T in the Park 2003 Review

[Jack_Bauer 0]

Well, after 10 years of the best bands in the world coming to Scotland for T in the Park, we had the big 10th anniversary show this year. It was the first time I went to the festival, and here are my thoughts on the bands and sets they produced.

 

SATURDAY

 

Martin Grech

A favourite of Kerrang. They are an emo band of the worst order. To be fair the music was pretty nice, but the voice of the guy was pretty poor. I didn't get into the guy and his band a lot and they will get a small rating.

Rating : **

 

Skin

The lead singer of Skunk Anansie has quite a voice and she put on a top class show to send the fans crazy. Skin had the crowd dancing and jumping and clapping and she also had about 500x more people than Grech had watching her. 'Faithfulness' is the new single and it sounded good here.

Rating : ***3/4

 

Biffy Clyro

One of the bands I was looking forward to. They opened with some new stuff including the first single from their latest album. The song is called 'The Ideal Height'. They played two songs from their debut album. '57' got the biggest reception of the two. They played mostly newer stuff though. It wasn't as good as I've seen em but it was good.

Rating : ***1/2

 

Proclaimers

And then we get to the first real festival band of the weekend. They had the fans in the palms of their hands. 'I'm On My Way' and 'Letter From America' had the fans jumping and absolutely LOVING it. 'I Would Walk 500 Miles' was just amazing. Most of the fans left after that but it didn't matter, Proclaimers had left their mark on T in the Park.

Rating : ****1/2

 

The Jeevas

Well, I'm not completely familiar with this band, but they were amazing anyways. They played a couple of Kula Shaker songs and basically had the look and the feel of a festival band.

Rating : ****

 

Idlewild

The homecoming of a very talented Scottish band. They were the first band I actually WANTED to see. They certainly weren't as good as The Proclaimers, but with songs like 'American English' and 'When I Argue I See Shapes', they still have what it takes to get the fans pumping. Again, it wasn't the best performance I have seen from them.

Rating : ****

 

The Flaming Lips

WOW ! OK, this was the show that stole the weekend. Lips were taking the place of The White Stripes who pulled out, but by the end of the set, people were asking 'The White Who ?'. They started by coming out with red shirts and played 'Seven Nation Army' as a tribute to White Stripes before playing 'Race For The Prize'. They cracked through hits like 'Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots' and 'She Don't Use Jelly' before finishing with 'Do You Realise'. Legendary set.

Rating : *****+++

 

REM

This was SUPPOSED to be set of the weekend, but two bands decided to ruin that and you'll find out whoelse later. Opening with classic 'Finest Worksong' and going through 'Daysleeper', 'Imitation Of Life', 'The Great Beyond' and the classic 'Losing My Religion'. They played 'Man on the Moon' before the encore, which included 'Country Feedback' and 'Everybody Hurts' and 'It's The End Of The World'. Quite the set, and every bit as good as people say it was.

Rating : *****

 

SUNDAY

 

The Darkness

OK, they weren't QUITE as good as REM, but they played a rip roaring set. Imagine Queen in the year 2003 and you can grasp what was on stage at this point. 'Gimme a D ! Gimme An Arkness' was the line of the weekend. Without a doubt, The Darkness will be headlining the festivals which they have been opening within the next 3 years.

Rating : ****3/4

 

Hell Is For Heroes

Highly energetic set from the supposed 'Saviours of Brit Rock' even though that IS just an NME blowjob. They played a great 40 minute set filled with some b-sides as well as some great songs from the 'Neon Handshake' album. Good enough to keep me entertained untill the next band.

Rating : ****

 

The Thrills

Stick them in a tent with 4,000 people and they will rock like a mutha fucka ! Tremendous set. 'Big Sur' and 'One Horse Town' were obvious highlights of the set. Other songs that really good a lot of reaction were 'Your Love Is Like Las Vegas', 'Don't Steal Our Sun' and 'Say It Aint So'. They closed with new single 'Santa Cruz ( You're Not That Far )'. So far, The Thrills can do no wrong.

Rating : *****

 

The Coral

Currently trying to break America, The Coral were rather uninspiring today. They had high expectations and could NOT get to the levels. 'Dreaming of You' and 'Pass It On' were missing something while 'I Remember When' and 'Goodbye' rocked more than any other song on the set. Not a BAD set, but it wasn't GREAT either.

Rating : ***

 

Supergrass

Another band with high expectations, and unlike The Coral, this band lived up to them. 'Sun Hits The Sky' was the opener and made everyone happy right from the start. 'Seen The Light', 'Richard III', 'Pumping On Your Stereo' and 'Moving' were great festival songs. The last two songs were 'Alright' and 'Caught By The Fuzz'. Good set.

Rating : ****1/2

 

Feeder

They would have been better if their set hadnt been riddled with sound problems. They were cut 15 minutes short which was a damn shame. They still got 'Buck Rogers' and 'Just a Day' in there though. I'll rate it for what it was, and that is an energetic sing a long.

Rating : ****

 

The Charlatans

Well, when you put songs like 'One To Another', 'The Only One I Know' and 'North Country Boy' at the start, you're either going to put on a dull set for the rest of the time or you have faith in your back catalogue, unfortunately, the first was the case. New songs lacked power but the finishing 'How High' was amazing. The set was a disappointment though.

Rating : ***

 

Coldplay

They are currently making waves in the US and they just finished their 18 week tour. Pretty impressive. Great song after great song followed each other. They showed why America have taken to them so easily. What do we call this set. AWESOME !

Rating : *****+

 

Band of the Weekend : The Flaming Lips

 

Biggest Disappointment : The Coral

 

Song of the Weekend : REM - Losing My Religion

 

Well, you don't get much better than T in the Park. If your in Scotland next year, GO ! Oasis, Stone Roses and Manic Street Preachers are rumoured while Madonna SEEMS to be confirmed as a headliner ! OK, not GREAT news, but there WILL be better.

 

Overall : *****+++

[Guest Random Hero]

Well seeing as you have obviously spent a bit of time on this review, it's harsh no has repiled. So I would like to say thanks for the review...

 

Saturday seems like a bit of a crap day to be honest, but REM would probably save it.

 

There's a few too many boring wimpy bands on the bill for my liking. Not the kind of festival I would go to, but I'm sure it was enjoyed by some as your review says.

 

The Darkness and REM are the only bands I would be really bothered about seeing. It's boring talentless filth such as Feeder and Coldplay that turn me off it.

 

And as for NMEs proclamation that Hell is for Heroes are the saviour fo Brit Rock..........HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAH more like another random emo band, for the side parted to cream over.

 

Seriously, Feeder and Coldplay should be forever made to tour together, to confine all their nonsense to one arena. And they shouldn't be allowed to do festivals and pollute the masses.

[Jack_Bauer 0]

IMO, Coldplay are one of the most exciting bands you will ever see live. Feeder were also great for what they had. I suppose it's just based around tastes really, but Coldplay were something special, and The Flaming Lips just HAVE to be seen. Flaming Lips call for the phrase : Believe the hype !