T in the Park Festival 2012 - Friday July 6th (Live Review)
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Written by Heather McDaid
Scotland's main festival looked set to be plagued by bad weather, but at least the sun reared its head for day one. With their strange set up of only offering the Friday line-up to campers, the crowd proved relatively sparse as festivals go, but that wouldn't last long. Thankfully, there were some good bands ready to kick things off, the main stage being opened with a nice dose of spandex.
At festivals like Download, you'd find The Darkness much further up the bill, yet here they opened the main stage to a humble yet growing audience. Wooing the crowd with a few classics early on, T leapt happily and drunkenly to the astonishingly high notes of Justin Hawkins. Between stomping around the stage like a hyperactive toddler, he changed from his regular attire into a blue Hawaiian low cut catsuit, causing a rasp of wolf whistles. At moments it was a bit of a slow burner, some songs went over people's heads a bit further back, yet 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love' caused even the most reluctant of attendees to shout heartily along, empathically adding "GUITAR!"
Next up in the King Tuts tent was X Factor success story Cher Lloyd. After a string of sing alongs prior to her set to S Club 7 and 5ive, she came on to a mix of shrieking cheers and looming boos. It seems that even now she splits the crowd, yet those against her seemed to filter out after tarnishing her entry slightly. Swaggering across the stage with unbridled confidence, she rapped and sang accordingly as many adoring fans danced to her dubstep infused numbers.
Though she thanked her fans for standing by her, even adding "It's not every day a girl from the X Factor gets to play a festival like this", the fact that the moment her last word was done she walked straight off and left her band to finish seemed a little off. Fans revelled in her renditions of her tracks, with 'Swagger Jagger' one of the notable tracks to be remixed with dubstep for the occasion. Needless to say the Brats in attendance would lap her set up, yet as someone still unconvinced by Cher and open to being swayed, this didn't aid in changing opinions.
Fleetingly catching the Kaiser Chiefs, they dominated their stage presence from the off. In the two song space of walking by, Ricky managed to climb up the stage's riggings and jump off from quite a considerable height, leading the audience to yell excitedly. Assuming the rest of their set maintained the high calibre of the snip we caught, it would likely prove a highlight.
Heading over to second stage later in the day, cheeky chappy and fellow X Factor alumni Olly Murs took to the floor. Where Cher's confidence bordered arrogance, Olly's was just upbeat and fun. He danced freely around his space, often teetering on the uncle-at-a-wedding dance moves, but that's the perk of seeing him live. He is just fun and carefree proven continuously as he rattled through all from 'Heart Skips A Beat' to Madness's 'It Must Be Love'. From the synchronised manoeuvres of both him and his dancers to the more carefree alternatives, the audience mimicked his enthusiasm entirely, leaping around for the set's duration. One of the best performances of the day, it typified the festival vibe: good music, good fun and a great atmosphere.
Returning to main, Florence and the Machine proved a simple delight to watch. Elegantly manoeuvring the stage during her set, her vocals soared flawlessly across her adoring spectators. With delicate movements as she raised her arms during songs, she commanded the capacity with a great deal of dignity and restraint. Countering that, she won over any doubters as she got down in the mud in front of the barrier, maintaining faultless vocals as she ran along the front row of her fans, leaping around like an excitable child, all the while donning a stunning and long dress. For one, props on being able to run in that.
Though she wasn't the headliner of the evening, for those who didn't catch Snow Patrol this proved a wonderful end to day one of T in the Park.
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