T-time treats

THE KILLERS, Main Stage

TWO years ago, The Killers played a headline set at T that's since gone down in festival folklore. Tonight, they have to follow it up.

No pressure then.

At least, that's the impression they give by opening the set with Human, perhaps their biggest anthem, and the kind of song that lesser bands would save for their enore.

It sets the tone for an evening that reminds the T in the Park crowd that, despite Kings of Leon's heroics last night, The Killers are the ultimate festival headliners.

Bedecked in his trademark eagle-shouldered jacket, frontman Brandon Flowers marshalls the audience expertly, like the old hand he is at this sort of stuff.

Their stall is set out from the off by opening with Human, and before there's time to catch your breath, they're racing headlong into the anthemic Somebody Told Me.

Somebody has clearly told The Killers that Franz slayed last night, because Brandon seems in a hurry to whip the crowd into a fenzy, lavishing hit upon hit on them, from a string quartet-enhanced Smile Like You Mean It to a weekend-defining All These Things That I've Done.

"We're The Killers, brought to you from glamorous Las Vegas," he archly informs the crowd before The World That We Live In. "And our bellies are full of haggis and Buckfast!"

The band's headline slot has gone down in T folklore as one of the festival's legendary sets, and tonight proves to be a worthy follow-up.

The Americans who protested against The Killers headlining Coachella are looking pretty foolish now. And it's a fact not lost on Brandon, who clearly has a handle on the size and gravity of the event.

"This is a big graduation for us," he tells the crowd before an emotional, climactic When You Were Young. "We started out at King Tut's, and you've been with us all the way. So thank you so much for coming with us."

The pleasure has been all ours. What a journey.

BARRY NICOLSON

LADY GAGA, Main Stage

SQUEEZED into a futuristic silver mini-dress as she shouts to a rapturous crowd it's hard to know which is more dazzling - pop vixen Lady Gaga's storming set or her constantly changing costumes.

From space age dominatrix, to kinky intergalactic cop and on to booted bikini babe, she works her wardrobe as deftly as she works the thousands of screaming fans in front of T In The Park's main stage.

It's the second day of the festival in Balado, Perthshire, and you get the feeling that most of the 85,000 fans on-site are here to witness her set.

Basking in scorching sunshine, the crowd has swelled to maximum capacity to witness this year's pop phenomenon - and she doesn't disappoint.

Black glass-plated screens shield her arrival before she teases her way out to launch into an incredible version of Paparazzi.

Turning to the screaming crowd, she shouts, "T In The Park, how you doing you bunch of p***heads?".

Flanked by her band, she's soon surrounded by sexy male dancers spinning in their black kilts for Love Game.

And offering some advice to the festival-goers in between songs she shouts out pearls of wisdom like "Spend your money on booze, food and hookers! You're beautiful, dirty and rich!".

Just Dance means another quick costume change - this time she returns to the stage in a sparkling uniform and on a blue Vespa scooter pulled by her dancers.

Her outfits get wilder and wackier, and the thrilled crowd look as transfixed by her ludicrously camp get-up as they do by the music pouring out of the speakers.

A glass piano filled with bubbles is positioned on stage and the crowd start chanting and cheering for what's coming next.

Barely dressed in her most revealing outfit so far, she struts out on stage in a hooded bikini with black knee-high boots and shades.

Straddling her piano stool, she says, "I used to go to festivals all the time, they were the best and scariest times of my life", before launching into a Cabaret-style version of Brown Eyes.

An acoustic version of Poker Face is next and Gaga astounds fans by standing on the stool in her 6inch heels before doing press ups between verses.

For the finale, she rolls out the full on dance version of Poker Face and as the opening baseline thumps out the Balado massive erupt. Gaga shouts "dance for your lives Scotland!" and it's a show stopping romp to the finish.

ELLIE CADDELL

THE SPECIALS, Main Stage

AFTER the excitement that the ska legends caused with their 30th anniversary gigs earlier this year, it's no surprise the crowd is buzzing with anticipation as frontman Terry Hall leads the 2-Tone kings on stage.

Opening with a cracking version of Do The Dog - its political message still as relavent as when they rocketed out of Coventry in 1979 - the crowd go bonkers from the first blast.

