Lady GaGa dazzles the crowd at T In The Park

The Horrors pull out at the 11th hour, Friendly Fires and more

Joe O'Brien, Daniel Fahey - 11 July 2009

The swell in the crowd signals the coming of the latest Princess of Pop, Lady GaGa. Opening with ‘Paparazzi’ dressed in a stunning edgy mirrored frock and tight black knickers, even the doubters can’t deny her class.
With a production crew hat would put most headliners to shame (three costume changes, dancers and a motorbike!?) the Lady overcomes a limited musical output to own the afternoon.

One of the most eagerly awaited bands of the weekend are White Lies and it shows with a packed crowd gathered at the Radio 1/NME stage. They blast into their set from the off but it’s an all too familiar feel to their performance with just one albums’ worth of tracks to get stuck into. Favourites ‘Death’ and ‘Farewell to the Fairground’ are excellent but sadly there is not much else to report. Maybe next year we’ll see their true potential but for T 2009 the boys leave us slightly disappointed.

Nigh on packing out the King Tut’s Tent, a flamboyant Friendly Fires hold up their reputation as a great live band. They mix a throbbing ‘Jump In The Pool’ with a dance heavy ‘Skeleton Boy’ and as the bouncing hoards gather substance, percussion-heavy new track ‘Kiss Of Life’ slots in nicely. It’s penultimate number ‘Paris’

Claiming by far the biggest King Tuts crowd of the day so far, Noisettes are on formidable form launching early into car ad classic ‘Don’t Upset The Rhythm’. Shingai Shoniwa is as unleashable as always climbing the gantry and singing upside down for 60’s soul number ‘Never Forget You’ as the trio make their mark on T.

Homecoming King Paolo Nutini – complete with a violin and brass section backing band – picks up the Main Stage baton and soaks it in his new jazz-flavoured pop tunes which couldn’t be more suited for the audience in the sun-kissed fields of Kinross. The Paisley crooner closes with ‘Jenny Don’t Be Hasty’ as the feel-good factor engulfs T.

“If you haven’t seen an Iglu And Hartley show, take your shirts off!” Things are getting desperate for Iglu And Hartley as Lady GaGa is clearly winning the Saturday pop-off. Iglu, shirtless in white trousers, does his best Iggy Pop impression, but there is a certain feeling of relief when ‘In This City’ kicks in at the tail end of the set – a sort of ‘we have been waiting moment’.

The Slam Tent’s vibe arrives on the event’s premier stage as Dumfries’ dance super producer Calvin Harris appears amid a backdrop of bangin’ beats and catchy samples. Even a dull tale about cold showers hurting his drummer’s back (what?) can’t spoil a set full of bouncing ‘Choooooons’! Storming performance.

Starsailor are warmly welcomed at TITP with singer James Walsh urging sunburnt festival-goers not to “overdo it”. But how can fans help it when classics such as ‘Poor Misguided Fool’ and ‘Silence Is Easy’ reverberate around the Radio 1/NME stage. It’s hard to keep yourself in check as a mixture of sun, booze and Starsailor make an outstanding concoction. Just as we get ourselves sorted they play ‘Alcoholic’ and the crowd toast their glasses.

From the relatively ‘easy on the ear’ That Petrol Emotion come You Me At Six who promptly encourage the crowd to start a mosh pit. Singer Josh Franceschi wears kaki shorts as the searing heat threatens to melt the burning crowd.

‘Finders Keepers’ is well received but a cover of Lady GaGa’s ‘Poker Face’ is atrocious. Franceschi even had the cheek to apologise in advance.

That Petrol Emotion are given extra stage time after The Horrors’ frontman Faris Rotter has a ‘horror’ with the stage sound. The Radio 1/NME sound quality unfortunately proves to be a feature for most of the afternoon but to be fair to ‘TPE’ they got the job done without the fuss of their planned follow ups. Highlights include crowd pleaser ‘True Believer’ with bass player Brandon’s birthday raising a smile, while ‘Spectacular’ finishes off the set.

Over on the T Break Stage, Biffy Clyro soundalikes Suciopero pull a sizeable crown of their own, rocking out to some frantic, guitar led rock numbers.

Marcus Mumford’s transition from Laura Marling’s stickman to a one man band becomes complete as the multi-instrumentalist get through more instruments than your local music shop during Mumford and Sons’ early afternoon set. It might be the setting, but the band’s anti-folk feels more Celtic than usual as it wows the small crowd in the King Tut’s Tent. Recent single ‘The Cave And The Sea’ is as stylish as it is on record. Faultless.

With an awful beer stench dried into beards, ponytails and last night’s t-shirts not to mention Franz Ferdinand’s ‘Take Me Out’ still pounding in the hung-over minds of the masses only an Abba covers band could make an early Saturday morning alright again.

‘Dancing Queen’, ‘Money Money Money’ and ‘Waterloo’ are welcomed like free drink as the sexy ladies (and gents) of Bjorn Again kick-off the Main Stage party.

T In The Park 2009 continues today with performances from The Killers, Nine Inch Nails and more.

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