T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused Balado airfield, Perth and Kinross, from 1997 to 2014. In 2015 the festival moved to Strathallan Castle. It was originally held over two days, and extended to three days from 2007. In 2016 the daily capacity was 70,000.
The 2017 T in the Park was cancelled due to problems at the 2016 event. It was officially replaced with the TRNSMT festival which takes place on the same weekend at Glasgow Green. The 2017 festival was a success and further editions of TRNSMT followed in 2018 and 2019. In July 2019, the festival organiser, Geoff Ellis, confirmed that T in the Park would not be returning.
History The festival was founded in 1994 by Stuart Clumpas and Geoff Ellis, as part of a joint venture between DF Concerts and Tennent's Lager with some help from Irish promotions company MCD Productions. Stuart Clumpas left as an organiser in 2001, selling his commercial interests in the concert.
Festival director Geoff Ellis was involved from the start until the end. Ellis came to Scotland in 1992 to manage King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow. He organised the first T in the Park festival in 1994 with a smattering of bands playing to 17,000 people at its original site at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire. The festival was held there for three years until 1997, where it was held at the disused Balado airfield, Perth and Kinross. After moving to Balado the festival grew larger and by 2003, the festival was attracting up to 255,000 people; 110,000 over the weekend.
The festival was originally a two-day event until 2007, when the Friday became a mainstay event for live music. However, the 2007 festival was criticised by many festival-goers who missed acts on the Friday due to huge traffic jams of 10 miles on the A91 and A977 leading to Kinross. To prevent a repeat of the traffic chaos, in 2008 organisers allowed a limited number of campers to pitch up on the Thursday in order to cut the number of cars on the roads on the Friday. By extending the festival over a full three days, it began to grow rapidly, becoming the second-largest greenfield festival in the United Kingdom, and the fifth-largest in the world in terms of attendance, with over 85,000 people on site every day. In 2013 it attracted up to 255,000 people over three days, drawing fans from across Britain and Europe. According to DF Concerts, 20% of the crowd was made up of visitors from outside Scotland, with about 2% attending from overseas. In later years the festival shared much of its line-up with Oxegen, a festival that takes place on the same weekend in County Kildare, Ireland. Acts usually played T in the Park one day and Oxegen the next, or vice versa. In an attempt to boost ticket sales, the 2014 festival saw an extension of the acts' duration on stage. On the Friday, the acts were scheduled to start around lunchtime as opposed to 5 pm; and the Saturday headliners to finish at 1 am.
Move from Balado to Strathallan The 2014 festival was the last to take place at the Balado site. Despite having run on the same site since 1997, safety concerns were expressed about the Forties Pipeline, which runs directly underneath the former Balado airfield.
In 2015 the festival moved 20.54 miles to the Strathallan Castle Estate. The 2016 event was marred by the deaths of three festival-goers and reports of anti-social behaviour problems at the campsite. This led festival bosses to cancel the 2017 event and, ultimately, all future T in the Park festivals.
Brewing Tennents Lager for the T in the Park weekend was specially brewed 36 hours before the festival at the Wellpark Brewery in Glasgow, 44 miles from Balado. More than 3 million pints of lager were consumed at the festival during its existence.
A container recycling scheme was introduced in 2006, refunding a 10p deposit on every pint container brought back to a designated recycling point.
1994 festival The first T in the Park was held on Saturday 30 July – Sunday 31 July 1994 at Strathclyde Country Park. The site had a capacity for 17,000 people on each of the two days, with just 2000 choosing to camp.
The Caledonia Stage, was introduced to showcase up and coming new bands. A band called Glass Onion played over the weekend who would later become Travis.
