Proclaimer twins a little ray of sunshine on Balado

Jul 13 2010 by Denis Brown, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

Legendary twins a little ray of sunshine on Balado

THERE’S nothing like a good old sing-along to raise morale.

By 3.20pm on Saturday, when Leith’s finest – the Proclaimers – emerged onto the main stage, the relentless rain was threatening to dampen spirits of punters squelching around in thick mud.

But straight off the bat, bespectacled twins Charlie and Craig, with their no-nonsense rock ‘n’ roll sensibilities, had the crowd onside, lifting spirits with a short but sweet hit-packed 30-minute set.

It only took most fans a few seconds of the second song to recognise the 1987 classic, Letter from America, provoking a World Cup goal-like response, with an entire stadium of fists punching the air.

Thousands had streamed into the main arena for the home team’s crowd-pleasing set, and they were not disappointed, judging by the en masse vocal participation that at times drowned out the sound system.

Every single face singled out on the big screens was singing along, with the fervour obviously too much for one fan’s giant stuffed monkey being passed over heads with its’ polystyrene innards spilling out.

Wisely the twins stuck to anthem-friendly renditions, the only real dour point being the sombre Sunshine on Leith – featuring a fiddle solo – from their second album released in distant 1988.

The Reids may have spent much of the 1990s in the wilderness, but as T in the Park demonstrated, their credibility and fan base has soared again, with the pair now firmly pegged as national treasures.

Not exactly renowned for between-song banter, Charlie (or was it Craig?) surprised fans at one point with a bit of repartee, seemingly reading collective minds, saying “let’s hope it stops raining soon”.

While they arguably saved the best for last, I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles), the 1988 smash re-recorded for Comic Relief in 2007, it bizarrely failed to incite a mass response.

But on what was otherwise a miserable afternoon, the legendary Leithers were definitely a ray of sunshine on Balado