Typically, Hall still looks miserable as sin but behind him the band crank out upbeat, stonkingly powerful versions of classic hits like A Message To You Rudy and Little Bitch.

The blazing sunshine makes it feel more like a celebration than an early- evening festival set and their irresistible rhythms get the entire crowd dancing.

Newly reformed - albeit without the iconic figure of Jerry Dammers behind the keyboards - The Specials provide an acute, socially-aware, and eminently danceable alternative to the usual chart fare. Oh, and they're bloody good fun too. In the blazing mid-afternoon sunshine, no matter what politcal message they preach, ska like this is always going to sound brilliant.

The seven-piece dutifully wheel out a string of '80s classics like Gangsters, Rat Race and Too Much Too Young before a properly momentous Ghost Town brings things to a close.

Without Dammers, it may not quite be the reunion we would have wanted, but the world still feels a little bit better for them being in it. And judging by the size and enthusiasm of the crowd, T wholeheartedly agrees.

BARRY NICOLSON

FRANZ FERDINAND, Main Stage

IT'S been three long years since Franz Ferdinand last graced what Alex Kapranos calls "The Kinross party" and if you hadn't guessed that they'd missed it from their high-kicking, hyperactive performance, their frequent between-songs rallying call of "T In The Paaaaaark!" kind of gives the game away.

Opening with a stonking Do You Want To? the set draws evenly from their three albums but while Matinee and the incredible version of Take Me Out get the Balado faithful singing their hearts out, it's the songs from the new Tonight album that really deliver the surprises.

Amped-up and delivered in blistering style, Ulysses sounds like a total anthem.

Bite Hard, meanwhile, opens with a purring, seductive intro that gradually gives way to a jabbing, jaunty and decidedly sexy keyboard riff.

But it's the extended eight-minute version of set closer Lucid Dreams, however, that sees Franz CRUSH any notions Kings Of Leon might have had of delivering the set of the festival.

Sounding like a punch-up between Talking Heads, Kraftwerk and Television, it's sexy, adventurous and utterly brilliant. If you're looking for the moment the party REALLY got started, it was right here.

BARRY NICOLSON

PAOLO NUTINI, Main Stage

"YOU'RE beautiful," grins the Paisley troubadour, clearly enjoying the sunshine and the ecstatic crowd reaction.

But then not everyone can turn in such a sensational set and look so relaxed about it.

Paolo's journey from poppy singer-songwriter to keeper of the Celtic-folk flame has been a dizzyingly fast one, but his full-throttle set confirms that he's a genuine original.

Opening with a blazing New Shoes, he tears through one of the most energetic performances we've seen so far.

His seven-piece band is augmented further by the appearance of trad music legend Phil Cunningham and six students from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music performing as the New Caledonian Express.

They help out on stunning versions of Alloway Grove, High Hopes and new album standout Growing Up Beside You. And for the occasion he even seems to have invented a new genre - a highly-charged blend of soul, Celtic rock, folk and reggae.

His fantastic cover of The Coasters' Down In Mexico is hard to beat but when he leads the band through stellar versions of songs from the brilliant new Sunny Side Up album - including thrill-a-minute versions of Candy and Coming Up Easy - it's clear that we're in the presence of greatness. All in all, it makes for one of the sets of the festival.

BARRY NICOLSON

KATY PERRY, King Tut's Stage

"WHAT'S up Scotland!" screams Katy Perry into her diamante-encrusted microphone, dressed suitably in a raunchy low-cut tartan mini-dress and red shades.

Her stage is the most lavishly decorated at T In The Park, filled with pink swan statues, white picket fences, red strawberry balloons, multi-coloured flowers - and not forgetting her male backing band, who are all dressed in white suits and hats.

She kicks off with Fingerprints and One of The Boys, and sports a white Gibson guitar to complete her unique 'rock doll' look.

Before Hot and Cold, Katy dedicates the smash hit to the hapless weatherman who wrongly forecast bad weather for today. "They told me it was going to rain, I said no way, so I've brought the Californian sunshine. This one goes out to the weatherman - f*** you!"

During If You Can Afford Me, she asks everyone: "Who wants a strawberry?" before throwing large inflatable red strawberries into the crowd, and jumping and dancing around the stage.