Main stage Saturday 30 July Sunday 31 July Rage Against the Machine Björk Levellers Cypress Hill Crash Test Dummies Chumbawamba Yothu Yindi Consolidated Honky Paul Oakenfold Primal Scream Del Amitri Teenage Fanclub Crowded House The Saw Doctors Gun Grant Lee Buffalo Aimee Mann – pulled out Baby Chaos
King Tut's Tent Saturday 30 July Sunday 31 July Blur Manic Street Preachers Pulp James Taylor Quartet S*M*A*S*H Headswim The Grid Kerbdog AC Acoustics D:Ream House of Pain One Dove Whiteout Oasis Mike Peters Thrum Tiny Monroe
1995 festival Was held on Saturday 5 August – Sunday 6 August 1995 at Strathclyde Country park. This was the first year there was a sell out on one of the days. Noel Gallagher joined Paul Weller on stage, while Kermit from the Black Grape had broken his ankle earlier in the day but refused to go to hospital instead performed with the rest of the band whilst sitting down on the stage.
The Dance Tent was introduced this year, but no official line was used, it became the Slam Tent in 1997.
Main stage Saturday 5 August Sunday 6 August Paul Weller Therapy? Terrorvision The Prodigy Black Grape Gene Dodgy The Wildhearts Cancelled, replaced with The Almighty. Skunk Anansie M People The Beautiful South Kylie Minogue Tricky The Charlatans Shed Seven Marion The Radoos
King Tut's Tent Saturday 5 August Sunday 6 August Elastica Supergrass Echobelly Menswear The Bluetones Ash Powder Corduroy Cast Salad The Verve dEUS The Shamen Underworld Dreadzone Fluke Republica
1996 festival Was held on Saturday 13 July – Sunday 14 July 1996, and was the last time at Strathclyde Country park. The Saturday was a sell out for the first time in advance. Radiohead closed the Main Stage on Saturday night and Pulp closing on the Sunday. This was also the year that Keanu Reeves arrived on a shuttle bus to play the festival with his band Dogstar, and Joe Strummer busked in the campsite
Caledonia Stage was renamed the T Break, where unsigned acts from across Scotland were given a platform to showcase their music at T in the Park. Each year, a panel made up of music industry experts hand-picked 16 artists from over a thousand entries to platform.
Main stage Saturday 13 July Sunday 14 July Radiohead Alanis Morissette Prodigy Foo Fighters Space The Jesus Lizard Honeycrack The Supernaturals Cecil Pulp Black Grape Cast Manic Street Preachers Ricky Ross Saw Doctors Barenaked Ladies Shakespeare's Sister Bobbie Bluebell Whipping Boy Placebo
NME Stage Saturday 13 July Sunday 14 July Bluetones Beck Frank Black Mazzy Star The Gyres Northern Uproar 60 Ft Dolls Gorky's Zygotic Mynci Geneva Cocteau Twins Teenage Fanclub Dogstar Bis The Wannadies Mansun Super Furry Animals Fluffy Urusei Yatsura
Dance Tent Saturday 13 July Sunday 14 July Leftfield DJ: David Holmes Chemical Brothers Dave Clarke The Aloof Definition Of Sound Rub-A-Dub DJs Wilba & Martin Lamb DJ: Harri Audioweb DJ: Scott Gibson 4th Dimension DJs: Tony Kean & Murray Scott LTJ Bukem Goldie Lionrock Paul Oakenfold BT Nicolette Earthling DJ: KMC Suga Bullit DJ: KMC J-Pac
King Tut's Tent Saturday 13 July Sunday 14 July The Divine Comedy The Cardigans Lush Heavy Stereo Drugstore Rare Compulsion Crazy Gods Of Endless Noise Mundy The Daisies Afghan Whigs Dubstar Longpigs Ian Mcnabb & The Afterlife Nowaysis No Doubt Kula Shaker Octopus Nut Nilon Bombers
1997 festival In 1997, T in the Park moved from Strathclyde Park to its home for the next 17 years, Balado near Kinross, on a disused Airfield, and was held on Saturday 12 July – Sunday 13 July 1997. This was The Slam Tent's first year, while The campsite grown to over 25,000.
