Saturday overview

With the sun beating down on day two of Scotland's favourite music festival, there was only one place to be if the hangover allowed it. Eddy Grant took mainstage by the scruff of the neck and treated it to some rebel music, Guyanan style. A small crowd enjoyed hits including 'War Party' and 'Gimme Hope Jo'anna', but it was the brilliant 'Electric Avenue' which was most warmly received. The energy imparted by Grant this early in the morning gave the day a great start, and this was simply an inspired booking by the T in the Park management.



I don't know where Will Young got them from, but a small army of middle aged mothers packed out the Pet Sounds tent for his early afternoon set. I'd like to comment on the full show, but I came, I photographed, I left. Three songs was two and a half too many. The Womens' Institute seemed to enjoy it though.

Given their festival heritage, you might expect The Subways to pull out all the stops at a show like this, and you'd be right. Their new album might not be a patch on debut 'Young for Eternity', but the passion and dynamism is unremitting. 'Rock and Roll Queen' blew the cobwebs away, whilst '1am' and recent online freebie 'Girls and Boys' brought the house down. Billy Lunn was in typically athletic mood, leaping from every available platform, whist bassist Charlotte Cooper was mesmerising in all ways. A solid set from a future festival heavyweight.



Biffy Clyro always go down well, particularly in their native Scotland. Today however, everything felt a little flat. The hits were there aplenty, but something was missing. Part of the problem may be that Biffy Clyro are not a band who should be playing in daylight. They are clearly more at home in a dim club or the dark safety of a tent. With the sun shining on them, the act becomes a little bit transparent. That said, the songs were still great. 'Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies' still manages to thrill in its nihilistic glory, whilst the beautiful 'Folding Stars' had the fans eating out of the band's collective hand. The almost total absence of older material may be seen as a dereliction of duty by the hardcore fans, but when one album gets you further than the preceding three, can you really blame them?

After managing to avoid The Kooks, I was hopeful of avoiding a complete talent bypass today, but in an effort to gain a good spot from which to view tonight's headliners, I caught the latter part of a lacklustre (to say the least) set by The Fratellis. 'Chelsea Dagger' may be a much better tune than most give the band credit for, but it is the rest of their output, and in particular the new album, which offends so grievously. It really is criminally bad, and the band must be laughing into their cocoa at night at how they manage to peddle this shit to so many people. If the Fratellis are not the least inspiring band in the UK today, I am stopping going to gigs for fear of finding someone worse.

Rage Against The Machine, however, made the wait worthwhile. They may have been away from these shores for a while, but the fervour that they inspire has not dimmed in the slightest, and they were every bit as thrilling as expected.



Zack de la Rocha and company hit the stage running. They tore through stunningly confrontational takes on 'Testify' and 'Bulls On Parade' before introducing themselves, and from that moment on, it was clear we were witnessing something special.

Despite beginning to look a little bit like your dad, Tom Morello pinned down the sound, somehow making ten year old riffs sound fresh, new and exciting, whilst Tim Commerford, bare-chested and belligerent, held the whole thing together with some of the most exciting bass work this reviewer has ever had the pleasure of seeing live.

Proving that the time away hasn't dimmed his fire, de la Rocha reiterated the controversial statement he made from the Coachella stage last year that George W Bush should be tried for war crimes. His impassioned speech to a devoted crowd ended with the band tearing through a seething take on 'Wake Up' to end the set proper. There was, however, no doubt that there would be an encore, and after a short break the band returned to complete the crowd pleasing set which was already better than anyone had dared to expect. 'Freedom' and the awesome 'Killing in the Name' closed off the show which no doubt had many fans checking whether they could afford to make the trip to Reading in August to see them again.

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