heart, pumping us with jaunty guitar picking and throbbing basslines, rippling through the crowd causing us to jump and move and dance together for the full hour that they played for. Looking around the crowd as my friend and I danced about, I didn’t see one unsmiling face. There wasn’t a single song that didn’t receive a triumphant cheer within the first few chords; there wasn’t one chorus that was left unsung by the entire audience. The absolute, absolute highlight of this was the build up to the end of “Little Lion Man.” It was completely overwhelming, sunk right through my skin and it made me proud to be a part of the audience, a part of a Scottish audience like it and a fan of Mumfords (they were so good that it’s bringing out my inner music-wank, and I usually manage to keep that in check!).
I could have left the tent feeling disappointed; as the boys finished, a soft ripple went through the crowd as they dispersed - they hadn’t played “The Cave” (one of my favourites from the album), but no sooner were we ten feet from the exit, the familiar intro started and the stage-lights came back up. Cue a rush of bodies flooding back into the tent and soaking it in; again, the audience was almost louder than the band themselves in the sing-along, and it capped the set off absolutely perfectly. After having seen Mumford & Sons live, I am truly gutted that their upcoming tour is sold out (especially as Noah & the Whale are supporting, who I have absolutely fallen in love with in the past year) but it pleases me to know that people will be experiencing them regardless.
The Saturday was definitely my highlight of T In the Park; the line-up suited the mood that I was in for that day and, on the way back from seeing the wonderful Mumfords, I even managed to catch a quick glimpse of Eminem’s set - a mash up of all his old hits which blew the crowd away, and a longer rendition of “Lose Yourself”. From the ten to fifteen minutes that I saw of his set, it seemed like his first UK gig in a long time was a success and all the way back to the campsite, everyone was absolutely buzzing about the three main acts (NME/Radio 1 tent’s act being the Prodigy. Yes, I missed the Prodigy. I’m still grieving.)
I had originally pegged myself in to see Chipmunk open the day’s entertainment on the Main Stage (he is, along with N-Dubz, an awful guilty pleasure of mine), but due to in incident the night before involving a younger sibling, stolen beer and a tent too close to the walk paths we were rather late in starting. So instead of a wonderful UK Urban act starting off our day, we were eased into a hard day’s drinking by the adorably chirpy Kate Nash on the King Tut’s stage. A complete contrast to the gloomy rain outside, the atmosphere within the tent was that of a sunny day in a London park - as Kate bashed her way through old favourites such as “Foundations”, “Mouthwash”, “Pumpkin Soup” and newer hits such as “Doo-Wah-Doo” and “Kiss That Grrl”, I half expected the Mighty Boosh’s Noel Fielding to swish by in his famed Glitterball suit with an army of roller-disco Grease fanatics right behind him. Despite her long absence from the charts, Kate played her way through her set as though she’d never been away and safely reclaimed her seat within the top ring of female artists from the London scene while encouraging any and all females in the audience to pick up an instrument and compose, ending with the familiar words “Just do it.” Quirky, melodic and endlessly charming, she left us waiting in the tent for the next act with a smile and a warm beer that had been in hand, and left untouched, since the beginning of her set.
Next on the bill for the King Tut’s set was a home-grown favourite, and one of my most anticipated acts of the weekend, Frightened Rabbit. The last I saw of Frightened Rabbit was an acoustic set by front-man Scott Hutchison in the west end of Glasgow’s Tchai Ovna tea room three or four years ago. It was a set that introduced me to the band as a whole, sent shivers down my spine for years afterward and has stuck with me ever since. There was barely a handful of people in that room and the atmosphere was electric; you could barely squeeze an extra hand into the King Tut’s tent this year and the atmosphere was indescribable. Blasting through several songs of their three album back catalogue, including favourites “The Modern Leper”, “Good Arms,” “Keep Yourself Warm” and “My Backwards Walk”, the band fulfilled every single want and need of the buzzing crowd and the reaction gained from their hard work was overwhelming to watch; seeing a home grown band who have worked so hard over the years make such an impression on notoriously nitpicky, drunken Scots was absolutely wonderful and more than deserved. The cheers lasted far longer than the time it took the band to leave the stage, and I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more.
