14/07/2013
In what seemed like no time at all it was Sunday, and the final day of T in the Park. I still can't believe that the weekend went so fast! Nevertheless, before I start to mourn the end of my first festival, here goes day 3...
The Lake Poets
The first act that I really wanted to see was The Lake Poets on the BBC Introducing stage. Martin, who (like us) is from Sunderland, took to the stage alone for the first handful of songs and was then joined by his band. Now, I met Martin at an event he curated at Pop Recs Ltd, the record store owned by fellow Mackems Frankie and the Heartstrings. At the time I had no idea that his songs were so beautiful. My Dad, however, has been a big fan of his for a while now and I'm pretty sure he knew the words to practically every song in the set.
My favourites were Edinburgh and City By The Sea. Once I got home I had Edinburgh on repeat for at least two days (and incidentally, it's also the B-Side to the signed 7" single Rain that we bought at Pop Recs.) City By The Sea, for me, captures the essence of Sunderland in 2:52. It's just brilliant.
Two Door Cinema Club
After The Lake Poets we headed down to the main stage for Two Door Cinema Club. I like Two Door but there stuff is something I usually have to fancy listening to. Maybe it was because of that that I was so surprised by their set. They were GREAT live.
(I guess the sun helped too, it was metaphorically cracking the pavements all day)
I really loved hearing the likes of What You Know, Do You Want It All? and This Is The Life live, and even though I don't actually own Beacon I'm still really glad we got to see them.
Johnny Marr
Now, for an act my Dad chose. In 2009 we saw Johnny Marr play as part of The Cribs, but I've never really heard any of his solo stuff, or much by The Smiths for that matter. I have it on my Dad's good authority that he played Big Mouth Strikes Again, How Soon Is Now and There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, alongside his solo material. I did, however, recognise his cover of I Fought The Law. All I can really add is that my dad was so glad that we saw him, and that the rest of the crowd seemed to love the set too. Oh! And that I had no idea that the theme tune to Charmed is actually a Smiths song!
Stereophonics
Next up we headed back to the Main Stage for our penultimate act of T in the Park. The idea was that we'd find a great spot that we wouldn't move from in preparation for The Killers, and I think we managed that. I didn't really feel like I knew much by Stereophonics, despite giving Decade In The Sun a good bashing before T. Without a doubt the song of the set was Dakota, which they closed with. I actually recognised more of their stuff than I thought I would; The Bartender And The Thief, Local Boy In The Photograph, Have A Nice Day and even Indian Summer. I don't think I'll ever see them again, unless at another festival, but I was quite impressed nonetheless.
The Killers
Finally, for my favourite act of the whole weekend. I don't even know where to start. There's so much I could write, so I'll try to keep it short...
First of all, and to get it out of the way, Brandon Flowers. Need I say more?
On a more serious note, their set was brilliant. Not too much from Battleborn - which pleased my Dad - and probably every other song you could ever expect in a festival set. I loved A Dustland Fairytale and you could never go wrong with an encore of When You Were Young and Mr Brightside.
...And the covers! I never thought I'd hear Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now coming from The Killers. I assumed that playing it at the Isle of Wight festival was a one off, but I was so glad that they played it again. Later they played Side by Travis. This wasn't as big a deal to me, but everyone else seemed to love it.
I've seen The Killers twice before at Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena, and this was the best so far. I love the emotion that comes through when they're playing live, that you just don't get from a CD. They were definitely the best choice to close the 20th year of T in the Park. Even my Dad enjoyed it and, seeing as the last time we saw them together he said he spent the gig wondering why he was there, that's really something in itself.
I'm so grateful to my Dad for getting us tickets to T, I had such a great weekend. I think things might have been different had we been knee deep in mud, but that was the whole reason he chose to stay in a hotel. I would definitely go to another festival, in fact, I'd quite happily keep going back to T in the Park year after year. The atmosphere was so good and the people were lovely. We decided not to get earlybird tickets for next year, but my I think my Dad has caught the festival bug so you never know, we might end up back again in 2014.
