T in the Park: Primal Scream still reigning but Black Kids are the future

FOR many punters, the best bands at T in the Park were not even on the main stage. The Pet Sounds Arena hosted some of the festival's best, from the epic set by Band of Horses on Saturday to the mathematical precision of Battles on Sunday.

The reclusive blues/hobo/genius Seasick Steve gave his all before The National took the stage, but the older members of the crowd were rushing to the King Tut's Wah Wah Hut tent to see Echo and the Bunnymen do their Liverpudlian best.

The festival organisers saved the best till last, though, when Primal Scream tore up the Wah Wah tent with their post-Fall Scottish scat.

Surely these magicians should have been playing the likes of Swastika Eyes on the main stage? Bobby Gillespie is the most rock 'n' roll Scot since John Lennon visited his auntie in Edinburgh.

The best treat of all, though, was on the Futures Stage on Sunday afternoon – Black Kids honestly made every other band at the festival look maudlin, and then some. I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You is not only one of the most infectiously danceable songs to have been released in the last decade, it's also an absolute killer live.

REM's frontman Michael Stipe even cast an envious glance in the direction of this band as they proceeded to slay the small tent's crowd. Make no mistake – you won't see a better group in concert this year.

Amid the mud and the beer there were moments of sheer beauty – My Morning Jacket did justice to the name of the stage on which they played: the Pet Sounds Arena.