Perry then tells her massive crowd how she's loving being back in Scotland. "I want to be the Loch Ness Monster!" she yells, before revealing that she's a big fan of redheads. "My sister has the redhead disease," she shrieks excitedly, "but we love her anyway!"

The fans are equally pleased to see her - some even waving signs asking Katy to marry or call them. Her response is nicely diplomatic: "I've had many marriage proposals but the answer's no!"

But she does dedicate the rocky ballad Thinking of You to her large band of Balado admirers.

One of the highlights of the set is a brilliant cover of her favourite band Queen's Don't Stop Me Now. She gets warmed up for it by dousing her cleavage in water and shaking it off. Looking to find a female partner for final song - inevitably, I Kissed a Girl - Katy jumps down to the front row and picks out a redhead to share her huge inflatable cherry chapstick with. "This one goes out to all the ladies!" she cries, before she sends the crowd wild, and sparking off random lesbian kissing. You Go Girl!

ELLIE CADDELL

THE TING TINGS, NME Stage

KATIE White and her musical partner Jules De Martino seem to be jinxed when it comes to T - last year they got held up in traffic and skidded to a halt at Balado just minutes before their set . . . this time their gear goes missing, meaning they take the stage 40 minutes late.

"We've had a nightmare day," admits Katie, "but you've made it all better."

They romp through all the hits from their debut album, including a stonking version of their disco-punk belter Great DJ, but it's clear that - after last year's incredible set - lots of fans are here just to see if That's Not My Name will work its magic two years in a row.

It does, giving The Ting Tings one of the most electrifying reactions of the entire festival.

But let's just hope that, if they come back to Balado armed with a new album next year, they've well and truly put their transport gremlins behind them.

JAMIE CROSSAN

GLASVEGAS, King Tuut's Stage

A WHITE rose taped to his microphone, James Allan is softly crooning the words to Daddy's Gone.

As one, the crowd are singing along in perfect timing. It's the kind of moment that gets the hairs standing up on the back of the neck.

And it's exactly this kind of moment that explains the queues to get into the packed tent that last all the way through the set.

A surprise cover of The Proclaimers' Sunshine On Leith - at the suggestion of guitarist Rab Allan after the band met up with the Reid twins recently - is a real highlight.

But it's fan favourites like Flowers & Football Tops, which tonight sounds like My Bloody Valentine jamming with Hank Williams, and an awesome F*** You, It's Over that prove Glasvegas are becoming one of Scotland's best live outfits.

With Caroline McKay's thumping drums and the rumbling basslines of Paul Donoghue pinning down the bottom end, they turn in a classic performance that leaves us eager to hear where they go next.

JAMIE CROSSAN

KINGS OF LEON, Main Stage

TENNESSEE rockers Kings of Leon have been called many things throughout their career - and sentimental isn't one of them.

But frontman Caleb Followill proudly dedicates tonight's set to his cousin's newborn daughter, before he launches into a sublime version of Manhattan.

And he tells the rapt T crowd: "I feel so comfortable with you people. I want you guys to know this is one so the festivals we look forward to the most."

They go through a blistering set, including Charmer and a jubilant version of Fans. But it's Sex On Fire that really makes the earth shake as the Balado crowd erupts.

As the crowd goes wild the band look undaunted, with guitarist Matthew simply surveying the scene as he puffs away on countless cigarettes.

During the final strained notes of Black Thumbnail, Caleb rams the neck of his guitar though brother Nathan's bass drum before tossing it triumphantly into the audience.

The Killers may outdo them on spectacle and Blur might have them when it comes to mid-90's nostalgia, but Kings of Leon prove that they're a real force to be reckoned with.

BARRY NICOLSON

RAZORLIGHT, Main Stage

MAYBE it's the evening chill, the cloudy skies or just the permanantly glum, expressionless face of lead singer Johnny Borrell casually going through the motions that produces the dullest hour of music at T.

The set falls somewhere between a slow burner and non-starter, despite starting with the band's better songs - Stumble And Fall, Golden Touch and Fall To Pieces.

But only the hardcore down the front seem to get anything out of it as the rest of the assembled masses lose focus with the band at many points.

Thankfully, there ARE highs and mass singalongs during America, Vice and Somewhere Else. It's not that Razorlight don't have the tunes, they do, but Borrell is just too detached to really connect with the Balado fans. He makes no obvious gestures to boost crowd morale, with the reault that the songs sound very average.

