Weather clears just in time for T to become super

• The poor weather of Friday and Saturday failed to dampen festival-goers' spirits, or the popularity of fancy dress, though wellies were standard kit due to the muddy conditions. Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA

The wet weather was chased away by strong winds during the afternoon and replaced, as the weather forecasters had promised, by blue skies and sunshine, allowing the music fans to cast off their ponchos and enjoy themselves properly.

Veteran rockers The Stranglers opened the Main Stage action just after midday to a packed arena, a contrast with Saturday, when fans retreated to the tented stages to hide from the almost unremitting downpour.

The rain had lifted just long enough for rapper Eminem to close Saturday night, appearing 50 minutes late and mistakenly re-locating the Balado site, addressing the audience as "Edinburgh". But he was given a warm welcome before the clouds closed in for the night and campers fell asleep and woke to the monotonous drum of rain on their tents.

But while the skies cleared for yesterday's proceedings, the roads and paths leading to the site were reduced to treacherous pock-marked quagmires that ensured everybody's boots and jeans - or in the case of the hardy short-wearers, their legs - were given a good coating of adhesive mud.

The high winds did cause some disruption during the day, forcing the temporary suspension of the big wheel, while a large tarpaulin roof covering a group of T-shirt stalls was dislodged.

However, the winds made sure the collection of giant multi-coloured flags that festoon the centre of the site were shown off to their full glory, while any beachballs launched during gigs were sent scudding stage-wards.

With the return of the sun, the matter of having a good time was back firmly on the agenda for the vast majority of the festival goers - even the between gig-sound checks were occasions for cheering and applauding as fans were determined to make the most of what was left of the weekend.

The good weather brought with it one of the festival highlights when rapper Dizzee Rascal took the stage carrying aloft a replica of the World Cup - a nod to the other big event taking place yesterday - to a rapturous reception.

The dress-code for the weekend altered during the day to accommodate the rising temperatures, with many adding sunglasses and straw hats to their ensemble, though wellies of every pattern and hue remained firmly in place.

Two nearby officers gave cardiopulmonary resuscitation while on-site paramedics raced to help, but they pronounced Mr Catto dead at the scene.

T in the Park organiser Geoff Ellis paid tribute: "Everybody is very upset with the news and our sympathy is with his family and friends."

He added: "T in the Park becomes the fifth largest city in Scotland when we stage the event, so statistically we've probably been very lucky these sad events have not happened a lot more over the years. "

And he said he felt that, despite the tragedy, the weekend had been a massive success and the rain had not proved to be as damaging as it could have been.

Since the gates opened, Tayside Police said 40 individuals had brought to them, with 14 kept in custody for court today.

A number of other crimes have been detected and individuals reported to the procurator-fiscal, however the number of reported crimes has been low.

Chief Superintendent Craig Suttie, in charge of policing at the festival, confirmed a 62 per cent reduction in thefts compared to the same time-frame at the festival last year. 56 arrests had been made as of last night, 10 per cent down on the same period last year.

Neil MacDonald, Ambulance Service Event Commander confirmed that, as of last night, 608 people had been through the on-site hospital, all for minor ailments, with 19 cases sent off site for further medical treatment. 1021 were seen at first aid points.

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