The eccentric buzz of T in the Park was in full swing at the weekend. With a theme of Mad Hatters T Party, revellers took this as the perfect opportunity to parade an eclectic mix of costumes – from eyeballs and bananas to Mad Hatters and plenty of Alices. Aside from costumes, Friday’s line up was equally exciting, with performances from dance giants Faithless, a glittering extravaganza from The Black Eyed Peas, genius house maestro Calvin Harris and fresh from their Glastonbury glory, Muse with a storming set.
Faithless front man Maxi Jazz seemed more than glad to be performing at the Scottish festival, stating: “….there is a quantifiable difference between festivals in Scotland and festivals pretty much anywhere else in the world.” Continuing on to say “People are happy you came. Thank God you’re here! And we feel that in Scotland, and its such a lovely feeling, and you feel it onstage as an energy. Which is good for us, cause at the moment we’re doing probably the most energetic and physically draining set we’ve ever done.” Whilst Calvin Harris agreed he looks forward to playing in Scotland: “I don’t get daunted playing back in Scotland I look forward to it more.” As well as discussing backstage his achievements thus far, his year long tour and his hopes for a third album: “I’ll probably do a third album. I’m not contractually obliged to do so, actually the complete opposite. But I think I definitely need to give it another track. I want to make a better one. I like the second one a lot, but I don’t think the first was very good.” Departing with a festival motto of “ignore the future”.
Paloma Faith renowned for her slightly wacky outfit creations, shared her T fashions backstage: “Today onstage I wore a vintage black dress, sequinned, with a long train at the back, and that was from a shop called The Girl Can Help It in London. And the hat was a felt hat that looked like hair was by House Of Flora.” And when asked who she would be if she could be one other person on the bill she said: “I’d be Florence + The Machine cause she’s got what I wanted: more success than me!”.
Later in the weekend, catching up backstage with Paolo Nutini, the T in the Park regular praised the festival as being special: “I’ve lost count how many times I’ve played T in the Park. … T in the Park is special because I don’t get to do any other festivals with my mates. Festivals are all good. But it’s not what you’re doing its who you’re doing it with. Today I’ve got school mates here, family, mates that I only met yesterday, girlfriend, her friends, everybody’s friends.” Memories of T in the Park always seem to be fond ones for returning artists, The Courteeners singer Liam Fray stated: “This is our hat-trick, our third T in the Park in a row. Last year was crazy. The first year we were on the Radio 1/NME Stage, but at about half one in the afternoon. Then King Tut’s last year, second to top before The View, and it was packed. The atmosphere was electric. A very special night.”
Second act from the top at Main Stage on Saturday – Stereophonics’s Kelly Jones abides by the rule of giving the people the songs they know. When asked who he would collaborate with if it could be any other artist on the bill, he said: “Jay-Z. He’s doing alright isn’t he? He’s got a clothing company, he’s got Beyonce in the house, he owns Def Jam. I don’t think he’s got that many problems. 99? Never.” Unlike the Stereophonics’s reappearances at T over the years, Mystery Jets experienced the festival for the first time this year, bass player Kai commenting: “We are T in the Park virgins. We’re being broken in as we speak. We managed to get a bit of red wine to warm ourselves. But it seems fun, there’s a lot of very happy people out there. They seem to be having a very good time.” Over in the Slam Tent, Erol Alkan braced himself for his own T in the Park experience: “I played the Slam Tent two years ago. It was just brilliant a lot of moving and a lot of shouting. I’m second from top this year, I’ve only got an hour and 15 minutes so it will be all killer, no filler. Hi-octane!”
There undoubtedly were a lot of very happy people this past weekend, despite the rain and the wind it is safe to say that both the artists and the revellers ensured T in the Park 2010 was definite success!