It's a sad example of a band losing the vitality, energy and feeling of their early days.

ELLIE CADDELL

NOISETTES, King Tut's Tent

IT'S amazing what a track in a car advert can do for you.

The London trio draw the biggest crowd of the afternoon to the Tut's Tent thanks to the success of Don't Upset the Rhythm.

"This is for everyone who came to see us in Glasgow," purrs singer Shingai Shoniwa as they tear through tracks from their What's The Time Mr Wolf and Wild Young Hearts albums - including the feverish disco of Saturday Night, which sees her clamber onto the drums to whip the crowd up even more.

Don't Give Up cranks up the atmosphere further but they save most of their energy for the cracking closer Always Remember Me, which gets the whole tent singing.

JAMIE CROSSAN

FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE, Futures Stage

ETHEREAL temptress Florence Welsh enters the flower-strewn stage in black hotpants, cape and heels and launches into Between Two Lungs, immediately showing off her haunting vocals.

"I want to give you a Glasgow kiss!" she shouts before Kiss With A Fist, during which she encourages the front rows to "grab them, punch them, kiss them".

On Drumming she pulls angular body shapes to great visual effect, before splitting the audience into two to practice their howls for er, Howl.

"Does anyone have any vodka?" she asks, and a plastic bottle is duly thrown to her. She takes a swig, then warns: "The second half of this gig is going to be very weird." The place then erupts for Dog Days Are Over, followed by an explosive reaction to Rabbit Heart and finishing with an unbelievable cover of Candi Staton's You Got The Love. Class!

ELLIE CADDELL

TWIN ATLANTIC, Futures Stage

AFTER three months spent recording their eagerly-awaited debut album in America, it's evident that the Glasgow-based alt.rock favourites are made up to be playing to a home crowd again.

They give it the all-guns-blazing treatment, powering through fan favourites like Crash Land, A Guidance From Colour and the blistering Audience And Audio.

Current single Light Speed gets a massive response but as frontman Sam McTrusty - sporting natty facepaint tonight - guns them through a set that's packed with originality, big choruses and lump-in-the-throat magnificence, you can't help but think we're watching stars in the making.

If there's any justice, Twin Atlantic will be back next year . . . as headliners.

DAVID MORRICE

THE TWANG, Futures Stage

AS everyone's favourite Brummies kick off with Wide Awake, the crowd is a sea of glowsticks - which are soon showering the stage.

"What's with all the f***in' glowsticks man?" grins frontman Phil Etheridge, good-naturedly ducking around them. But one fan then goes one better - chucking a LIGHTSABER towards the lads as they belt through a brilliant Back Where We Started.

Star Wars fans aside, it actually works in their favour that they're playing at the same time as Kings Of Leon because it's hardcore fans only . . . and the result is that the atmosphere is electric. Old favourites like Push The Ghosts and Either Way get the place bouncing while new single Barney Rubble is greeted like the Second Coming - partly because co-frontman Martin Saunders is singing his heart out.

Grinning from ear to ear, Phil admits: "I had a funny feeling when I woke up this morning, this crowd would be amazing." Two Lovers is a hit, as is first track off the new album, Took the Fun.

But when they close, as always, with the stunning, Mondays-ish Cloudy Room, the crowd are left in no doubt. This. Was. Ace.

DAVID MORRICE

WHITE LIES, NME Stage

WITH their brand of gloomy indie rock, it doesn't seem quite right that Harry McVeigh and his band should be playing when the sun is still blazing down.

But the boys turn in an impressive set with recent hits like Unfinished Business, Death and a stunning To Lose My Life that - mysteriously - seems to cheer the packed Balado crowd right up.

Bassist Charles Cave pins their sound to the floor with the kind of stately precision that conjures up images of Joy Division, Interpol and, of course, Editors.

But when the White Lies then rattle into a showstopping version of Farewell To The Fairground, there is plenty to suggest that by this time next July this group could well be one of the headliners at T.

STANA CEPKOVA

STARSAILOR, NME Stage

"BACK in the '90s I came here when I was staying in Perth with my mum and dad," explains singer James Walsh. "But I missed my lift home and I had to sleep rough NEXT to a tent!"

