11th July 1998 T In The Park, Balado Park, Kinross, Scotland

Main Stage lineup:
Prodigy
The Seahorses
Robbie Williams
Space
Travis
Catatonia
JTQ
Headswim

Review by No Man Army:
We drove up to scotland in the morning, and arrived at Edinburgh busstation about 10:00am. Radio One warned of heavy rain and bad weather, but it was bone dry so far, with a beautifully clear July sky. My mate Ian andI caught the bus after a wait of about half an hour, which wasn’t that bad really ‘cos my mum (who drove us up) weighed us down with all sorts of food and crap, and about 3 cans of pepsi max each. Luckily, we were both kitted out in combat trousers so we were equipped for this problem. All the other people on the bus were scottish, and drinking beer and smoking weed all the way, which was worriying at first (‘cos we were only two young Englishlads going to my first festival and Ians second)   but they were cool and really freindly.

There were massive qeues for tickets on the day but we bought our s well in advance and we hardly got searched. First stop was the bogs (toilets) because we realised on the bus we couldn’t take cans in – it said so on the ticket, so we drank them all up pretty fast. Next, we looked at the shops and went in the “Muzik” Tent (a dance magazine sponsered tent), for our first experience of live outdoor dance music – it was some shitty DJ neither of us heard of, so we continued to explore, trying the rest of the tents and watching the skateboarders on the ramps

First Band we saw was “TheAudience” (no gaps in the name, not a typo)  in theNME tent, and we watched them for all of 2 seconds before losing interestand heading of to the shops we had yet to visit. We watched about a minute of travis as we checked out the main stage, and then we found a really cool spot near the front, as we waited for Catatonia, who aren’t really my cupof tea but entertaining enough. The crowd began to get denser now, but it was still sunny so we were happy. Next up was Space, and they were same ascatatonia: I wouldnt buy it but I didn’t run away.

Now, at this point the crowd was suddenly mainly squealing teenage girls – it was bloody robbie williams. This was really shitty but I didnt want to lose any ground so we just moved with the crowd. Then were the Seahorses: they were pathetic, worse band so far. Absolutely pants. The lead singer also swore in my general direction, down the front. What a tit he was.

We waited, and waited as the Prodigy road crew readied the stage. Crystalmethod was among the warm up tunes blazing out, and I was nodding my head along to the beats and someone asked, “Ere, are you stoned mate?” to which I could only deny, saying “No, man, just into it.” Its always cool waiting for the Prodigy, you can talk to any one in the crowd, theres always areally cool vibe and atmosphere, before after and during the gig.

It was just starting to get dark, and I’d seen Gizz Butt beside the stage, with his wife soon to be, when some guy walked on the stage with black hair, baggy pedal pushers and silky – style shirt….after a couple of seconds of braindeadedness, I finally managed to ignite my cranium, and suddenly release that in front of me was the greatest musical maestro ever – a certain shy essex b – boy by the name of Howlett. Cool. At about the sametime, the rest of the crowd realised who it was too as he purpose fully strode towards the banks of equipment screaming to be used. The live drummer, Kieron Pepper of Realtv came on right behind him, taking his place at the drum kit on the right. The vibe was pulsating with anticipation now, so eager aand excited it hurt.

The screams and shouts of excitement were suddenly overwhelmingly drownedout as Liam began, starting off with a sample of from Run DMC, soonfollowed by Rock N’ Roll. Maxim came on stage as the dying intro finished, testing the Mic and then asking how we were. This was good, because I was fully expecting them to start with Smack My Bitch Up again like at newcastle, so once again prodigy do what you don’t expect (well, I don’tknow about anyone else but I wasn’t expecting it).

Here is the set list,from what I can remember.. Intro (Run DMC)Rock N’ RollDiesel PowerTheir LawBreatheMindfieldsSerial Thrilla Funky ShitVoodoo PeoplePoisonSmack My Bitch UpFuel My FireNow, this isn’t totally accurate (the runnig order may be slightly awry),but I know for sure ALL these songs were played, just towards the end you tend to get tired……you know how it is.
Keith looked cool as usual, with very torn pedal pushers, the kneepads -and denim jacket number, and Leeroy wore skate trousers and sleeveless top- thing. Maxim wore the same very very baggy trousers, long silk shirt and snowboard boots seen in the photos section of this very site (last time I looked). When it got really dark, towards the end of the set, there were these massive searchlights behind the stage, sweeping the sky, which made it seem really….cool. Well, there is no other way to describe it. Justindescribably cool.

After the band walked off (before fuel my fire) the crowd were deafening, the buzz was great. I think I fell over and I was so tired I didn’t evenbother getting up till this guy saw me and hauled me out by the scruff of the neck (unwritten crowd rule number 1 – if you see someone in the moshpitin trouble ie. sparked out on the floor or vomiting blood help them out as best you can).When the set finally finished, i walked back a bit and sort of collapsed on the floor smiling at everyone like some loved up hippy – people must’ve thought I was on drugs or something. However I quickly got cold as the skywas clear and I was sweaty, so I had to keep moving. Ian and I had arranged to meet at a water station place, which is were I headed and spent Ł2 ontwo bottles of mineral water that tasted oh so good..I was lying on the floor looking at stars and generally drinking faster than is possible when Ian found me again so off we began to make our way tothe bus pick – up point to make our way back to Edinburgh, tired as ****and extremely happy.

Gizz Butt:  “I couldn’t believe the bad reviews of T In The Park. I reckon we did a really good gig, but the press slated us, just because we didn’t do any new stuff.”