It’s been a turbulent year for T in the Park. Plans to relocate from the festival’s long-standing Balado base to the grounds of nearby Strathallan Castle were temporarily disrupted by concerns over nesting ospreys. The top-tier bookings seemed designed to reassure existing fans that this would still be an authentic T in the Park experience to the point that it risked tipping into overfamiliarity: Kasabian, again? Remapping the event to the more compact Strathallan estate, combined with bad weather muddying access routes, also caused worrying congestion issues on-site and off.
But if there is some unique formula for recreating T in the Park’s atmosphere of untrammelled hedonism and unabashed sentimentality, the most active ingredient is the crowd. Even with flags and selfie sticks banned from the picturesque new tree-lined site, self-expression was rife. Susan Boyle, back for a second year running as a punter, rocked up in a Native American headdress.
While the festival’s integration of pop and dance megastars such as David Guetta often reduces potential lineup clashes among its indie-rock core, there were still notable winners and losers. The monumental draw of Sam Smith left the War on Drugs playing to a disappointingly small crowd, while the Vaccines drained footfall away from St Vincent. They missed a thrilling, precise set from one of the world’s most technically accomplished and inventive guitarists.
With rock festivals under the spotlight for failing to represent female artists, T proved you can get distaff if you put your mind to it: Jessie J, Hannah Wants, Charli XCX, Paloma Faith (in a magnificent golden cape) and Marina and the Diamonds helped redress some of the balance. Annie Mac slyly bumped the numbers by playing twice, but Mark Ronson fared less well, making a low-key T debut DJing to a tight knot of fans in the King Tut’s tent only shortly after it had been completely rammed for Fatboy Slim.
On the tiny T Break stage, rising synth trio Vaults broke character from their icy, pop-sentinel mode to sing Happy Birthday to guitarist Ben. The Libertines were even more ceremonial, preceding their surprisingly cohesive Saturday night set with a long Flower of Scotland bagpipe intro. But while Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds playing Oasis classics seemed purpose built to appease the T faithful, it was the Prodigy’s second stage closing performance – their seventh appearance at the festival – that seemed to best reflect the state of T in the Park in 2015: manic, a little ragged, but ultimately undiminished.
