Anyone For T?

Last weekend, Eimear and I journeyed to Balado in Scotland for the annual T in the Park festival. Now in its seventeenth year, the festival plays host to 85,000 music fans every July and typically has a similar line-up to Oxegen, which takes place the same weekend.

I've always been one of those people who's quite regimented about trying to squeeze in as many bands as possible over the course of a weekend festival. And this weekend was no different.

On Friday...

We touched down just in time to catch the last few songs in The Temper Trap's main stage stint. The crowd were lapping up the Aussie outfit's set but there was definitely a considerable portion of the audience waiting for The Song. Sure enough, once they launched into the opening bars of 'Sweet Disposition', the crowd erupted and it was the first of many Lovely Festival Moments™ that the weekend had in store.

Next up, was Cockney hero Jamie T, who managed to draw out the rowdier side of the Scottish crowd (who I soon learned will launch into a chorus of 'Here we go! Here we f*cking go!' if you get them the slightest bit excited'). Looking decidedly hairy, Jamie induced mild hysteria and more than lived up to his main stage billing.

The King Tut's Wah Wah Tent seemed to be the spot where we spent the majority of the weekend and first to initiate us into its canvas confines were La Roux. Despite making various attempts to see Elly Jackson previously, this was my first time to catch her and I was blown away. The set reminded me how laden La Roux's self-titled debut is with killer pop hooks and, despite Elly's claims that she was under the weather, I was pleasantly surprised by how well her voice holds up in a live setting. A cover of The Rolling Stones' 'Under My Thumb' was a particular highlight.



Both Hot Chip and Calvin Harris had to contend with power outages during their sets in the same tent on Friday evening. Calvin fared a little better. seeming largely unfazed by the technical difficulties and delivered, for me, one of the best performances of the weekend. I'm not huge fan of his latest album but I remember him stating at the time that he wanted to make 'stadium dance music' and, based on his stonking laser-equipped live show, I guess he succeeded.

On Saturday...

We woke up to heavy rain showers but we didn't let soggy weather prevent us from making it back to the Wah Wah tent for Diana Vickers. Yes, really. The trumpet-toting former X Factor contestant completely surpassed my expectations. I'm not sure if she has a lengthy future in pop but, if it all falls apart, I suspect her pitch perfect voice will land her plenty of work on The West End.

Next we managed to catch Kid Adrift. I'd stumbled upon their track Oxytocin a while back and it flagged my interest, so I decided to investigate further. Their music is curious genre-melding stuff, occasionally verging on punk rock before veering into experimental indie, with smatterings of electronica thrown in for good measure. Some of the tracks were carried off better than others but they're definitely an intriguing prospect.

Example managed to pack out the tent he was playing in ten minutes before his set even began but, to be honest, I wasn't particularly fussed on him. Fake Blood in the Slam Tent was far more up my alley. Serving up a combination of original tracks and remixes (this was a particular highlight), the mixmaster was aided by an incredible sound system and visuals. Mindblowing.

Some timetable confusion meant we missed most of Laura Marling and, based on what we saw, I was kicking myself all the more for not getting there on time. Julian Casablancas was every inch the rock star, swaggering around the stage in the Bedroom Jam Futures stage. Thankfully, his performance vindicated his posturing, '11th Dimension' being a particular highlight.

On Sunday...

The weather picked up somewhat and we set about squeezing in as much as we could muster into our last day.

First up was Daisy Dares You, back at our trusty Wah Wah tent. The only track she played that I was familiar with was pop anthem 'Number One Enemy' and this was the odd one out in a set of guitar driven guitar pop. Daisy is gorgeous, a dab hand at the guitar and, even if her high-pitched voice is something of an acquired taste, she's an accomplished singer. It's just a shame (but perhaps not surprising considering she's just 16) that she seems to be experiencing something of a musical identity crisis.

Daisy was followed by Darwin Deez who were probably my highlight of the week. The New York four piece ooze positive energy and their ludicous synchronised dance routines between songs immediately endeared them to those unfamiliar with their music. 'Radar Detector' and 'Up In The Clouds' were especially well received and I came away from their set in a haze of good humour.

Sadly, Mancunian synthpop duo Hurts didn't have quite the same effect. I saw them play in Whelans a couple of months back and thought maybe the venue was the reason for everything not seeming to come together just right. However, playing in the Bedroom Slam Futures Tent, there still seemed to be some vital ingredient that was absent. Maybe it's the deliberately staid delivery from frontman Theo Hutchcraft that makes it so difficult to get excited? I'm not sure. Whatever it is, here's hoping they can figure it out because they've got some cracking pop tunes in their arsenal.

Ellie Goulding's album 'Lights' has been one of the musical lowlights of 2010 for me so far, mainly because I had really high expectations and it fell drastically short. Some consolation comes in the fact that most of her songs sound better when played live. Opening with the song 'Lights' that was criminally tacked on to the album as an 'iTunes only exclusive', Ellie rarely set a foot wrong, finishing with the spectacular trio of 'Salt Skin', 'Under the Sheets' and 'Starry Eyed', all the while thrashing violently on a drum and cymbal.



Before legging it to catch a flight, we managed to squeeze in a few songs by Northern Irish outfit Two Door Cinema Club. The fact that their music has been used to soundtrack umpteen television adverts shouldn't be held against them because their hook-laden pop rock packs a potent punch. This week they announced that they'll be playing at Electric Picnic thus year and I certainly intend to catch their full set.

[Darwin Deez image: DonkeyJacket45]