PALOMA PUTS HER FAITH IN T
Mud and traffic chaos but the music still reigns supreme
ORGANISERS of Scotland’s biggest music festival have been forced to apologise after T in the Park was plunged into chaos with hundreds caught up in traffic mayhem.
Revellers registered bitter complaints of poor signage as traffic routes faced major delays while revellers struggled just to get off the Strathallan Castle site on Saturday night and into early Sunday morning. Others were forced to sleep in their cars and stay on site.
It came as a man who was found dead at a camp site was named as Andrew West, 36. Mr West, who had travelled up from the north of England, was found on Saturday afternoon.
His death is still being treated as unexplained but there are not thought to be any suspicious circumstances. A report will be submitted to the Procurator-Fiscal.
Tractors tried to haul some vehicles onto the exit road but with hundreds of cars to move, some people reportedly waited up to five hours for rescue.
Pick-up points were plunged into chaos when buses, taxis and pedestrian vehicles were all directed to use the same country road.
And music fans who decided just to walk along the road to escape the site are said to have held up the flow of traffic even more.
Some revellers spoke of eight-hour journeys to travel just 50 miles while others told of abandoning their Sunday festival visit in disgust. On Sunday afternoon, it was confirmed that a man was knocked down by a coach when walking along one of the designated coach tracks. He was taken to hospital and his condition is unknown.
Organisers were posting repeated apologies throughout the night as fans complained about everything from the conditions for cars on the muddy site to inadequate stewarding.
As Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, The Prodigy, Stereophonics and Paloma Faith closed proceedings in Perthshire, festival director Geoff Ellis was issuing apologies.
He said: “Once again we apologise for the delays and the poor experience for some festival goers at the pick-up points last night.
“A few things contributed to the delays and we are working hard to rectify them for tonight because this is obviously not the way we want to end what has otherwise been a positive experience for music fans.
“It’s a brand new site and the weather wasn’t kind to us yesterday which led to a lot of people having to be towed from the West car park slowing us down because we don’t have the benefit of 18 years of infrastructure that we did at Balado.
“We have continuously advised that there are no suitable pedestrian walkways in or out of the venue but over the last two nights, a high volume of people have done this anyway. This meant that the traffic coming into the pick-up points could not access the event, causing tailbacks and increasing the numbers walking as they tried to meet their pick-ups further along the road.
“We do apologise and we know that things should have been better than they were. We thank fans for their patience. We have put in place extra measures for people coming to the venue to pick up as well as fans heading to the exits.”
Friday
Strathallan Castle, Perthshire CELEBRATING its 21st year, the T in the Park music festival has – perhaps – come of age in the Auchterarder countryside. Since launching at Strathclyde Park, and later finding an equally muchloved and maligned home in Balado, many critics have doubted the possible success of this year’s reincarnation (especially with the threat to the local osprey population and lack of “heavy hitting” bands). However, although the site is more undulating than its Kinross cousin, the natural contours have allowed compartmentalisation of sorts, and – as is especially the case for the Radio 1 stage – acoustics are pleasingly enhanced by the environment (although whoever obscured the site’s view of Strathallan Castle with a whopping great burger van should be sent on an aesthetics course forthwith).
On the Main Stage, Sam Smith was Friday’s main highlight. Having played a storming Glasgow O2 Academy gig in March, Smith has since been plagued by a serious health scare and his T performance is only his fifth post- surgery.
Playing key tracks from his debut album, as well as a funked up section with his fab band and singers, Smith segued from an Elvis cover to his own song and (tellingly about the festival’s key demographic) the crowd sang aloud more volubly to Lay Me Down. His touring arrangement of La La La and Money On My Mind gave him another opportunity to prove his vocal dexterity has not been impacted. He simply comes across as a very likeable 23-yearold British talent who has just happened to have taken the US by storm.
Although Kasabian headlined the evening, the dance acts were the main event. Fatboy Slim’s DJ turn in King Tut’s Wah Wah Tent was at utter capacity with moisture dripping from the blue canvas monolith as Norman Cook mixed his own material (such as Right Here, Right Now and Praise You) with anthems from the nineties such as Underworld’s Born Slippy and musical classics like Psycho Killer from the Talking Heads.
Mark Ronson’s DJ set (including his Bruno Mars collaboration and dance-floor filler Uptown Funk) suffered a more lukewarm reception, although he was competing with David Guetta who had come directly from his Ibiza club night at Pacha, armed with enough confetti cannon, streamer and pyrotechnic accompaniments to really put on a show. Tracks from his sixth album Listen (Hey Mama, Dangerous, Lovers On The Sun and What I Did for Love) were interspersed with his recent back catalogue (such as Love Is Gone and Titanium) although hankering for his old-school French House music was probably an individual – and more minor – quibble.
