After a muddy and murky start on Friday, Brian Wilson ended the first full day of this year’s T In The Park festival by bringing the sunshine to Scotland. Not literally, but it’s as close as we’d come so far.
That blissful, hit-packed set has been the undoubted highlight of what’s been an eventful start to the festival’s first attempt at a three-day bash. But it got off to an inauspicious start when the terrible weather caused huge problems, with the rain turning car parks and the main arena to mud and punters struggling to access the site, stuck in huge tailbacks.
As a result, the first ever Friday headliners Arctic Monkeys played in front of a surprisingly small, shivering crowd. It was a better show than Glastonbury, with frontman Alex Turner revealing an increasingly confident stage persona. After a coruscating run through “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor”, he tells the throng: “In the words of Dame Shirley, that’s how it’s done.” He obviously spotted Tom Jones kicking the life out of his tune at the Princess Diana memorial concert last week.
Yesterday Amy Winehouse pulled out due to “exhaustion”, so our first real excitement came when Arcade Fire took to the Main Stage. Unfortunately, the weather again played havoc, a fierce wind blowing the band’s sound so far across the site you could have probably heard the set in their native Canada.
Then, last night, it was Brian Wilson’s turn, appropriately enough headlining the Pet Sounds Arena. It was only about three quarters full, mainly due to The Killers being such a huge draw, but everyone in that tent knew every word of every song. It was heartening to see so many young uns shunning Brandon & co for songs over 40 years old, and even forgave him for constantly referring to being in “Glasgow”. The 25-song set included all the classics, and the show was summed up by one punter when he screamed at the end of “Help Me Rhonda”: “Brian, yer a fuckin’ legend!” Well said.
This report was written by Alan Woodhouse