Broken Down Halo - T In the Park 04

T In The Park 2004 (Day One - Saturday 10th July)

The BROKEN DOWN HALO crew made their annual pilgrimage through to Balado for T in the Park, for what was one of the best line ups in recent years and especially buoyed and salivating by the prospect of seeing the Pixies.

After selling out quicker than ever before in its history, we were wondering whether it had possibly over reached the maximum manageable capacity, as our normal 20 minute journey took four times as long, with the worst travel congestion and organisation we've ever seen at the event.

After finally getting parked and in for around 1.15, we were decidedly pissed off at having missed BDH's favourite underground art terrorists KASABIAN, so our 2004 festival was opened by fellow Fifers, DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS, on the NME stage.

The last year has been a whirlwind of success and publicity for the five piece outfit, with the Franz Ferdinand opened door for Scottish acts seeing the Dogs Die In Hot cars guys waving on the other side. Colin McIntosh's distinctive vocal style and the band's funk rock sound is a definite winner and was a crowd pleaser under the gloomy skies. The singles "Godhopping" and "I Love You Cause I Have To" were the stand out songs in the set, the latter being one of our singles of the year so far, but there were some awful lyrics in there as well, with "Celebrity Sanctum" appearing funny at first, then just plain bad! Enough to keep the BDH jury out on whether the band will make the breakthrough they have been touted for, but we're hoping so. But on this Saturday afternoon, the TITP crowd loved them.

More funk was to follow with a disappointing set by THE ZUTONS, that failed to really hold our interest, but this was restored fully and beyond with a trip to the King Tut's tent to see the massively acclaimed ORDINARY BOYS. And what a performance the mod punks turned in to a packed tent. Singles, b-sides, album tracks and even covers of "Little Bitch" by the Specials and Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues", all leaving the sweaty crowd baying for more and the band showing that they certainly more than live up to all the hype. Growing up loving the Jam, the Ordinary Boys sound brings me back to my days of my youth, and when the band can count the Modfather Weller as one of their fans, then you know they're getting their sound just right. Definitely a band that will be on a much bigger stage next year.

With some time to kill, we thought we'd drop by the NME signing tent to see one of the most talked about bands of the year, THE LIBERTINES. Currently Pete-free and, in true Libertines style, twenty minutes late in arriving, Carl and the guys drew the biggest line up of the day for the tent and a keen throng of people wanting photos as well.

Hanging about at the tent, it did mean that we had to endure some of the awful Main Stage proceedings, but as it turned out, they weren't as bad as we were expecting as PINK was just getting in to full flow. I surprise myself when I say this, but I was actually quite impressed by what I heard from her performance. She certainly has the voice, the tunes and the looks. Hot stuff!

It was soon back to Indieland for us though, although still tinged with a mainstream chart edging, as we traipsed back to the NME stage to catch one of the success stories of the year, KEANE. Having missed their support slot with Travis a few months back and knowing a couple of their more well known numbers, we were keen (no pun intended!) to see for ourselves just what this trio are about. They're relaxing, they're tuneful, they're mellow and they're innocent (looking and sounding) and you can see how they've got to the level they have in such a short space of time with the masses. It was a chance to chill and relax for a bit, but not the most exciting festival band in the world!

Not a phrase that could be used in connection with King Tut's tent co-headliners, ASH. The decision to have them play their set at 6.20 and put them on on a smaller stage in the first place was strange and this decision wasn't helped by the amount of people wanting to see them! The King Tuts tent was jam pack to over capacity, with dozens of people unable to get in outside, as the Irish band's continued popularity was clear to see. Those lucky enough to gain access, BDH included, were treated to an hour long set of old classics ("Oh Yeah", "Girl From Mars", "A Life Less Ordinary" and the evergreen "Kung Fu") and songs from their latest album "Meltdown" (with "Evil Eye" surely meriting a place in a future classic song set for them). Having just arrived twenty minutes before they were due to go on, following a delay at Heathrow, the band were buzzing and they turned in a superlative performance as a result, consolidating their rise in status in the last couple of years.

With the sound of Ash still ringing in our ears, there was time to catch the end of the 'legendary' WU TANG CLAN back on the NME stage. Now, we're partial to a bit of quality hip hop and two step garage here at BDH, and Wu Tanger Ol' Dirty Bastard is a fave round here, but I just couldn't get down with the Clan tonight. They're good at what they do (which is basically shout and say motherfuckers and shit a lot!) and they worked the crowd well, but it's not the same without having ODB there.

Then at last it came to the time for one of our most eagerly awaited bands of the weekend - the return of THE LIBERTINES.

The pressure was on for Carl and the guys. Pulled festival appearances in June, first post-rehab Pete gig, new material to be aired for their album release next month and a temporary guitarist on board. That's what you call tough!

The fifty minute set was a mixture of new and old - crowd pleasers one and all. It wasn't the tightest of sets and Carl's vocals weren't the strongest early on, but as the set moved on, so did Carl Barat's confidence and the end result has to go down as a huge success and big sigh of relief in Arcadia.

I've seen the Libertines three times now in the last year - twice without Pete Doherty. Carl's good, but he struggles without his sparring partner to bounce off and dual harmonise with. There is something missing up there without Pete. So let's just hope he gets his head and his life in order soon and returns to continue the further adventures of the Albion.

The new songs bode well for the band's future, with "Whatever Happened To The Likely Lad" the stand out. That and "What A Waster" have perhaps never been more apt or sung with more meaning. A band that has brought the likes of "Don't Look Back In To The Sun" and "Time For Heroes" to the singing throngs at Balado, and beyond, deserves a good future.

From melodic angst to just melodies, as we encamped into the X Tent to catch most of THE DELAY's set. We hadn't planned to catch it all, but we just couldn't tear ourselves away from a beautiful and polished performance that belied their new band status. There's an exciting crop of new UK acts coming through just now and The Delays are right up there with the likes of Razorlight and The Ordinary Boys and the Scottish scene in our humble opinion.

So with the festival sadly Bowie-less (get well soon man), it was time to catch the headliners. None stood out for us as must sees, so we thought we settled for a little bit of MUSE, who now have their performances down to an art form and have fulfilled their early promise to levels that maybe weren't even expected. We also wanted to check out the band headlining the T-Break tent tonight as well though, so split our time between the two.

The band in question in there was the very impressive Scottish quartet JOSEPHINE. With a sound reminiscent of Sonic Youth, with a nod to modern day soundalikes like Ikara Colt, the boy-girl harmonies and tight lo-fi sound finished our day one on a major high.

All this and the Pixies still to come! Ah, the joys of summer.