Music Festival News

From its beginnings at Strathclyde Country Park in 1994 to the triumphant Tenth Year celebrations at Balado in 2003, T in the Park has grown in size and influence to become one of the most important and critically acclaimed music events on the UK and European festival scenes, and is firmly established as Scotland’s most popular weekend out.

Now attracting over 55,000 music fans from Scotland, the UK, and beyond each day, T in the Park is consistently a sell out success. This popularity can be attributed to the festival’s unique atmosphere, legendary crowd, and one of the most exciting line-ups in Europe – with over 120 artists over 2 days and across 8 stages, from the finest homegrown talent to major international artists such as REM, Oasis, Foo Fighters and Radiohead.

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T in the Park came into being when Glasgow-based DF Concerts, one of the UK’s leading concert promoters, teamed up with Scotland’s favourite pint Tennent’s Lager, who had a history of supporting the Scottish live music scene in the late 1980’s. DF Concerts founder Stuart Clumpas had for some time been considering the development of Scotland’s first large scale, multi-stage music event to act as an annual focal point for the music scene, and Tennent’s were keen to further increase their support of live music.

The first T in the Park took place at Strathclyde Country Park in 1994, with DF Concerts teaming up with MCD Promotions of Eire to create a sister company Big Day Out to promote the event. The festival was an artistic success, and while financially it was less successful, it fired the enthusiasm of the 17,000 fans that turned up each day, and subsequent years have been greeted with ever increasing popularity and acclaim.

“To all at T in the Park, thank you for ten years of inspirational gatherings, and for believing in us when no-one else did. Here’s to another ten years of the best festival in Britain, Luv Fran xxx”
Fran Healy from Travis wishes us Happy Birthday

“That was incredible in that tent. It was probably the first time people sang along to one of our songs. It was an incredible feeling. That was our earliest memory of something really good happening at a gig. It just blew our minds.”
Guy Berryman from Coldplay recalls the band’s first T performance backstage

“What an amazing event we have here; T in the Park should be used as a symbol of modern Scotland. It is great to see so many young people enjoying themselves. The festival is very valuable to the economy. I just wish I could stay until Coldplay are on.”
First Minister Jack McConnell comes along to celebrate the significant milestone

“People can better understand what we’re trying to do at T in the Park, because our music is ambitious and massive. People thought we were a joke band for a while at the start, because even when we were playing pubs three years ago, we were imagining we were at T in the Park.”
Dan Hawkins from The Darkness has the last laugh back stage

“God gave you light, God gave you dark, God gave you tickets to T in the Park”
Chris Martin ‘puts a smile’ on the crowd’s faces with a lyrical tribute to T

“Playing T in the Park is a highlight in any bands career. The Scottish audience is among the best in the world and have given us amazing support since the early days. Many Happy Returns and see you soon x”
The Stereophonic’s Kelly Jones sends us his best

“I was completely overwhelmed. I’d never played a festival before. I looked out there and saw all those people – I thought, my God, it was amazing. It was a really special moment, I’ll never forget it and I’m glad I’m back again.”
Tim DeLaughter from The Polyphonic Spree recalls some festival firsts backstage

“At its first shot, T crashed right into the heart of alternative culture and it has lodged there ever since”
NME

“Since that first attempt, T in the Park has really come of age: supporting Scottish talent and generally setting itself up as the highlight of the Scottish summer”
Sunday Herald

“It is those special moments which have given us a centrepoint to the summer in Scotland. T in the Park’s tenth birthday deserves to be heartily celebrated just for that.”
Dundee Courier

T in the Park’s development in both size and popularity has allowed DF Concerts to effectively combine the creative and business elements needed to produce an event with both financial stability and music industry prestige, ensuring it attracts the very best artists to Scotland each year.

With T in the Park now entering a new decade, Tennent’s Lager continues to build on its long-term commitment to music. The relationship with DF Concerts that began in 1994 with the inception of T in the Park was further extended in 2000 to include T on the Fringe. In addition, Tennent’s new talent initiative T Break has been going from strength to strength since its creation in 1996, a fundamental element of which is the T Break Stage at T in the Park.

