22 Years of T in the Park

As T in the Park settles into its new home at Strathallan Castle, we look back at 22 years of highlights from Scotland's biggest music festival.

1994 – A match made in musical heaven – DF Concerts and founding partner Tennent’s Lager joined forces and T in the Park was born. At the inaugural festival, Robbie Williams turned up to hang out and play football and Oasis proclaimed that this was their best ever performance.

1995 – Kylie Minogue created the longest queues at the signing tent and Kermit from Black Grape performed a memorable set sitting down on the stage, after breaking his ankle earlier in the day and refusing to go to hospital.

1996 – The year that Keanu Reeves arrived on a shuttle bus to play the festival with his band Dogstar, Joe Strummer busked in the campsite and Tennent’s Lager launched unsigned initiative T Break.

1997 – The year of debuts – the festival made its Balado debut, the Slam Tent made its T in the Park debut and Polarbear, now known as Snow Patrol, made their T in the Park debut on the T Break stage.

1998 – T in the Park celebrated its 5th birthday in 1998 and Robbie Williams stole the show with his first official performance at the event.

1999 – The Manic Street Preachers made their memorable tribute to Glasgow’s King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut from the Main Stage, thanking them for being the first venue to give the band hot food on tour and Robert Carlyle turned up to see Blur, fresh from filming Bond film The World Is Not Enough, in which he played Bond villain Renard.

2000 – A momentous occasion for Travis, who played the first T in the Park as an unsigned band and this year closed the Main Stage. Relatively unknown bands Coldplay and Toploader performed on the King Tut’s stage.

2001 – This is the year that Noel Gallagher came to hang out, and ended up taking Stage Two by surprise when he joined Paul Weller for an impromptu acoustic set.

2002 – Nine years after playing mid bill in the King Tut’s Tent, Oasis returned to headline the Main Stage on Saturday, while Nicole Appleton challenged Bobby Gillespie to a dance off at the side of the stage.

2003 – T in the Park’s 10th birthday – Backstage resembled a zoo as the Super Furry Animals and show - stealers The Flaming Lips added a little animal magic to their sets, with a host of people including Har Mar Superstar dressing up in furry costumes to form the dancing menagerie that joined Wayne Coyne an d co on the Main Stage.

2004 – Just one year after opening the Main Stage, conquering heroes The Darkness returned to close the event after David Bowie had to pull out due to ill health. Snow Patrol arguably delivered the event’s highlight as they headlined the King Tut’s Tent and performed Run in perfect unison with the crowd, leading singer Gary Lightbody to shed a tear as the festival came to a close.

2005 – Green Day flew the flag for the punk contingent, make the years of three fans as they invited them to play on stage, The Futureheads got fans involved in a split crowd sing off during their cover of the iconic track Hounds of Love and backstage Dizzee Rascal and Snoop Dogg were seen indulging in a relaxing pre-set game of crazy golf and basketball under the blazing sunshine.

2006 – Kasabian’s Serge only just made it back in time for their climactic encore, such was his delight at his native Italy being proved victors in the World Cup – and proceeded to play the rest of the band’s set shrouded in his nation’s flag. And surely one of the event’s proudest moment came as The Who’s Pete Townsend declared from the Main Stage “This has been the best festival experience ever. You guys have been better than Woodstock or the Isle of Wight festival”.

2007 – The biggest year yet saw the campsite capacity increase to 60,000, the festival capacity to 80,000 and the event itself to 3 days. Snow Patrol, who had previously played the event a staggering 8 times since their T Break appearance in 1997, closed the festival and gave fellow T in the Park veterans Biffy Clyro a massive shout out as they encouraged the audience to join them in an ear shattering chorus of ‘Mon the Biffy’.

2008 – T’s 15th birthday saw 180 acts take to 12 stages over 3 days and Ian Brown went on to give his performance a certain Scottish flavour when he was joined in King Tut’s Wah Wah Tent by a bagpiper, shouting “Scotland, I love you back” as fans repeatedly chanted his name.

2009 – Another memorable moment came when the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were joined on stage by the East Kilbride Pipe Band. Five bagpipers and drummers marched onstage during the band’s song Skeleton, adding a swirling Celtic skirl to the performance of the epic ballad, and raising an almighty roar from the Balado crowd.

2010 – Tickets sold out in 90 minutes and Kasabian’s lead singer Tom Meighan dedicated songs to the visionary few who saw the band at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow in 2003, while lead guitarist Serge Pizzorno was a vision in a blinding white suit.

2011 – This year saw the Foo Fighters close the festival in the perfect way – as the final notes of Everlong ran out across the Balado fields, Dave Grohl shared the stage with the solitary T in the Park piper to watch the closing fireworks.

2012 – History was made at T in the Park 2012 as The Stone Roses made their first UK festival appearance of their second coming. A record capacity crowd of 85,000 music lovers per day flocked to Kinross for three days of incredible music.

2013 – The festival’s 20th year festivities were celebrated by over 200 artists, from Mumford & Sons, Rihanna and The Killers to Earth, Wind & Fire and Kraftwerk, all entertaining the legendary T in the Park crowd whilst basking in the glorious sunshine that shone from the Kinross-shire skies.

With an eclectic mix of global superstars, the hottest new talent and musical pioneers, T20th had something for everyone.

2014 – T in the Park bid an emotional farewell to its Balado home in 2014, as Biffy Clyro, Calvin Harris, Arctic Monkeys, Paolo Nutini, Pharrell Williams and more paid tribute to the festival’s much -loved home and gave Balado the send - off it truly deserved. Bye, bye Balado, a brilliant host for the past 18 years.

2015 – Hello Strathallan Castle, a brand new home for T in the Park in 2015!