More than a decade on, it seems the Starsailor singer is still in love with T. As the band rocket through hits like Poor Misguided Fool, All The Plans We Made and a stunning version of Neon Sky that segues into Elvis's Can't Help Falling in Love, he makes it clear there's nowhere he'd rather be.

"You've still got it T In The Park," he grins before bassist James Stelfox dazzles in a storming version of Four To The Floor. They save the best for last with a cracking Good Souls that serves as a reminder that they've still got it too.

DAVID MORRICE

FRIDAY T IN THE PARK BANDS

THE FOALS, King Tut's Tent

THE sound of mutant punk funk - just imagine Talking Heads jamming with Underworld - is tumbling out of the giant PA stacks either side of the stage. Yannis Philippakis is chopping out guitar lines that twist and turn around Jack Bevan's hip-tugging drum patterns.

It's intriguing stuff and - though the band have been keeping a low profile lately - it draws a huge crowd. They tear through fan favourites like Hummer and Balloons and then treat the fans to something special. "We thought we would use this stage to play some new songs," Yannis explains, "so we are airing them here for all of you." The hypnotic dance grooves and hypnotic choruses promise much for the Oxford band's new album.

JAMIE CROSSAN

THE RAY SUMMERS, Break Stage

THE Falkirk outfit are a last-minute addition to the bill after getting just FOUR hours warning that they were playing.

With bassist Billy Kay down south, they had to teach stand-in Stevie Black the songs in the back of the van - yet Andy Ure and his bandmates are still on dazzling form.

A packed tent - thanks to a chain of text messages that spread round the festival site like wildfire - sees them deliver a string of brilliant ska-soul gems like Crazy World, Careless Leader and Heshka Rashka.

But as fans will guess, it was live favourite Boots & Cats that got the tent rocking. A real Ray of sunshine.

STANA CEPKOVA

THE HOURS, Futures Stage

ANTONY GENN lays it out straight: "The Scottish crowd - and it's a simple fact - is the best, full stop and underlined." And while the majority are off to watch Lady Gaga, The Hours still draw the faithful out to hear their anthems of love, loss and hope.

Drawing songs from their Narcissus Road debut and the new See The Light, their set is a revelation. And if there's anyone at T today with more presence and passion than Ant, they'll need to be extra special.

The sound is an intense mix of drums, guitars and Martin Slattery's distinctive keyboards. It's hypnotic stuff, despite the sound of Gaga occasionally blowing in on the breeze which is a cue for Ant to start singing Radio Gaga. "Bless her cotton socks," he says, "or rather the luminous bra she wears."

They finish on a high with an incredible version of Ali In The Jungle. Hour-some.

STANA CEPKOVA

YEAH YEAH YEAHS, NMW Stage

IT'S a look . . . but you might draw a few curious stares if you turned up at your local in it.

Singer Karen O outshines the Fancy Dress Friday crowd in a get-up that includes a head-dress, zig zag tights and multi-coloured poncho worn over a leather and feather catsuit.

The New York punk-funk outfit kick off their set with Sealings and Cheated Hearts, with Karen teasing the crowd with her front zipper during the latter's chant of "Take it off".

The band boast a huge inflatable EYEBALL as a backdrop behind the drum kit, and during Zero two more are thrown into the crowd to bounce around the arena.

The Yeahs then REALLY get into the spirit of things by inviting the East Kilbride Pipe Band to play with them, with Karen quipping: "We're not worthy."

But the highlight? Easy. The stunning version of Heads Will Roll.

DAVID MORRICE

UNICORN KID, BBC Introducing Stage

IBIZA or Scotland? Well, the glorious sunshine, the fun and the tunes are all right here on our doorstep.

Radio 6 Music star Huw Stephens introduces T In The Park's youngest star in the form of Oliver Sabin who takes to the stage in his trademark lion hat and blasts through track after track.

The 17-year-old rattles through the catchy electronica of his Wee Monsters and Lion Hat singles and really connects with the delighted crowd.

Before too long, everyone is dancing around, hands in the air and the atmosphere is incredible.

It's clear that Unicorn Kid has got heaps of talent, and there's no doubt we will hear more of him this year.

Calvin Harris better mind his back!

STANA CEPKOVA

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