T in the Park review: Sunday

Published on Monday 12 July 2010 20:36

Following Saturday's showers, the weather for Sunday, and the last day of the festival, turned out bright and sunny as forecast, with a bonus brisk wind to blow away the cobwebs (and anything else that wasn't nailed down) for the final stretch of proceedings.

Ellie Goulding pulled a close-to-capacity crowd to the same stage with her undemanding, tastefully electro-tinged girly angst pop – which was fine for those resting weary limbs, but a little difficult to drum up much enthusiasm for.

A kilted Tricky brought a darker, more unsettling palette to proceedings, as he is prone to do, to the Slam Tent which, as usual, was its own throbbing, twilight enclave on the edge of town, and surprisingly busy – even on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Tricky's extended brooding trip-hop soundscapes took time to unfold and some patrons had drifted off before he had managed to bring his opening number to a rumbling conclusion.

At the other end of the hip-hop spectrum, Dizzee Rascal and chums were only too happy to cater for all your festival performance needs with a Main Stage turn which was packed with Tigger-like energy and cheerleader spirit, bright singalongs – the brightest being the gleeful groove of Dance Wiv Me – and a sunny aspect to even some of his more chilled-out numbers.

And here was a turn-up for the books – former Libertines frontman and bad boy Pete Doherty appearing bang on time and on fine, attacking form with Babyshambles on the Radio 1/NME stage. Good vibrations all round.

Meanwhile, the Biffy Army were forming the longest queue on site to gain access to the main arena's inner mosh pit for the bare-chested trio's fete, which was rivalled only in quaking volume by the mighty holler of Gossip front-woman Beth Ditto emanating from the Tut's Tent.

Empire of the Sun brought their own show, a rich and strange cocktail of psychedelic electro-pop, hard-core techno, Proggy space age visuals and four dancers in a succession of exotic lycra body suits and masks, all presided over by some tribal alien Witch Doctor known to his mum as "Luke Steele".

No-one could hope to follow this demented spectacle, though The Drums had a good crack at it, employing the full force of traditional driving indie-pop, and Goldfrapp brought their usual artfully choreographed flamboyance and glamour to another full-on irresistible performance.

With his funky band, including a horn section, superstar rapper Jay-Z was more like James Brown at points in his commanding set, throughout which he carried himself like a gentleman – and a headliner.

But that job fell to Kasabian. As the crowds cheered to see rave DJ David Guetta and Madness's tempting invitation to a hitsville knees-up – "Hey you, don't watch that, watch this" – could literally be heard ringing out from the other side of the site, the Leicester band strutted though a closing set of turbo-charged indie rock against the backdrop of a glorious sunset and rose-tinted hills.