Dean McAdam's verdict: 3 stars
Even with a chill wind blowing, the sun shone on Frightened Rabbit as they performed for the first time on a main stage at T in the Park since they were formed almost a decade ago. Whilst unable to fully assert their presence on the Radio 1 stage, they did not act like rabbits caught in the headlights.
Instead the boys from the Borders seemed to revel in their surroundings, with lead singer Scott Hutchison demonstrating real enthusiasm and genuine humility for their place at Scotland's largest music festival. Their indie-rock style is easy on the ear; less so however is Hutchison's overtly-colloquial vocal performance, a trait unfortunately familiar with many current Scottish bands.
A noisy and strong start is achieved through Living in Colour, with Grant Hutchison's hammering drum beats particularly prominent, leading the way for a successful introduction. Swim Until You Can't See Land involved, at the lead Hutchison's prompting, a warm-up involving the entire audience holding a note for as long as physically possible, before commencing into his strongest vocal work of the night.
An eclectic atmosphere is created with the entertaining toe-tapper Old Old Fashioned, whilst the band survived a mic-malfunction during Holy, continuing on seconds later in confident fashion.
Whilst Late March, Death March and December's Traditions lack the normal fluency and spark of earlier numbers, the accentuation of colloquialism during the vocals do serve to distract most from what was, in essence, an extremely solid and entirely credible debut performance at T in the Park.
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