Tennent’s Lager’s commitment and successful involvement in T in the Park has yielded many awards, amongst these the prestigious Hollis Award for Sponsorship Continuity in 2003, which not only saw a fitting tribute to T in the Park’s Tenth Year, but saw the event beat Nationwide (Football Association and England Team), HSBC (ITV Drama Premieres), and Ford (UEFA Champions League) for the award.

Since its creation in 1994, subsequent years have consolidated T in the Park’s position in the global music calendar. The scope of the event has increased over time with the NME Stage, the Slam Tent, and many other new talent and entertainment areas joining the original Main Stage and King Tut’s Tent. In 1997, when the festival’s original site was developed as a supermarket, Balado Activity Centre provided an excellent alternative at the very heart of Scotland.

This relocation has made T in the Park more accessible for fans travelling from remote parts of Scotland, as well as being convenient for all major cities and other parts of the UK. This shift is now reflected in the increasingly diverse T in the Park audience, attracting music fans from across the UK and beyond, making it one of Scotland’s biggest and most popular attractions.

On-site activity at T in the Park has also seen many changes over the years, with 85 per cent of the audience opting for the ‘true festival experience’ of camping on-site for the whole weekend, compared to just 5 per cent in 1994. This has contributed to something that nearly every artist visiting T in the Park comments upon – the friendly atmosphere and legendary spirit of the T in the Park crowd, which has been boosted by the addition of a funfair, food village and a range of additional entertainments.

Despite these crowds, the event enjoys an extremely warm and positive reception each year from the local communities and towns around Balado, with a recent survey calculating that the festival generates a huge financial boost, upwards of £2m, for the local and Scottish economies.

2003 not only saw the festival’s Tenth Year, but also arguably the best T in the Park to date. Tickets for the festival sold out in record time, the sun shone over Balado, and major international names such as REM and The Flaming Lips performed alongside the UK’s biggest acts including Coldplay and Idlewild. The Bacardi B Bar brought its sultry Latin sounds to T for the fourth consecutive year. Special birthday presents for T in the Parkers themselves came in the form of the X Tent, which featured a line-up that read like a who’s who of the most exciting new bands in the world, and the T Garden, the ultimate festival drinking experience.

Competing with the very best festivals in Europe, T in the Park continues to provide a platform to support the Scottish music scene. Local acts are consistently represented, from the artists involved with unsigned talent initiative T Break, to bands like Idlewild, Mull Historical Society, Biffy Clyro, and the legendary Ceilidh Tent.

With a decade of success behind it and yet another weekend of the very best music and unique atmosphere ahead, T in the Park can most definitely claim to be the Scottish music industry’s greatest success story.

T in the Park: The Highlights

1994
The inaugural T in the Park. A fantastic line up, great support from the artists and an amazing reaction from the crowd. Rage Against the Machine, Bjork and Cypress Hill were on the Main stage and an incredible lineup of Blur, The Manic Street Preachers, Pulp and Oasis all packed into the King Tut’s Tent. Robbie Williams turned up to hang out and play football and Oasis proclaimed that this was their best ever performance. An unknown band called Glass Onion – who later changed their name to Travis - played the New Talent Stage.

1995
Paul Weller, M People, The Verve, The Charlatans, Tricky, The Beautiful South, Cast, Supergrass and Shed Seven all performed across the stages, with a memorable appearance from Kylie Minogue who created the longest queues at the signing tent that weekend. Kermit from Black Grape performed a memorable set sitting down on the stage, after breaking his ankle earlier in the day and refusing to go to hospital.

1996
The final year at Strathclyde Country Park and a phenomenal set from Radiohead on the Saturday evening, with performances from Alanis Morrisette, Prodigy, Foo Fighters, Beck, Leftfield and Black Grape. This was also the year that Keanu Reeves arrived on a shuttle bus to play the festival with his band Dogstar, and Joe Strummer busked in the campsite.

