T in the Park 2002

In glorious weather, this year really brought the crowds out, making Glasto 2000 seem positively spacious! Unfortunately for the females, this meant at least a half hour queue for the clearly inadequate number of toilets. Meanwhile, a lot of the men – although able to use the urinals without waiting – seemed to think the smart idea was to walk into the screened areas, and then piss down the fence (with the urinals 2 foot away) – creating rivers around the site. So by the middle of Sunday, where ever you went, Balado smelt of piss.... it's not a memory to savour. Otherwise, in spite of the numbers, the overall organisation was on the ball, with the usual easy in & outs for drivers (much better than other large fests), and everything seemingly running smoothly.



Of the hundreds of bands I've seen over the last few summers, the one that stands tallest – able to bring something extra to their live performance every time - is Groove Armada, so they weren't to be missed. And although they perhaps weren't at the best I've seen them, they still brought a whole new level to the art of playing live as demonstrated this weekend.



On the Main Stage, Gomez somehow managed to run through their set in a competent manner whilst having little presence, so much of the large crowd paid little attention.

Morcheeba on the NME Stage made a point of distancing themselves from that weekly rag. Obviously unhappy with the review of their latest offering, they suggested that people might like to spend their money elsewhere. But maybe nme have a point - although pleasant to watch I was struck that the new songs didn't grab you in quite the same way as those of old.



The London-based Oasis (like most people, do they only go to Manchester for the football?;-) – according to regular comments in nme - haven't been bettered since '94. So a going stale 2002 Oasis weren't going to be a highlight - about as relevant as Steps and with as much variety as Status Quo - but I was about the only one thinking that way. As I wandered around trying to find something to take my fancy I was shocked at just how quiet it was everywhere else: surely there's been loads of new music in the last eight years that's as worthy? Like Basement Jaxx for example, playing to probably the smallest NME Stage crowd of the day? Or Badly Drawn Boy in King Tuts? Well, no, not for me, they both leave me cold.

I headed over to Slam at Slam – even if I knew the songs I'd hear, at least they'd be presented in a different order and in a different way. And this was were the non-Oasis refugees were hiding, enjoying the party.

The first few hours (of mine) on Sunday were spent mooching around, soaking things up. In Slam, Layo & Bushwacka! did their thing, followed by a slightly disappointing Green Velvet. The Hives told us that THEY were the band we'd all come to see (I don't think so!), hoping their self-produced hype could hide their failings.



Doves turned in a great performance, and expressed their delight at the crowds enthusiasm. They'd played their home town of Manchester the night before (at MOVE - they described the crowd as "pedestrian at best" and were obviously disappointed at how it went), so to make up for it they whipped us all into a frenzy and sent us away smiling.



Last up on the Main Stage were Chemical Brothers. This was reviewed in nme as a "DJ-set", but unless they've started exclusively DJing just their own records it wasn't. But two guys standing behind a large desk pushing buttons in daylight needs something extra to impress, and it was still too light for the big screen light show to have full impact. I think I've enjoyed listening to CDs at home more.

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