For all Dundonians heading to T in the Park this weekend, the back of five on Sunday will witness the proudest moment in the city’s rich musical heritage.
“To have people get up out their beds at that time is great. It was an amazing occasion and the second gig was brilliant too, it was in a small tent, it was really intimate and when we did the song Black and White we just stopped and let the crowd sing it, it was fantastic.
“Now we’ve got an even bigger party to come at T in the Park. It’s a bit of an old clich but Scottish music fans are always brilliant, it’s just the fact that wherever you play, no matter how many people are there, they come down the front and want to party.
“Whereas down south, they all stand at the back and watch or talk to their mates.”
Somehow we can’t see that happening when Detroit Social Club play the Futures Stage on Sunday afternoon.
They’ll be playing tracks from new album Existence, released just in time for festival season and what’s tipped to be a blazing summer for the band. New single Prophecy is an anthemic, musical exorcism that perfectly introduces the band’s magnificent northern blues rock’n’soul. Get ready to sing along.
Wherever you’re planning to park yourselves at the weekend, whether it be right in front of the Main Stage, Radio 1/NME Stage, King Tuts, Futures, BBC Introducing or T Break stage, make sure you check out another Dundee band Make Sparks, who play T Break on Sunday, hopefully in the downtime between the big stage performances of Madness and Kasabian.
Also from Rocktalk country and deserving of a visit at T Break are The Ray Summers from Falkirk, the Draymin from Fife, plus A Band Called Quinn whose member Bal Cooke is from Dundee while The Seventeenth Century boast Wormit twins Andrew and Michael Truscott among their number.
But whether you’re watching Muse, Eminem, Kasabian, The View, Stereophonics, Jay-Z, Paolo, Biffy, Dizzee Rascal, Vampire Weekend or The Proclaimers, or sweating it out in the Slam Tent to Carl Cox, Plastikman or the Slam boys themselves, it’s gonna be a massive party as usual.
For those of you travelling through today or tomorrow, the message as ever is enjoy yourselves, stay safe, heed the warnings about over indulging in anything and of course, pack your wellies! As usual, the weather forecast for T in the Park means you’ll have to take wellies and sun cream, with tomorrow and Saturday promising heavy rain.
That means a mudbath if the forecasters are right, but then the sun comes out with a vengeance on Sunday, with the dangers of sunburn for the fair-skinned among us.
But above all, have a fantastic time and enjoy the biggest party this year! See you there!
That’s the moment when four young men from Dryburgh Kyle Falconer, Kieren Webster, Pete Reilly and Stephen Morrison will make history by stepping on to the main stage at Scotland’s biggest live music event to fulfil a lifetime’s ambition.
Their moment comes barely five years after the then teenagers decided to get serious about music, rehearsing and writing songs as The View, first at The Bayview pub in Menzieshill and then at The Doghouse, in front of a few dozen fanatical fans.
Now, having practically burst the seams of the T Break and King Tuts Tents on previous visits to Balado, on Sunday The View will play their biggest-ever gig in front of up to 50,000 flag-waving fans at our country’s live music event of the year.
And the lads have promised to give the crowd the best party of their lives as well as giving them a glimpse of some new material from their forthcoming third album.
“We’ll be doing three of our new songs,” Kyle told Rocktalk.
“We’ve been up at the Ironworks in Inverness rehearsing, the new songs are totally rocking and we’re really looking forward to playing on that stage.
“It’s an early time to play but we’ll be playing all the old songs and I just hope the weather’s OK.”
Guitarist Pete said, “The rehearsals have been brilliant. We’re totally up for having a great time and to play on that stage, Scotland’s best stage, is a real honour.
“When you think of all the amazing bands that have played on the main stage at T in the Park it’s fantastic.
“We’re gonna play out of our skins and make the most of it and we’re determined to make everybody enjoy themselves.”
Having played Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds festivals before, plus the sound of thousands of their fans singing along, that should be enough to wipe away any nerves they might have.
It’s a massive achievement for those four young Dundee blokes and, for that 40 minutes or so, “The View Are On Fire” will be the chant of the day.
Another band likely to have a party this weekend are Detroit Social Club, although they’re hoping it’s not quite so manic as their Glastonbury experience two weeks ago.
Lead singer Dave Burn explained. “We got a little bit excited and drank a little bit too much alcohol,” he said.
Two weeks after that and he was still wondering if he could handle another binge weekend and an even bigger party at T in the Park!
“Hopefully we’ll be fully recovered by then,” Dave said. “Glastonbury was amazing but I think the occasion got to us and we had a few too many pints.
“It was class, though we were in the John Peel tent, we had a gig to do for Q Magazine and I was a bit worried because it was at 11 in the morning, so thought there wouldn’t be a crowd.
“The compere at the tent said Temper Trap only got about 300 people so I expected it to be quiet, but it was amazing.
“There were about 1000 people there and they’d obviously heard the album because they were singing the lyrics and jumping about.