Gig review: Emeli Sande, T in the Park

By David Pollock
Published on 07/07/2012 19:42

THERE are few easier ways to get a crowd onside at T in the Park than casually dropping the words “it’s so nice to be back home in Scotland” into your set.

Emeli Sande

Main Stage

***

For possibly the biggest Scots pop success of the year, though, there was a real sense of triumph to Emeli Sandé’s late-afternoon main stage spot. “Thank you for joining us in the rain,” the Aberdonian smiled, her sculpted blonde quiff and black eye makeup unharmed by the elements, “this has been a dream of mine for a long time”.

Opening with her first solo hit Heaven, her set was perhaps uncharacteristic Scotland’s most boisterous festival, being 45 minutes of groomed pop ballads with powerful choruses of the kind which surely await mutilation by a torrent of future X Factor contestants. Yet the likes of Daddy, My Kind of Love and next single Wonder were blasted out with a powerful and emotion-stirring voice, Sandé’s formidable natural instrument. That she had dressed her all-male band in kilts was a light touch which compensated for her hit Read All About It’s understated delivery, a sombre companion to sometime collaborator Professor Green’s version the previous night.