Idlewild provide an engaging set at T in the Park

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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

If anything, the Radio One NME Stage crowd dwindles for Idlewild, up next, as they go head to head with the hugely popular, but surely less interesting Maximo Park on the Main Stage.

Once one of Scotland's most celebrated bands, solo projects and a folky change of direction may have dulled the public's appetite somewhat, but Idlewild remain an engaging, touching and sometimes incendiary live act with a deep and memorable back catalogue to draw upon.

Singer Roddy Woomble looks dishevelled but charming, unshaven in a red and black lumberjack shirt as he ushers in opener 'Roseability', one of the band's most instantly recognisable anthems.

While Woomble's vocals often used to sound a touch flat and a little thin in a live setting in years gone by, he's developed into a talented singer who varies his harmonies from their recorded versions and has a richly textured and colourful voice.

'You Held The World In Your Arms' prompts the first mass singalong with its joyous, triumphant chorus, while new song 'City Hall' sounds as much like R.E.M as anything the band have done to date.

Flanked by two snarling Gibson SGs and backed up by a generally beefed-up sound, Woomble sounds assured and impressive on another favourite from their vault 'A Little Discourage'.

Squinting into the early-evening sun, he catches a pair of comical-looking white sunglasses thrown from the crowd and duly puts them on before 'American English' is given a sparkling and gentle, acoustic treatment.

'Live In A Hiding Place' is delightfully tender, with the slowly-swelling crowd now fully won over.

'Love Steals Us From Loneliness’ and early favourite 'Shapes' follow, with 'In Remote Part' a sprawling epic, powered on by that slow-building, euphoric, driving riff that burrows its way steadily into your consciousness.