Following Frightened Rabbit was the ever quirky and fun We Are Scientists. Though I’ve been a fan of We Are Scientists for a number of years, I’d never managed to catch them live so here was another band that I anticipated greatly. Between their famed cheeky banter (“That’s our name, don’t wear it out”, “We’re staying in room mumblemumble, come hang!”) and boundless energy was an absolutely flawless set; a balanced mix of old and new, they had the crowd dancing from the get go and it only stood to get even more raucous when it came to the major fan favourites. While recent single “Rules Don’t Stop” was received extremely well, older hits “Nobody Move, Nobody Gets Hurt” and “Great Escape” were undoubtedly the highlights of the set, and an emotional finale of “After Hours” had the entire tent bouncing and singing along. It was a finale that gave me goosebumps all over, owing to nostalgia and an overwhelming reminder of why I adored the band in the first place. I left feeling extremely satisfied and looking forward to their return.
For the evening sets, my friend and I settled into the Red Bull Bedroom Jam tent to watch the wonderfully cheeky Mystery Jets and ever fabulous Laura Marling raise the roof and hush the crowd respectively. Performing one after the other (though sadly not performing their recent collaboration “Young Love”), the Mystery Jets set the standard with an upbeat set including “Two Doors Down,” and an absolutely heart-wrenching acoustic version of “Behind the Bunhouse”, which brought tears to many an audience member’s eyes. Laura Marling followed up next with a semi-acoustic set and where the audience were previously upbeat and dancing, they steadied and hushed for the London musician almost as soon as she appeared on stage - it was as though they knew the drill, knew what to expect and were all too eager to just absorb. Mixing folky sounds with syrupy vocals, clear Celtic influences and an all too self-aware, expressive set of lyrics, Marling truly sets herself apart from the current onslaught of females emerging from the music scene at the moment, and it was evident from watching the crowd that they were completely hypnotised by her. With a strong set of acoustically driven tunes including the wonderful “New Romantic,” “Devil’s Spoke,” “Alas, I Cannot Swim,” and, what was the highlight for me, the hauntingly beautiful “Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)”, this was an act not to be missed. Those of us who were in the tent, I’m absolutely certain, came out of it more than relieved that we hadn’t.
Rounding off our evening, we headed back to where we first began in King Tut’s tent to see the absolutely outstanding Mumford & Sons. I cannot begin to describe how utterly wonderful they were live; my original plan was to watch the first half of Eminem’s set on the Main Stage and hot foot it over to the KT tent in order to see Mumfords, but due to what was described as Festival Jitters, Eminem ran far too late - I was gutted, but all disappointment was forgotten as soon as the Mumford boys walked on stage. The reception they received as soon as they appeared was mindblowing for such a small tent - not a single person in the crowd was silent or unmoving and it continued all throughout the set. The band performed the majority, if not all, of their recent album “Sigh No More” and I fully understand why; not one song on the album is filler, not one song deserves to be left behind and in a tent full of drunk, enthusiastic Mumford fans it did not go unappreciated.
Playing with seemingly endless amounts of energy, it was fully as though they were the heart, pumping us with jaunty guitar picking and throbbing basslines, rippling through the crowd causing us to jump and move and dance together for the full hour that they played for. Looking around the crowd as my friend and I danced about, I didn’t see one unsmiling face. There wasn’t a single song that didn’t receive a triumphant cheer within the first few chords; there wasn’t one chorus that was left unsung by the entire audience. The absolute, absolute highlight of this was the build up to the end of “Little Lion Man.” It was completely overwhelming, sunk right through my skin and it made me proud to be a part of the audience, a part of a Scottish audience like it and a fan of Mumfords (they were so good that it’s bringing out my inner music-wank, and I usually manage to keep that in check!).
I could have left the tent feeling disappointed; as the boys finished, a soft ripple went through the crowd as they dispersed - they hadn’t played “The Cave” (one of my favourites from the album), but no sooner were we ten feet from the exit, the familiar intro started and the stage-lights came back up. Cue a rush of bodies flooding back into the tent and soaking it in; again, the audience was almost louder than the band themselves in the sing-along, and it capped the set off absolutely perfectly. After having seen Mumford & Sons live, I am truly gutted that their upcoming tour is sold out (especially as Noah & the Whale are supporting, who I have absolutely fallen in love with in the past year) but it pleases me to know that people will be experiencing them regardless.
The Saturday was definitely my highlight of T In the Park; the line-up suited the mood that I was in for that day and, on the way back from seeing the wonderful Mumfords, I even managed to catch a quick glimpse of Eminem’s set - a mash up of all his old hits which blew the crowd away, and a longer rendition of “Lose Yourself”. From the ten to fifteen minutes that I saw of his set, it seemed like his first UK gig in a long time was a success and all the way back to the campsite, everyone was absolutely buzzing about the three main acts (NME/Radio 1 tent’s act being the Prodigy. Yes, I missed the Prodigy. I’m still grieving.)