T in the Park review: PAWS, BBC Introducing stage

“ARE you ready to throw your lives into the gutter and scrape them back out again?” PAWS frontman Philip Taylor wastes no time in giving a small portion of Balado’s early Saturday risers a typically self-deprecating wake-up call.

PAWS. Picture: David P Scott

• Follow the day’s action at Balado in our live blog

Today, PAWS are armed not with their usual vocoder but with new member Ryan Drever, who fits well into an energetic and messily-delivered show. Within three numbers, Taylor puts to sleep any doubts over whether fresh material is set to surface soon by playing numbers from “a new album we’re working on”.

Although he is comically caught sleeping by his drummer, whose attempts to launch into Bloodline rang true the old phrase of ‘third time lucky’, PAWS’ stirring flash-flurries of thrash and confusion are an enlivening alarm clock; their slacker-pop elements the much-used snooze button, and this order is wonderfully blended throughout their catalogue and today’s set.

Sore Tummy and closer Poor Old Christopher Robin encapsulate this meld best, the latter concluding their BBC Introducing performance with Taylor and Drever gravitating towards the stage’s centre point to meet their drummer, which briefly becomes the eye of a thrash-and-hair storm and also alleviates any criticism for them temporarily nodding off.

PAWS’ stage opener plays out akin to waking up late; rushed, chaotic, and leaving little time to gather thoughts, but we’re sure we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Day one reviews:

• Haim on the Radio One stage

• Kraftwerk and the rest of the day one action