1997
A move to Balado coincided with brilliant sets from Texas, Travis, Fun Lovin Criminals and Spearhead. This was The Slam Tent’s first year, and they presented a brilliant line up, which included Daft Punk, Green Velvet and Death In Vegas. Stereophonics and Mogwai played the King Tut’s Tent.
1998
Robbie Williams stole the show with his first official appearance at the event, but other names included Prodigy, Pulp, Beastie Boys, Ian Brown, Portishead, Natalie Imbruglia, A Tribe Called Quest, Idlewild and appearances again from Travis and Stereophonics. Fans saw extremes in the weather, with Saturday being scorching hot and Sunday seeing heavy rain. Pulp’s Common People provided a rousing finale to the weekend.

1999
Blur, Stereophonics, Manic Street Preachers, Massive Attack, James, Placebo, Travis, Happy Monday, Gomez, Carl Cox, Fat Boy Slim, Fun Lovin Criminals and Faithless were amongst the names on a strong line up. The Manics made their memorable tribute to King Tut’s from the Main Stage, thanking them for being the first venue to give the band hot food on tour.

2000
A momentous occasion for Travis, who played the first T in the Park as an unsigned band and this year closed the Main Stage. Moby performed a breathtaking set, and there was strength across all stages with artists such as David Gray, Iggy Pop, Leftfield, Macy Gray and Scotland’s own Lulu. This was All Saints last Scottish appearance, and once again the King Tut’s stage proved its knack for spotting future stars, with relative unknowns Coldplay and Toploader performing.

2001
This is the year that Noel Gallagher came to hang out, and ended up taking Stage Two by surprise when he joined Paul Weller for an impromptu acoustic set. Stereophonics, Texas, Beck, Coldplay, Toploader, David Gray and Placebo were on the bill, and a memorable set by The Proclaimers raised the roof on Stage Two. Stereo MC’s, Nelly Furtado, Lambchop and Mull Historical Society played the King Tut’s Tent.

2002
Then virtually unknown, the Polyphonic Spree provided an opening that T in the parkers will never forget as the 18 members took to the stage dressed in their now trademark white smocks. Nine years after playing mid bill in the King Tut’s Tent, Oasis returned to headline the main stage on Saturday, while Nicole Appleton challenged Bobby Gillespie to a dance off at the side of the stage. Gwen Stefani provided haute couture glamour, while the Hives left the festival bare necked as fans scrambled to claim their famous white ties. Idlewild received a hero’s welcome as the crowd sang American English in perfect time and new kids on the block, The Coral and The Music performed sets that had them tipped as headliners of the future.

2003
The event’s Tenth Year saw all the elements combine to produce arguably the perfect celebrations, and everyone from Idlewild to Scotland’s First Minister Jack McConnell wished T in the Park many happy returns, commenting “What an amazing event we have here; T in the Park should be used as a symbol of modern Scotland. It is great to see so many young people enjoying themselves. The festival is very valuable to the economy. I just wish I could stay until Coldplay are on.” The Balado crowd enjoyed their own birthday presents as they rocked out in the X Tent, chilled out in the T Garden, and ooh-ed and aah-ed out at the closing firework display. Backstage resembled a zoo as the Super Furries and show-stealers The Flaming Lips added a little animal magic to their sets, with a host of people including Har Mar Superstar dressing up in furry costumes to form the dancing menagerie that joined Wayne Coyne and Co on the Main Stage. Appleton, Sugarbabes, Skin, and The Cardigan’s Nina Persson turned the stages into catwalks, while The Darkness’ spandex-clad Sunday Main Stage opening set provided the perfect beginning to the day that headliners Coldplay closed. The legendary REM’s inaugural performance received a fitting T in the Park welcome, as the sounds of over 55,000 music fans singing classics like Everybody Hurts resounded across the Balado fields.