T in the Park underway

Bands and fans head to Scotland's biggest music festival

10 July 2009 - T in the Park kicks off today, at Balado, near Kinross.

As the crowd of 85,000 descend on the site, they’ll be treated to Kings of Leon tonight, The Killers tomorrow and Blur doing the honours on the main stage on Sunday night.

The punters at the festival have a great reputation, and Elbow's Guy Garvey – who's on stage on Sunday - predicts they'll be really going for it.

“T in the Park’s amazing. The audiences in that part of the world know how to do it properly – they really do. Everybody gets into the idea. It sometimes takes English crowds a little time to warm up, but Scots don’t have a problem with it at all. They hit the ground running as soon as they’re through the gates”

The line up also includes Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Glasvegas and Maxïmo Park , who are fresh from playing two massive Glastonbury gigs. The band are looking forward to their main stage slot and frontman Paul Smith says they're huge fans of the bash in Kinross-shire.

“T in the Park is one of the most played festivals in our diary. We’ve done it quite a few times and the crowds in Scotland – it’s true – they are amazing. Really passionate about music – it’s one of those festivals where I’ve got nothing but good memories.”

While the crowds get in the festival spirit, it could be a riotous return for the Manic Street Preachers. Nicky Wire said they got in trouble for bad behaviour last time they played.

“We haven’t played there for nearly 10 years. We got banned for swearing, which is amazing considering it’s in Scotland – that I got banned for swearing and giving the drumkit away to the audience last time. I remember Sean running after me going ‘give me my drumkit back!’”

Listen to the Music Week on 6 Music for more coverage of this year’s T in the Park.


Victoria Hannaford