Nestling somewhere around the front of this issue you should have come across your Set List card, which is a gateway to a whole world of aural delights. It’s just a case of getting on the internet, following the instructions on the back of the card and you’ll gain access to downloads of tracks recorded live at previous T in the Parks performed by the fine acts spread-eagled across these very pages.

After a rollercoaster ride of a year including a number one album (A Grand Don ’t Come For Free) and single (‘Dry Your Eyes’) Mike Skinner and his boisterous bunch return to serenade the masses with more beat- backed urban poetry, smooth soulful vocals and shoutalong choruses . . . and there might even be some new material to get your teeth into since Skinner is a prolific, if slightly unpredictable, beast. Tracks like ‘Fit But You Know It’, ‘Don’t Mug Yourself’ and ‘Weak Become Heroes’ are bona fide festival anthems if ever we heard them. As, of course, is ‘Dry Your Eyes’. Not only was this Skinner’s first number one single, but it’s also the high point to any Streets set and one of the many opportunities to exercise the vocal chords and wave your lighter around in Balado this weekend.

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TRAVIS

,‘WHY DOES IT ALWAYS RAIN ON ME?’

Their last album 12 Memories may have received a pretty muted response, but it doesn’t get much more uplifting than seeing this Scottish foursome live. They’ve proved themselves to be top notch festival fodder after countless appearances at this and other outdoor music events around the world. Their soaring choruses and chiming riffs are best heard, however, being sung by thousands of their smiling, sunburnt fellow countrymen, overcome with national pride. From their beginnings as humble indie rockers to their current stadium-worthy status, Travis have continued to belt out the infectious melodies which always prove a blissful treat at the height of summer, and those one word choruses, take ‘Sing’ and ‘Turn’ for example, are so much easier to remember for the overly merrified punter.

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