A MASSING throng of more than 60,000 bodies made their way through the many entrances to Strathclyde Country Park over the two-day T in the Park festival at the weekend.
At the end, they queued to leave the park with irises that implied chemical highs and limbs which ached with dancing.
A dreich Saturday's low-key crowd threw off their glum faces along with their excess layers of clothing when the sun came out yesterday.
The main story of Sunday was the hunt for Keanu Reeves - American pretty-boy movie star and sometime bassist of a previously unknown band called Dogstar. Masses of photographers and hacks covered every available airport and helipad in the West of Scotland.
Eventually, Reeves arrived in the obligatory helicopter, thwarting all the tabloids' best efforts by making his way to the hospitality tent and giving impromptu monosyllabic statements to the waiting and adoring hordes. Reeves then refused to be photographed at all during Dogstar's performance.
He would only say of the festival: ``This festival is really, like, so festive.''
On the British celebrity front, minor soap stars from EastEnders were overshadowed by the impromptu appearance of Julia Carling. On the day the Sundays pictured Princess Diana crying over her #17m divorce settlement, Mrs Carling looked content enough enjoying the myriad of bands.
Probably the best spectator sport of the weekend was watching the ingenious attempts of non-ticket holders to gain access. At intervals, a plethora of luminous-waistcoated security guards could be seen chasing the odd reveller who had managed to scale the wire fence and wooden walls to give them an unexpected exit.
At around 9pm on Saturday, a horde of Lanarkshire's Buckfast boys made a mass attempt at scaling the walls surrounding the park. The crowd-handling skills of Strathclyde's finest managed to keep the invaders at bay.
Strathclyde Police confirmed 52 arrests on Saturday, and 20 more up to 8pm last night. The arrests were largely for minor public order offences.
The weekend went largely without technical hitches, with the exception of Saturday's dance tent - which was so crowded that it was more of a standing tent. Technical problems forced normally faceless techno-DJs to take to the mike to apologise for the lack of the sound system's volume.
Last year's stars of T in the Park, The Prodigy, who provide the acceptable face of testosterone techno, seemed to fail to please the crowd.
However, the biggest question of the day was: can Keanu play bass? By far the majority of the revellers crowded the NME tent to seek the answer. The small tent could not accommodate the sheer number who tried to see if the movie star had another talent, so they compromised by ripping off the side of the tent in a futile attempt to see Reeves play.
Elsewhere in the park, those who had had enough of music contented themselves with body piercing, hydroponic plant growth, and a vast array of food tents - for those off the traditional fare of beefburger, there were venison burgers and noodles.
At around 8pm on Sunday, Blur, obviously aware that the Gallagher brothers would fail to show, arrived at the festival. Caught underneath the ubiquitous T in your face logo, they sullenly refused to comment on the festival.
Down to a T16
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