Friendly Fires are one of the highlights of the festival's second day

T in the Park 2009 review

By Gary Walker | Published: Wed 15th Jul 2009

T in the Park 2009

Friday 10th to Sunday 12th July 2009
Balado, nr Kinross. Scotland, KY13 0NJ, Scotland MAP
weekend £170 - SOLD OUT, day tickets Friday £60, and Saturday or Sunday £72.50

Daily capacity: 80,000

Over in The King Tuts Tent, St Albans' finest Friendly Fires are whipping up a party of their own, backed by a grand brass section and pulsating strobe lighting.

They open with the funky 'Lovesick', with singer Ed MacFarlane madly dancing and spinning his way back and forth across the stage.

'Jump In The Pool' is greeted with an appreciative roar, with MacFarlane confessing to starting his day in true T in the Park style with a can of Tennent's and a bottle of Irn Bru.

The excellent dancefloor-filler 'Skeleton Boy', with the trademark Friendly Fires snare and cowbell-heavy sound is a massive success and as it reaches it's broken down instrumental section, the crowd continue hollering back the chorus before MacFarlane crashes back in to join them in a massive ending.

New song 'Kiss Of Life' has a similarly emphatic finish, crackling electronica and bold trumpets carrying it along to the extended conclusion before they bring out the first song the band wrote, the funk-bass stomp of 'Photobooth'.

A ceaselessly energetic, entertaining live act, Friendly Fires are one of the successes of the festival's second day.

review by: Gary Walker

photos by: Steve Palmer