Farmer picks his cream of the crop of T In The Park memories

Jul 11 2008

Farmer picks his cream of the crop of T In The Park memories

LANDOWNER Douglas A|exander yesterday rolled out the welcome mat for T in the Park revellers.

The Balado Activity Centre chief relishes his hands-on role over the weekend – even if it sometimes means missing out on the music.

He has been counting down to the elongated three-day 2008 weekend since the final Snow Patrol ovation drifted off on the Kinrosshire night air 12 months ago.

Farmer Douglas has watched T in the Park mushroom over the past 15 years and it’s a source of immense personal pride that the event puts his county on the map.

During a break from the build-up, he laughed: “The world is looking at Kinross-shire this weekend and that’s wonderful for the area.”

Douglas recalls one recent event when the workload kept him on action-stations for the duration.

He said: “It was only come the Monday I realised I hadn’t seen one band!”

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER charts his TOP T MEMORIES for the PA

10 “Texas were special and Sharleen Spiteri had the crowd eating out of her hand back in 1997. That brought it home to me that this was something special.”

9 “Travis, another Scottish band, came to Balado on the back of crushing at a festival in Oslo. A few words from Fran Healy and the crowd at the front retreated as one. For me, that summed-up the harmony between the bands and the audience.”

8 and 7 “The Killers. And not just for their performance here. They also provided the soundtrack for a media event and hard-bitten hacks gave our wee dvd a spontaneous round of applause. It brought a lump to my throat.”

6 “The Proclaimers in 2003. I remember someone asking if I was the farmer giving them a plug on the telly. It was Charlie Reid!”

5 “Coldplay the same year. It has personal memories because I got a young family friend back stage and Gwyneth Paltrow spent an hour chatting to her.”

4 “Moby wasn’t meant to be on the main stage but Ocean Colour Scene agreed to step down the order because we feared there could be safety issues because of numbers wanting to hear him.”

3 “It was a privilege hearing Icelandic band Sigur Ros and their Blue Planet soundtrack in my own back garden! “

2 “The Who two years ago blew everyone away, whether they were 16 or 64. The atmosphere was electric and when their set ended with the sun setting in the Ochils I could have died happy and had my ashes scattered in front of the stage, provided we got SEPA approval!”

1 “I’m sure that still lies ahead of me!”