It was a remarkable year for T in the Park. Not only was it the 20th anniversary for the Scottish festival, but also the sun finally shone. This was a relief after last years famous mud spectacle, which turned a lot of tents into rafts. Made In Shoreditch went all the way to Kinross to report everything you wanted to know about 2013’s T in the Park.
A festival is not just a gathering of music-minded people and great bands, it’s also a massive sport exercise. This can especially be said about T in the Park, which uses a huge area for its festival. Combine this with a varied line-up, with big rock bands such as The Killers and Mumford and Sons, pop acts like Rihanna and David Guetta as well as indie sensations like Peace and Palma Violets and it will keep you moving.
Although the organisation has done its best to create an all-round line-up for their 2013 edition, we also have some criticism for the festival. T in the Park celebrates its 20th anniversary, but is has become more and more commercial over the years. You can see this in the high prices of facilities. For instance, if you want to shower you need to buy a ticket for the Refresh area, which costs you 15 (!) pounds for one day.
Another aspect of commercialisation is the big amount of top 40 artists in the line-up. Rihanna, Ke$ha, Calvin Harris, David Guetta, Mark Owen: why are they playing at a festival? The same thing can be said about the loud top 40 music from the funfair attractions, which made it impossible to hear any concert from a further distance than the stage tent. It’s very clear that T in the Park wants to attract a younger audience with this variety of commercial elements, but this comes at a cost to the success the organisation hoped on yet, because the festival didn’t sell out for another year.
Friday
Fortunately it’s not only middle-of-the-road and fairground attractions on T in the Park, because the festival welcomed a lot of interesting acts to the pastures of Kinross this year. The Friday line-up made space for two very different sensations from America: female indie pop band Haim and punk band FIDLAR. Haim produced an interesting show on the Radio 1 Stage and showed why they are worth the hype: they have the hits, the enthusiasm, the musical skills (read: the marvellous drumming finish) and the public: although the band played at the start of the first day a lot of people came to see them. In comparison to Haim, on the Transmission Stage FIDLAR played to a pinball machine and a small group of stray people. In spite of this, the rattling no-nonsense rock band managed to create a mosh pit and created a lasting impression.
With his brilliant debut, Jake Bugg can be seen as Britain’s new hope. Unfortunately, on T in the Park he was a little disappointing. Because the singer played a lot of songs on electric guitar, it became a bit monotonous. However, when the young Brit started to play a few acoustic songs, such as the peak ‘Broken’, it became very clear again that Bugg is a great talent. French band Phoenix at the King Tut’s Wah Wah Tent (KTWWT; we also love this name) was next and showed that with a combination of good songs, musical experiments and larger-than-life visuals, you can make an overwhelming impression. Absolute peaks were hits ‘1901’ and ‘Lisztomania’, which created a dancing, jumping crowd, just like a festival needs. Chase and Status on the Main Stag did an energetic, sweeping performance and even just as an observer you could not stay still to the sound of their beats and singing.
At the end of the day T in the Parkers could choose between German dance pioneers Kraftwerk (right) or major folk band Mumford and Sons. It has always been Kraftwerk’s aim to be innovative and on T in the Park they surprised with a 3D-show. It resulted in thousands of people watching four 60-something men behind computers and visuals with German texts about data, computer love and other nerdy subjects – of course it’s all very ironic. Despite the fact they played a little too long, Kraftwerk managed to set up a great best-of-show, with classics such as ‘Autobahn’ and ‘The Model’. Mumford and Sons on the other stage played a great performance and were energetic, emotional and sweeping as always.
Saturday
Saturday saw a big variety of artists, such as the new Glaswegian act PAWS on the BBC Introduction Stage. If you didn’t know they were from Glasgow, you would sure have expected them to be American: the noisy music, grungy songs and lead singer Philip Taylor’s Donald Duck shirt make them very, very US. Although they played very attuned, the band needs some more outstanding songs, because their tunes are still too similar. From an underground band from Glasgow to a major Glaswegian group on the Main Stage: The Fratellis were next and played a decent show, with their classics such as ‘Chaelsea Dagger’ and ‘Henrietta’ well distributed over the show. With his charismatic dance moves Jon Fratelli proved to still be a great frontman. However on the whole, the big amount of country and feel-good songs made it all a little middle-of-the-road.
A lot more exciting was the show of young Ireland band The Strypes in the Transmission Stage. The band members are aged 15 to 17 years, and they probably used those years very well to listen to early music of The Rolling Stones. The Strypes make rhythm and blues in its purest forms and play it extremely speedy. Although singer Ross Farrelly is still a youngster, with his sun glasses and cooler-than-cool static performance, he probably made a lot of adults think about an 80’s Cure song: ‘Why Can’t I Be You?’ Next were Peace (above), hyped by NME and the BBC as ‘the next big thing’. But are they the absolute new rock sensation? At T in the Park they proved to be good and songs like ‘Wraith’ and ‘Bloodshake’ are definitely exciting live tracks, but on the whole the band members looked cooler than their set of songs, which was still a little monotonous.
Something else can be said for Palma Violets, also massively hyped by British media. While their debut earlier this year was a little disappointing, their live shows are always extremely lively. In particular singer/ bassist Chilli Jesson is a unique podium personality. In the KTWWT he screamed out animal sounds, he let two of his friends on stage to sing along and then he suddenly ended the show, because out of nowhere he jumped on drummer William Boyle, so the drum kit as well as Boyle and Jesson smacked on the ground. Worth the hype? A big yes. Friday program saw new UK star Jake Bugg, but on Saturday there was another contender to become Britain’s absolute rock hero: Miles Kane. While Jake Bugg’s show became somehow monotonous, Miles Kane musically has a more varied set list. Of course ‘Rearrange’ and Inhaler made the public go absolutely wild, but surprisingly his new single ‘Don’t Forget Who You Are’ was also sung along to.
