"YOUR town is dragging me down, " sing The Beautiful South. The tart lyrics, nevertheless, are disguised by sugar-coated melodies as Paul Heaton (right) and company lead the crowd at the main stage into the first singalong of the day.
Joss Stone provides a sharp contrast.
She may be the Top Shop of soul music, but the crowd loves her from the moment she takes to the stage with the brass-swollen Supa Dupa Love. A jazz-funk version of a White Stripes tune shows she has nerve.
Solidly assembled from the remains of defunct metal band Rage Against The Machine and Soundgarden, Audioslave's songs probably carry the most sonic weight at this year's rock-heavy T in the Park. But they achieve unmatchable impact when they go back to the old Rage classic Killing In The Name, an anthem for whatever you happen to be rebelling against.
Singalong tune of the day is Mr Brightside from Las Vegas's The Killers, probably the best of their incredibly popular neo-romantic disco-rock bubblegum anthems."I'm going to melt my pants when they play Mr Brightside, '' says one admirer. They do, and he does.
Keane by contrast are unlikely rock stars, but those anthemic songs and baby-faced frontman Tom Chaplin's plaintive yet confident tenor stir the main stage crowd nonetheless.
The trio even get a shout from the Foo Fighters - but everyone knows Dave Grohl is the nicest man in rock.
King Tut's Wah Wah Tent headliner, godfather of soul James Brown, turns out also to be the godfather of time wasting. A full 45 minutes late, he takes to the stage. Sex Machine, Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, I Feel Good, stretches the tent to beyond capacity. Sadly, though, this is James Brown on autopilot; keen to hog the limelight, take the money, and leave his hard-working band to do all the work.
Fellow old geezers New Order turned 50 this year. Front-man Bernard Sumner, looks like a granny, and Peter Hook doesn't hold his bass down quite as low-slung as he used to. Younger pretenders have been ripping off their sound, and doing a pretty good job of it, which they acknowledge by inviting The Killers' singer Brandon Flowers on stage.
But somehow these old men manage to turn the Radio 1/NME stage into an entirely credible dance floor. After dedicating their classic Joy Division mood-peace Atmosphere to the city of London, they proceed to work all their best songs into outstanding house stompers.
As the sun goes down, Balado resembles Ibiza.
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