Things I Have an Opinion On #22

T in the Park 2010 (now that i've been)

Before I left for an old field in Kinross the other day, I posted the bands I wanted to see, and what songs I wanted to play. Out of all the bands I posted. I saw all but two, and I saw some I never had listed. Not all of the songs I posted were played unfortunately, but there were certainly plenty of others to make up for it.

Friday
Everything Everything
A band we went to see because nobody else was on, described in the programme as " a mix between the Beach Boys and the Futureheads." Neither of these were apparent, and the band weren't wonderful. The drummer carried them, and when you hear lines like "who's going to sit on your face when i'm gone?" you know that things can only get better. I'd still listen to them more though, they weren't that awful.

Chapel Club
A band the programme described as "Editors crossed with White Lies," Chapel Club were a pleasant surprise. The comparions to other post punk revival bands were very clear, and they were quite surprising. The drummer looked petrified however.

Delphic
A ten minute delay coming out didn't stop Delphic from fulfilling my prediction of them being one of the best bands there. The Red Bull Futures tent was just about full, and justafiably so given the atmosphere. The only complaint i'd have is the delay which probably stopped them from playing Submission, but the rest of the performance made up for it. Opening with Doubt and following up with Red Lights, Halcyon, This Momentary, Counterpoint and Acolyte, Delphic made me lose about 5 pounds of body weight in sweat alone. Being right up the front for it helped rather a bit too.

Muse
I was in the golden circle for Muse. I was pushing to the front, and probably got to about 8 people back from the front. Despite this, I left halfway through their set, when the utterly terrible Unnatural Selection was on. By all accounts (Harry Gover's, so its validity could be best described as "cloudy") the atmosphere was better further back, but I couldn't have lasted. I was ready to pass out, and the performance wasn't worth staying for. There were no surprises, no Citizen Erased or Showbiz, just stuff that'll be on the greatest hits album in a few years. There were no surprises, and no real effort made to get the crowd on board with the band. A huge disappointment in my eyes.

Saturday
Twisted Wheel
Shite

Local Natives
"Catch them this weekend before they're massive and remember where you saw them first" boasted the programme, and they were pretty good. Nothing particularly special, but i've a feeling that if i'd known some of their stuff, it would've been more enjoyable.

Newton Faulkner
Despite all of the neds turning up for Dream Catch Me, one of the best atmospheres of the weekend was present at the main stage on Saturday. I spent most of Newtons performance staring at his hands, trying to figure out how he was making the sounds he was. Even though it was one man with an acoustic guitar sitting on a chair, he got right in with the crowd, and comes across as a really nice, genuine guy. Special mention has to be made to the end of Gone in the Morning though, and how he got the crowd going for the last chorus:

"I'm going to give you your motivation. You are pirates.... with rabies. You are 50 feet from shore, where you will meet the barbarian hordes. They are your sworn enemy, and you are hungry for blood. Why? They kissed your mother (cue picture of 50's housewife on-screen with YOUR MUM written above it) That's right, they are a bunch of mother kissers. 40 feet from shore. 30 feet from shore. When you get to the shore, you're going to go absolutely nuts. 20 feet from shore. 10 feet..... 8 FEET...... 6 FEET...... 4 FEET...... 2 FEET........ GO! Crowd: "GONE IN THE MORNING......" and so on. Haunting. And look for the video of him playing Bohemian Rhapsody to close, utterly sublime. All done on acoustic guitar, remember.

The Proclaimers
A band Craig made me go see so he'd go and see Hurts on Sunday (I was right in this, however), they were accomplished, if uninspiring. No real stage presence.

We Are Scientists
The kind of band that tents seem to be made for, We Are Scientists nearly brought it down. Hits such as Nobody Move, Nobody Gets Hurt, It's a Hit and Inaction had the crowd going mental, but The Great Escape topped all of them. After playing the opening chord, everybody goes mad. Once further chords are played, a mosh pit subsequently forms. Fantastic.

Stereophonics
A performance slightly marred by the idiots in the crowd who all turned up to bob one hand in the air for Eminem, this was still a good set. They never played Hurry Up and Wait or Show Me How, but Could You Be The One was there, and all of the other big songs were well recieved. Nothing topped Kelly Jones' signing off however:

"Thanks very much, enjoy Eminem."

*scattered booing from those there with ears*

"Well, if he doesn't turn up, give us a shout and we'll come back out."

Oustanding. My one regret from the weekend (aside from not seeing Biffy play Justboy) was not taking a flag that had "Stereophonics > Eminem" written on it.

Rodrigo Y Gabriella
I only got to catch the end of their set, but when two people with two acoustic guitars and no microphones look like one of the best acts on, you know they've done well. See them if you get the chance.

Kassidy
A band I only went to see because no-one wanted to see Billy Talent, my initial description of "emulsion" was proven accurate. Four talented guys no doubt, but they often seemed to cancel each other out, and were trying way too hard to sound like The Eagles.

Hurts
Despite me actually knowing about them, Hurts were the biggest surprise of the weekend. Looking vaguely like Depeche Mode and sounding like the 80's in a blender, I felt wonderfully smug watching this mob, knowing I was one of the few people at the entire festival who knew anything by them. Composed of a singer who looked like Sheldon out the Big Bang Theory, a guy on drums, a guy on keyboards, a guy on piano and one backing singer, Hurts' live show was captivationg, although mainly for the one guy standing at the back. He looked like he was lost, standing stock still with hands in fists dressed in a tuxedo, not blinking and not moving. The stand out moment of the whole performance was a song which I think was Happiness, where he burst in to full voice and got the loudest cheer of the whole gig. At least, until he bowed when the band were done, I think everyone was just happy he wasn't looking at them any more.

Rise Against
Energetic, but I never knew enough of their stuff to really enjoy. They were still probably better than The View, though.

Jay-Zed
I suffered through him to get a good spot for Kasabian, and he was quite good at what he was doing. I would never value the medium he pedals, but he at least has my respect for being good with the crowd, which he really, really was.

Kasabian
Delayed slightly by Jay-Zed over-running, they certainly made up for it. There was a slight down patch in the middle where they played either a new song or cover that no-one had heard of and some slower songs, but songs like The Doberman, Reason is Treason and Cutt Off certainly made up for it. The encore of Fire, Vlad the Impaler and L.S.F. was also the perfect way to close the night. If you watch the video of Fire, right around the time the first chorus starts is where I get an elbow to the face and lose my glasses. I was a bit pissed, but thankful and surprised that it had taken that long over the weekend. I also never thought I would enjoy getting "I love you fucking Jocks" shouted at me, but Tom Meighan in all his arse-hole-ness pulled it off. Outstanding.

And that was the end. There is patter that will never die, such as "Peter, you're fucking wrecked," calling people a "crank," d'you want a game of basketball ya prick?" and the immortal "RIDDLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!" Fantastic, and the wristband i'm never taking off will be a lasting reminder. All that's left to do is catch up on the telly I missed...