Features T In The Park Guide 2010

It’s going to rain at T this year, which should come as no surprise to anyone who’s ever been to T. Or indeed anyone who has a basic historical knowledge of British summertime weather, especially as far north as the three-day festival takes place. So, while we’re going to suggest finding the most hideous rain mac you can between now and tomorrow, we’ve also picked a few acts out each day worth a look. Don’t worry - it’s not dangerous; the Scottish have yet to find a way to deep fry rain.

Friday

Friday’s bill includes less stages than the others. Whether that’s down to the size of Muse’s setup may just be a salacious rumour. Still, it’s the Devon trio who provide the day’s main entertainment, their cyber-laser-armageddon piano-bashing live experience hardly likely to be troubled by The Black Eyed Peas or Calvin Harris (unless he turns up with a pineapple on his head; we think a pineapple can take Dom Howard in a scrap).

Elsewhere, experimental Brooklyn indie types Dirty Projectors (King Tut’s) surely balance out the idea of seeing Florence, Jamie or La Roux’s time-travelling explosion in a dressing-up box, Meursault (T Break) provide our pick of the day’s Scottish talent, and for those up for dancing while sheltering from both the rain and being bored to near-middle-age by Faithless, there’s one of the most fun acts to watch at a festival, Hot Chip (King Tut’s).

Saturday

While we’re mostly excited about the idea of Julian Casablancas (King Tut’s) playing more Strokes songs (does it count as a cover if you’re in the original act yourself?) and crossing all extremities that his sometime bandmates show up, there’s also We Are Scientists (King Tut’s) to contend with. It’s a well known fact the duo’s banter and comic abilities far outstretch their musical output, and this year’s highlight is undoubtedly their take on a World Cup anthem. But they wrote it about England. Let’s see how that goes down, and if they dare risk playing it. We’ll send a medal (or medic) if they do so successfully.

Broken Social Scene squeeze on to the same stage earlier in the day, and not just to hide from Scouting For Girls (or Chipmunk, or Newton Faulkner, The Proclaimers, Paolo Nutini, Stereophonics and Eminem - the Main Stage really is to be avoided on Saturday). If you’re following the hype (or just the Hype Machine), Local Natives (Radio 1/NME) can fill that void, and if you’re panicking because you’ve not yet seen anyone vaguely local to the festival itself, Astral Planes’ lo-fi scuzz-pop is worth a shot.

Sunday

A dearth of headliners worth seeing tonight, but we’ll admit it here - Jay-Z is damn good festival viewing. Not only because he’ll mix in a few surprise samples (at least if you’ve not seen his summer set already), but a field full of (very) white (pasty) boy (vaguely) indie kids trying to dance to hip-hop like it comes naturally to them is ultimately hilarious.

The Cribs (feat. Johnny Marr - yes, we know he’s officially ‘one of them’ now) (Radio 1/NME) provide the raucous Wakefield rock this afternoon, Yeasayer the surprisingly-more-massive-than-you-realise alt.pop, and Darwin Deez (who to us looks like he’s never seen a shower once in his ringlet-headed life) the summery bubblegum stuff that’s ultimately soundtracking a weekend of mud, soggy trouser legs and being poked in the eye by someone’s umbrella (ella, ella, etc).