Border Telegraph | News | Telegraph in the Park

Monday, 8th September, 2008

Published: Wednesday, 16th July, 2008 09:00

Telegraph in the Park

By Ally McGilvray and Alexa Brown

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FRIGHTENED Rabbit are on track to stardom after wowing fans at the biggest music festival in Scotland at the weekend.

The four-piece indie-rock band, from Selkirk, never looked stuck in the spotlights when they took to the stage at T in the Park on Sunday night.

They performed in front of a capacity crowd in a packed T Break tent, despite playing at the same time as the likes of chart-toppers Amy Winehouse and Pendulum.

The band – Scott Hutchison (vocals/guitar), Grant Hutchison (drums), Billy Kennedy (guitar) and Andy Monaghan (keyboards) – were one of only a handful of the freshest unsigned acts to showcase their sounds at the festival after impressing judges during a country-wide competition.

And now they are dreaming of following in the footsteps of singer Amy MacDonald who played the Main Stage at T in the Park this year – just 12 months after making her debut at the festival in the T Break tent last year.

Sipping on a can of Tennent’s Lager on stage at the weekend, singer Scott admitted to the boisterous crowd that performing at the festival was the best day of his life.

Around 80,000 revellers converged on sun-kissed Balado, Perth and Kinross, to watch performances from more than 180 bands across 12 stages at the three-day event – now in its 15th year.

Border Telegraph reporters Ally McGilvray and Alexa Brown were among them, along with our competition winner Louise Philips and an army of revellers from the Borders, although some of them were still making their way home this week.

Rage Against the Machine, Kaiser Chiefs, Primal Scream, The Verve and Chemical Brothers were the headliners at the festival, which was brought to a close by American rockers REM.

Speaking from his tent after camping at the event for the first time, Ally said: “It was arguably one of the best weekends of my life.

“This was my fifth T and the highlight for me had to be the set from the Kaiser Chiefs on the NME Stage on Saturday night. It was almost on a par with the Killers last year – they were superb.

“I’ve seen them at the festival before but I waited five hours to edge my way to the front of the stage for this performance which made it all the more sweeter.

“I thought the Pigeon Detectives, who were on just before them, were also fantastic and the atmosphere in the King Tuts Tent for Pendulum the following day was amazing.

“And I surprised myself by enjoying the set from Eddy Grant who played the guitar with every part of his body imaginable.”

He added: “Selkirk band Frightened Rabbit were also on form – even if I wasn’t in a fit state to interview them.”

The roving reporter was spotted roaming the festival in a monk’s costume and was pictured with chart sensation Gabriella Cilmi, currently in the Top 10 with smash hit Sweet About Me – although he denied any rumours they were in a relationship.

The Fratellis, Kooks, Kings of Leon, The Pogues, and Scouting for Girls also put in memorable performances.

But call centre worker Kevin Knox, from Selkirk, was gutted to miss the Ting Tings, after flying to the festival straight from the airport following a 14-hour trip from the Philippines.

Reporter Alexa also missed her favourite band due to problems closer to home, saying; "My friend was held up because of the road closure near Langholm so we missed Scouting for Girls which I was a bit gutted about. The Feeling and The Kooks made up for it though. They were brilliant. I still haven't got my voice back!"

editorial@bordertelegraph.com

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