The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Red hot: Bumper line-up for T in the Park
Red Hot Chilli Peppers to headline big event Calvin Harris to play at Strathallan Castle Veterans the Stone Roses heading north
T in the Park boss Geoff Ellis unveiled a world-beating line up for this summer’s festival, featuring headline sets from American rockers the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and dance icon Calvin Harris.
Brit-winners James May and Catfish and The Bottlemen have been added to the burgeoning bill, along with the recently reformed LCD Soundsystem and local favourites Travis.
They will join Manchester legends The Stone Roses who were already confirmed as Friday night headliners
In a crucial year for the festival, Mr Ellis yesterday assured fans that radical changes would be made to the Perthshire showground to avoid a repeat of last year’s troubles.
The event’s debut at Strathallan Castle was heavily marred by traffic problems and security issues, which were highlighted in a damning council report.
As he revealed highly-anticipated details of this year’s bill, Mr Ellis told The Courier that more land had been acquired to increase the size of the arena site and camping zone. A new bus station will also be created. Mr Ellis said he was delighted to reveal such a strong programme.
“These things are always subjective,” he said.
“But from where I’m sitting, this year’s line-up seems to be really diverse and well balanced.
“We always try to do that of course, but I think this time round we’ve really nailed it.
“Calvin Harris is obviously something of a legend in Scotland and having bands like the Chilli Peppers and the Stone Roses on the same bill is really exciting.
“They are bound to deliver for the younger and older ends of our audience.
“We’ve also got Catfish and the Bottlemen, who are fresh from picking up their Brit award, and other great acts like James Bay, Disclosure and the Last Shadow Puppets.
“There’s even Craig David who appears to be coming back from the wilderness to become one of the year’s hottest acts.
“That is something you wouldn’t have expected to see happen some six months ago.
“I think this is one of the strongest line-ups of all the festivals out there.”
Mr Ellis said his firm DF Concerts “holds its hands up” to some of the issues last year.
He added: “That’s why we’ve taken on some more land to increase the arena space by 25% and to increase the camp site by a little bit more.
“The traffic management plan has been redone and we’re now waiting for that to be signed off.
“The idea is to separate buses and cars and create a new bus station which will be looked after by a dedicated management team.
“We had been expecting to make improvements year on year anyway, but the changes we are making are quite significant.
“We have taken all feedback on board and hopefully the fans will appreciate the changes – I’m sure they will appreciate the line-up – and we are hoping to make 2016 one of the best T in the Parks ever.”