Saturday
*** AN ABIDING memory from T in the Park when it was staged in Strathclyde Park was tramping home a good few miles as the traffic system had gone into meltdown.
It seems the new site at Strathallan Castle is having similar problems with its infrastructure. An apology was sent out on social media after many people were stuck in traffic for many hours leaving the site on Friday night; promises were made that the situation would be better on Saturday and that unofficial campsites and subsequent walkers along the country roads were to blame. The organisers assured that more buses would be put on to prevent similar delays.
Unfortunately this was not the case as the west entrance’s pick-up/drop-off point – although well meaning – has created an absolute bottleneck and no buses could get through. Lack of any kind of queue management system and obvious authority figures (“look for a guy in green”) were compounded by even the police suggesting an “if you can’t beat ‘em, join them” queue-skipping solution (to be fair, they had other more pressing problems than solving the Auchterarder “courtesy” shuttle situation).
If gridlock ensues, angry walkers are the product – and obviously this is a huge health and safety concern that would need to be addressed before the festival can return (and DF Concerts have a three-year contract for this site).
Transport issues aside, the second day of T in the Park welcomed “proper” rain for the full Scottish festival experience. “I love it here,” exclaimed Enter Shikari’s Roughton Reynolds. “It’s the only festival where even the bands on stage are freezing!”
If George Ezra was having similar temperature issues, it remained undetected as his set filled the tea-time slot perfectly, with popular hits such as Budapest and lesser-known album tracks showcasing his singer/ songwriter talents. Although he doesn’t have the irresistible charisma of Sam Smith, his genial crowd interaction was well received.
After their much-debated Glastonbury set, The Libertines pulled in a large and curious crowd to the Main Stage. Pete Doherty, or Peter as he wishes to be known these days, still has an obvious on-stage bond with co-writer Carl Barat, although they don’t appear to be a band who will last the distance. This set had a “one last flourish” feel about it, although they were playing some new material from upcoming album Anthems For Doomed Youth.
More vintage tracks such as summer favourite Don’t Look Back Into The Sun and Up The Bracket were what their older fanbase appreciated, and those tracks have aged more gracefully than members of the band.
Although many moans were heard about a dance act headlining the festival, Avicii catered for the party-loving crowd with hits such as Wake Me Up and Hey Brother.
The 25-year-old from Sweden has mastered the catchy yet credible dance track and he proved himself to be somewhat of a festival boy wonder.
Finally, Twin Atlantic played their seventh consecutive T in the Park to close the BBC3/Radio 1 stage. Although lead singer Sam McTrusty’s nerves may have plagued him backstage, there was no sign of this as the Scottish success story took on the Strathallan Castle crowd.
Home-grown talent always sounds the best.
Sunday
**** THE final day of the Perthshire fling was served with some serious mud and a very welcome spattering of sunshine. Sunday’s scene was a more subdued affair in the afternoon, with lots of sprawling on the few remaining grassy knolls – although “mud soup” is probably the best description of the rolling countryside for the foreseeable future. James Bay was an early doors highlight and he seemed genuinely delighted to have been upgraded from small tent last year. Best Fake Smile was his vocal high point while hit Hold Back the River provided a memorable sing song. The sound from the main stage, however, is so polluted by the various nearby shows, having a hugely detrimental effect on the overall experience (also, the compacted site has created far too many bottlenecks when the crowd is in full flow).
Everything Everything shmoozed the crowd (“You look beautiful and you sound good, very good!”) while their biggest hit Distant Past, although not studio slick, got the young crowd jumping. Other highlights included a funky set from Alabama Shakes and a corker from Kodaline (High Hopes and Brand New Day standing out).
Paloma Faith flouted Madonna’s warning and danced wildly in garish cape and gold high heels. Early hit Stone Cold Sober, contrasted with most revellers, while Faith’s lively performance of Picking Up The Pieces was perfectly complemented by her funky band and barefoot backing singers. Her timeless sound and unique voice – even if not wholly pitch perfect – made hers the most memorable female performance.
Noel Gallagher’s distinctive dulcet tones sang the final notes while his High Flying Birds soaringly closed the show with the help of pleasing choral backing singing (most effective during Everybody’s On The Run). Some Oasis nostalgia followed with an up tempo Fade Away and the elder statesman ensured the crowd stuck around and didn’t steal a march on the impending traffic chaos.
Musically, T in the Park was the usual success story but, logistically, some serious questions need to be answered before the event takes place on the Strathallan Castle site again.