On the Main Stage Snoop Dogg played a great performance and went on stage with his two dancers and a big dancing man dressed as a bear, which mimicked the song’s lyrics from time to time by using a big joint or an alcoholic drink. He sung the known hits, engaged with the crowd and was still be an energetic and fun performer. Snoop Dogg did not neglect his constant manifesto when, in-between songs, he called to the crowd to smoke weed after expressing his thanks to the UK for allowing him back in the country. Next was The Script, who had a respectful turnout. Despite the fact that their performance was vocally not very impressive, they took their place on stage as entertainers and were determined to engage with the crowd. The band provided the performance to their abilities, whether trough singing to one of the fan’s ex-lover on the phone, or jumping into the crowd while pushing the security away.
British Sea Power on the Transmission Stage surprised with… polar bears. The theme of this show was nature: the band had a lot of fake trees on stage and was accompanied with two men in polar bear suits. In combination with the very atmospheric music this was definitely an experience. They receive bonus points for guitarist Martin Noble’s original stage dive, where he made swimming moves, like the public was a British sea. Rihanna was probably a bit disappointed that it didn’t rain this year, because otherwise ‘Umbrella’ would have been the perfect anthem. However, she did what she had to do: play the classics and perform it with a talented dance group and good band, consisting of Extreme’s guitarist Nuno Bettencourt. Though a pop star that chants about diamonds in the sky and sings along with tapes isn’t very rock and roll for a festival.
Sunday
The last day of T in the Park stage KTWWT opened with a new sensation from America: Deap Vally (left). In case you missed the hype, they are two scantily dressed no-nonsense young women from LA, who played like they were Led Zeppelin. They performed their songs in a very powerful way, which made them the perfect wake-up call for a lot of people. Next was Tom Odell, whose debut recently got a 0 out of 10 from NME. The pop star seemed to be perfectly well on stage, but in fact had a serious chest infection and could only perform two songs. He had cancelled a supporting gig for The Rolling Stones to be here and we must say: that shows real character. The two songs he performed were full of passion and harmony, so Made In Shoreditch already gives him two points for that. And some aspirins.
The 1975 is supposed to be the next big thing from the very lively Manchester scene, but live at KTWWT it all sounded a bit mainstream and not as innovative as recent work from Mancunian bands WU LYF or Egyptian Hip Hop. Singer Matthew Healy sung a bit too popish and instead of being innovatory it all sounded very… 1975. Well, from the ‘70’s’ to the 80’s: Johnny Marr was next and was warmly welcomed by the public with the words “Johnny fucking Marr”. After playing a couple of his new songs, the ex-Smiths guitarist did what he had to do: play the classics. The public got to listen to a marvellous set, consisting of Smiths songs, Electronic’s ‘Getting Away With It’ and even a cover of The Clash’s ‘I Fought The Law’. The only small disadvantage is that Johnny Marr is not as talented in singing as in playing guitar. Somehow you start to miss Morrissey, but er, don’t mention the war.
If you didn’t hear the dance track ‘White Noise’ by Disclosure (and AlunaGeorge) this year, it’s very likely that you don’t like going out. Although their visuals at KTWWT were a bit disappointing, the young dance duo performed a proper set at T in the Park, consisting of some fine UK garage. The stage was completely packed with visitors and Disclosure created the absolute party of the festival. Glaswegians Chvrches (right) are more popular in the USA than they are in the UK, and they played a homecoming show after touring the US. With their outstanding electro pop Chvrches live proved to be worth the buzz, and a special note must be made about Martin Doherty’s performance during the one song he sung solo. While singer Lauren Mayberry could use some more of the stage, Doherty rocked it like a maniac. Their album will come out on 23 September and never mind the sun: we can’t wait until autumn.
Very striking was the fact that the harmonious LA band Local Natives on the Transmission Stage attracted only just a few people. Their psychedelic, innovative and sometimes even avant-garde music was definitely a highlight of T in the Park’s Sunday. They closed their show with a marvellous version of their best-known song ‘Sun Hands’. Conclusion: 100,000,000 Bon Jovi fans can be wrong, but 100 Local Native fans simply can’t. However, it was probably hard for the Americans to compete with major UK band Stereophonics on the Main Stage, which was a delight to see. Stereophonic frontman Kelly Jones still sings very well and after performing endless festivals through their career they still managed to give it all.
And finally on the Main Stage The Killers closed to festival the way it has to be: with a set list full of classic Killers anthems, such as ‘Somebody Told Me’, ‘Human’, but also their 2007 Joy Division cover ‘Shadowplay’. Brandon Flowers has become the perfect, leather-jacket-wearing cool frontman. He used the stage very well, he sang about Scotland and he observably laughed a lot of times about the over-enthusiastic reactions of the public. Highlight of the show was a cover of Scottish band Travis’ ‘Side’. After closing the immersing show with absolute classic ‘Mr. Brightside’ there was firework and that was it: the 20th edition of T in the Park is over. We looked back on an edition that went very well with great weather and a very varied line-up, but also on a festival that plays it safe. If T in the Park wants to compete with festivals such as Latitude or Glastonbury to make sure there will be another 20 years, they need to be more innovative with their line-up and less commercial. Or in the words of UK band White Lies: Farewell To The Fairground.
Textual contributions by Eve Aharon about Chase and Status, Mumford and Sons, Snoop Dogg, The Script and Stereophonics. Photo’s of Peace, The Killers and atmospheric pictures by Eve Aharon. Photo’s of Kraftwerk, Deap Vally and Chvrches by Jelmer Luimstra.
