T in the Park’s ”incredible” fans ignored the appalling conditions at Balado at the weekend, enjoying yet another festival party.
Saturday’s torrential, incessant rain reduced the site to a sea of mud, with revellers forced to trek through trench-like, ankle-deep, pools of brown water, with parts of the campsite flooded.
Some less hardy souls gave up the ghost on Saturday night and trudged home with their mud-soaked tents and sleeping bags abandoned.
Jonathon Paton (31), from Dundee, said: ”I woke up drenched inside the tent at 5am and when I went outside my neighbour was standing there in the rain, saying: ‘I feel like greetin’.
”Friday was great, everybody had a brilliant time but on Saturday the rain was horrible. People were even making dams with beer cans to try to keep the water away from their tents.
”We had to come home because everything inside our tents was soaked.”
Fife student Angie Johnston (19) said she was not for giving in to the conditions.
”The mud is the worst I’ve ever seen. Some of my friends have gone home but we’re having a great time.”
Congratulations to young Dundee bands The Mirror Trap on Friday and Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward and Fisher on Sunday, who produced excellent performances in the T Break stage.
Saturday’s headliners The Stone Roses put on a hugely colourful show, starting with I Wanna Be Adored and pounding out fans’ favourites including Waterfall, This is the One, Fool’s Gold and finishing off with I Am The Resurrection.
The day had started in style with a quickfire set from The Dryburgh Soul Band, aka The View, who pulled an impressive crowd despite the rain and the early start.
There followed superbly entertaining sets from The Wailers, Emeli Sande, and Simple Minds, whose line-up includes Dundee man Ged Grimes on bass.
Noel Gallagher brought some light relief to the rain-soaked night with a set of mainly Oasis singalong numbers exactly what the doctor ordered for the sodden crowd before the Stone Roses set the seal on the day.
Festival director Geoff Ellis said: ”The weather definitely brought some challenges, but we were prepared and our team worked extremely hard to keep things on track, which was no mean feat.
”The sense of camaraderie was obvious throughout the day but when the Stone Roses took to the stage it went off the scale. This was the moment that so many people were waiting for and the fans sang their hearts out. It was amazing.”
Thankfully the rain finally eased up late on Saturday night and it stayed dry on Sunday.
The great music continued on the main stage, with Scots violinist Nicola Benedetti, Bombay Bicycle Club, Keane and Happy Mondays.
The fantastic Elbow provided the ultimate highlight for me, before headliners Kasabian closed the festival with a powerful show that had their army of fans in raptures.Click here to browse Courier photographer Steve MacDougall’s pictures from throughout the weekend