Review: five stand out sets we saw at T in the Park 2015

T in the Park 2015 welcomed a host of brilliant bands to the Strathallan Castle site earlier this month, with Kasabian, Avicii and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds heading up the bill.

Photographer and music lover, Sinéad Grainger, headed down to the iconic Scottish festival for the Ticketmaster blog. Read on for five of her favourite acts from the weekend…

1. Charli XCX
As if Charli XCX didn’t already have the greatest stage set up around; with pink streamers – a band wearing full shimmery outfits and ‘SUCKER’ written on a giant red love heart behind her – she went and brought out a giant blow-up guitar during Breaking Up, too! Why can’t every set be this vibrant and fun?! Famous and Break The Rules really got the crowds energy up, but hearing London Queen made me want to dance in my biggest platform shoes and cutest dress; although since I was in the middle of a muddy field, settled for jumping up and down in a pair of Doc Martens instead. It really just made the entire afternoon feel fab with its ridiculously catchy beat.

2. The LaFontaines
I’m just going to throw this out there, you’re never going to get a live show quite like a LaFontaines live show. Frontman Kerr Okan brought his Motherwell charm to the main stage of T with ease and it didn’t take long before he was down in the crowd jumping about with everyone else. It’s been a long time coming for these guys. After playing to a packed T Break tent a couple of years ago with hundreds of fans not even being able to get in, this main stage appearance was way overdue. Slow Elvis was a strong start to the set, with Paper Chase and Shark In The Water getting the whole audience bouncing.

3. Prides
If you haven’t heard of Prides yet then that is absolutely something you need to get on. This band are amazing! What better way to celebrate the release of their debut album, The Way Back Up, than opening the main stage of a festival, and this is exactly what these guys did on Friday morning. Full of potentially massive summer anthems like I Should Know You Better and Higher Love, the set left me buzzing and totally excited for the rest of the weekend. Hundreds of bright balloons being thrown into the crowd during the last song gave the best kind of party feeling and got T in the Park off to an energetic start!

4. James Bay
Rocking out harder with an acoustic guitar than some bands using electric over the weekend, James Bay totally owned the main stage, cementing his place as not only a beautiful songwriter, but as an incredibly charismatic showman. Some light banter and flashing his cheeky wee grin between songs kept the whole audience hooked. After a strong performance of Craving early on in the set, the massive chorus of Hold Back The River was simply captivating and something I’ll remember forever.

5. Twin Atlantic
It is seventh time lucky for Twin Atlantic this weekend after playing pretty much every stage T in the Park has had to offer over the past eight years. This Radio 1 headline performance felt like something truly special. Chants from the entire crowd of “Who the f**k is Avicii” to the tune of White Stripes, Seven Nation Army was something incredible and uplifting to hear as Twin Atlantic claimed their rightful place as headliners and started an emotional performance of Oceans.

It takes a lot to be able to command an entire field full of people, but tonight, thousands cling onto Sam’s every word (however sometimes-odd those words might be!) “I know the ground’s wet, I know you’re standing in the rain, so that means your body’s already felt the moisture,” is probably one of my favourite things I’ve heard a front man shout to a crowd as he gets them to sit down on the soaking muddy ground, but they do just that. As the last part of I Am An Animal kicks in, and as we all wait… and wait… for the signal to GO, a rainbow of streamers shoot from cannons at the front of the stage, and everyone jumps back up from their crouched positions. A gust of wind blowing the streamers back onto the stage and hanging from the lighting rig was a blessing in disguise as the rest of the set continued like a technicolour dream. Congratulations Twin Atlantic, on the most passionate set of the weekend.

Ps. Here’s to the car park superheroes
Being stuck in a car park is never an ideal situation, especially not after a long and very rainy day at a festival, but that didn’t stop some T in the Parkers from having fun. Amidst the chaos that was the west car park, a group of friends turned the radio up and danced around their car, shedding a wee bit of enjoyment and light to an otherwise dire situation. Massive props also have to go to the many great humans who were getting out of their vehicles, and seemingly others appearing out of nowhere like super heroes flying to the scene, who helped push cars out of the mud and up the hill. If it wasn’t for them, we might still be there!

Like this review? See more photography and words from Sinéad at sgraingerphotos.tumblr.com and @SGraingerPhotos.