Detroit Social Club, from the same management stable as Arctic Monkeys, were an early highlight on the Red Bull Bedroom Jam Futures Stage. Part Kasabian, part The Verve, the five-piece from Newcastle are mantric, epic rock that ticks all the right boxes. Watch this Big Rock space…while Kassidy, the fast-rising four-piece from Glasgow, were a close-harmony, big-haired, no-drums sensation in the King Tut’s Wah Wah Tent. Standing in a line, the four-guitarist, four-vocalist band looked and sounded brilliant. They also win the T in the Park 2010 Award for most dedicated band. They were here on Friday night (partying), were here on Saturday (playing in a six-man tent in the Citizen T area in the campsite), and they were here on Sunday, gigging and (several hours later) still partying. They’ll go far.
As evening and the World Cup final beckoned, the final night of the 17th T in the Park got off to a flying start with Biffy Clyro. The Ayrshire trio are officially the festival’s most frequent attendees, and unofficially Balado’s greatest rock noise. Tight, taut and topless, Biffy rocked the Main Stage with anthem after anthem. In the words of the flags filling the field: MON THE BIFFY.
Soon, though, Balado was in an Empire State Of The Mind. The God MC – Jay-Z to his friends – Shawn Carter to his mum – had touched down on the Main Stage. There was no Beyoncé, but when you have as many big pimpin’ hits as Jay-Z, even Beyoncé is (sort of) surplus to requirements. Throw in a genius rerub of U2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday and you have a crowd-pleasing triumph. After coming off stage, the superstar said the show was his greatest UK gig yet.
Over in King Tut’s Wah Wah Tent, a Frenchman with flyaway hair had revellers spilling out the doors with a set of turbo-house party-pop. David Guetta, DJ king of Ibiza and Black Eyed Peas’ producer go-to-guy, rounded out the weekend in T in the Park’s signature tent with a set of canvas-flapping hits, from Sexy Bitch to Getting’ Over.
Très magnifique, but not, perhaps, as epic as Kasabian. The Main Stage headliners brought a bagfull of tunes, a stage-full of killer lights, clouds of atmospheric smoke, and fields worth of rock’n’roll charisma. Lead singer Tom Meighan dedicated songs to the visionary few who saw the band at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow in 2003, while lead guitarist Serge Pizzorno was a vision in blinding white suit.
Published on 17 July 2010 by Ben Robinson