Main stage Saturday 12 July Sunday 13 July The Charlatans Kula Shaker Dodgy Reef G.U.N. The Divine Comedy Republica Apollo 440 Paul Weller Ocean Colour Scene Texas Bush Echobelly Bjorn Again Fun Lovin' Criminals Neneh Cherry The Sirenes
NME Stage Saturday 12 July Sunday 13 July Shed Seven Placebo Longpigs Geneva Sneaker Pimps Travis Jimi Tenor Superstar Arab Strap Feeder The Seahorses Mansun Gene Dreadzone The Supernaturals Catatonia Hurricane # 1 Toaster Rachel Stamp Cake Like
Slam Muzik Tent Saturday 12 July Sunday 13 July Laurent Garnier Daft Punk DJ Sneak Slam (Live) Andrew Weatherall Nightmares On Wax Paul Cawley Olive Jon Carter Carl Cox Bandulu Slam: Stuart McMillan & Orde Meikle Green Velvet DJ Deep Death In Vegas Global Communication Gilles Peterson
Radio 1 Eve Sesh Saturday 12 July Sunday 13 July The Delgados Symposium Monaco Gorky's Zygotic Mynci Subcircus Stereophonics Grass – Show Mogwai Arnold Radish Beth Orton Spearhead Urusei Yatsura Embrace Kenickie AC Acoustics Speedy Bennet Hardbody Snug Delta
1998 festival T In The Park 1998 was held on Saturday 11 July 1998 – Sunday 12 July 1998. Large television screens were used to allow football fans to watch the 1998 World cup final.
Line up included;
Main stage Saturday 11 July Sunday 12 July Prodigy The Seahorses Robbie Williams Space Travis Catatonia JTQ Headswim Martyn Bennett Pulp Beastie Boys Garbage Finley Quaye James Stereophonics Chumbawamba Alabama 3
NME Stage Saturday 11 July Sunday 12 July Ash Spiritualized Super Furry Animals Audioweb Ultrasound Rialto Theaudience Young Offenders Annie Christian Portishead Ian Brown Natalie Imbruglia Bernard Butler The Aloof Asian Dub Foundation The Smiles Scott 4 Medal
Slam Tent Saturday 11 July Sunday 12 July Darren Emerson Plastikman Slam (DJs): Stuart Mcmillan & Orde Meikle Laurent Garnier (Live) Harri Carl Craig's Innerzone Orchestra DJ Crush DJ Q A Tribe Called Quest Fabio & Grooverider Propellerheads DJ Touche Red Snapper Monkey Mafia Phar Out DJs Invisible Armies
Radio 1 Eve Sesh Saturday 11 July Sunday 12 July Bentley Rhythm Ace Lo Fidelity Allstars Warm Jets Arab Strap Montrose Ave Idlewild Campag Velocet Dandys Cornershop Fatboy Slim Symposium Unbelievable Truth Money Mark 60 ft Dolls Gomez Carrie Regular Fries
1999 festival It was held on Saturday 10 July 1999 and Sunday 11 July 1999, with 50,000 people per day. Two days before, it was revealed few tickets were still available for the Sunday performances.
Main stage Saturday 9 July Sunday 10 July Blur Stereophonics The Beautiful South Fun Lovin' Criminals Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros Faithless 3 Colours Red The Amphetameanies Manic Street Preachers Massive Attack James Placebo Reef Barenaked Ladies Eagle Eye Cherry Remy Zero
Stage 2 Saturday 9 July Sunday 10 July Gomez Shed Seven Travis Rae & Christian Lamb Regular Fries Ooberman The Jengaheads (DJs) Boom Boom Mancini Happy Mondays Bjorn Again Gay Dad Everlast The Saw Doctors Dot Allison Younger Younger 28's Muse Merz
Slam Tent Saturday 9 July Sunday 10 July Jeff Mills Richie Hawtin Aka Plastikman (Dex, Fx And A 909) Luke Slater (Live) Slam's "Pressure Funk" Basement Jaxx DJ Sneak Slam (DJs): Stuart Mcmillan & Orde Meikle Silicone Soul Fat Boy Slim (DJ) Carl Cox Green Velvet (Live) Cassius (Mix) Marco Carola Ian Pooley (Live) Harri Roots Freddy Fresh Paul Cawley (Fenetik)
King Tut's Tent Saturday 9 July Sunday 10 July Mogwai Death In Vegas Bis The High Fidelity Chicks Surreal Madrid Doves Rico Witness Mercury Rev Idlewild Delgados Deus Darkstar Indian Ropeman Stroke Bellatrix