This year Scottish bash T In The Park played host to returning Manchester heroes The Stone Roses, jilted-EDM-superstar Calvin Harris and funk-rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers as well as British indie-pop champions Bastille, The 1975 and LCD Soundsystem. Here’s the full story behind this year’s festival.
The Stone Roses
Arriving on stage to the sound of bagpipes, The Stone Roses headlined the festival for the second time; three years on from their appearance in 2013. Pulling one of the biggest crowds of the weekend, Ian Brown, John Squire, Mani and Reni followed the pace set by their Manchester Etihad gigs earlier this summer, as debut album tracks ‘I Am The Resurrection’ and ‘She Bangs The Drums’ seamlessly sat alongside new track ‘All For One’ during the triumphant slot.
Disclosure
Before the Roses hit the stage, it was the job of Surrey brothers Disclosure to warm up the eager punters. Prior to launching into ‘Jaded’, Guy Lawrence complemented the huge crowd as well as the Scottish weather, saying: “We’ve got the sunset, we’re in Scotland with some crazy ravers. There’s nowhere we’d rather be”. Special guests were kept to a minimum, with only Brendan Reilly joining the duo for ‘Moving Mountains’ before a rousing rendition of ‘Latch’ closed out their set.
Krept and Konan
Earlier in the day London duo Krept and Konan played a thumping set on the Radio 1 Summer Of Dance Stage, turning in one of the weekend’s stand-out hip-hop performances. The pair had to battle with sound issues during ‘Don’t Waste My Time’ but took it in their stride, later winning over the crowd by instigating a chant of “Drugs, money, alcohol!”
Calvin Harris
Bringing Saturday’s proceedings to a close was T In The Park resident’s EDM-superstar and Scotland native Calvin Harris, who returned for his eighth appearance in ten years. However the crowd eagerly welcomed him back and were in full force as Harris rattled through a set including his biggest hits ‘Summer’, ‘We Found Love’ and ‘Blame’, before finishing on old-skool rave classic ‘Bits & Pieces’ to a few bewildered yet enthusiastic punters. Same again next year, then?
Bastille
Fresh from announcing their debut arena tour, Britain’s newest pop titans Bastille proved their worth as a main stage attraction and put forth their case for a future headline slot. As well as ‘Bad Blood’ cuts like ‘Pompeii’ and ‘Blame’, the band also gave blistering outings for new tracks ‘Good Grief’ and ‘The Currents’ and later took to Twitter to thank the fans who “jumped around in the mud with us”. Anytime, Dan.
The Last Shadow Puppets
Messrs Miles Kane and Alex Turner were in fine hip-swinging form during their Saturday main stage slot as The Last Shadow Puppets, airing tracks from 2016’s ‘Everything You’ve Come To Expect’ as well as performing a cover of David Bowie’s ‘Moonage Daydream’ to close the set. Clad in a white Adidas tracksuit, Kane also led the band in a messy cover of The Fall’s ‘Totally Wired’ mid-set before becoming the subject of the crowd chant ‘Miles, Miles, Miles fucking Kane’ led by none other than Turner himself.
The 1975
Going head-to-head with Calvin Harris on the Radio 1 Stage were The 1975 who gushed with gratitude at playing their first headline set at a festival. The show was kickstarted by eight tracks from their chart-topping second album ‘I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It’ as well as a handful from their self-titled debut. The band rattled through hits like ‘Love Me’, ‘Robbers’ and ‘Girls’ before finishing their 70-minute set with ‘Sex’. One fan later likened the show to a “religious moment” in their life. Blimey.
Catfish & The Bottleman
Welsh quartet Catfish & The Bottleman played the preceding slot on the same stage, rattling through tracks from 2013’s ‘The Balcony’ including ‘Rango’ and ‘Cocoon’, in addition to storming through a sizeable chunk of this year’s ‘The Ride’ to a swelling crowd.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
US funk-rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers closed the festival on Sunday night with a set that proved why they still command the top slot at festivals worldwide. Opening with an unstoppable trio of ‘Can’t Stop’, ‘Snow (Hey Oh)’ and ‘Scar Tissue’, the band earned the loyal respect of the lively Sunday night crowd which even saw one punter scaling a 60ft speaker tower to get a better view.
Craig David
Over at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, revitalised UK garage icon Craig David gave the crowd a glimpse of his now festival-famous TS5 club night to a rapturous response. During the DJ set, David took time to pick up the mic for some of his own tracks including ‘Rewind’ and ‘Fill Me In’ before spinning a host of other club classics. Awesome.
Faithless
’90s dance pioneers Faithless were back on the T main stage following a six year absence from the festival. Treating the crowd to trance classics ‘God Is A DJ’ and ‘Mass Destruction’, mega-hit ‘Insomina’ was dropped halfway through, with Maxi Jazz, Sister Bliss and Rollo finishing up with 2001 track ‘We Come 1’.
Slaves
Slaves revitalised the main stage punters with an electrifying Sunday afternoon set during which they made reference to the site’s stolen cash point conundrum; “In whose tent is that cashpoint? Is it yours, mate?”, as well as the sad death of two festival-goers; “we’re all here for the same reason – because we fucking love music”. They then sparked near-anarchy with two new tracks ‘Spit It Out’ and ‘Rich Man’ as well as first album stompers ‘The Hunter’ and ‘Hey’.
