The day kicked-off with a bang, when X- Factor judge Tulisa took to the main stage to sing two new songs from her debut album. Launching an attack on the ex-lover behind her recent sex tape scandal, she stuck a finger up at the 60,000 strong crowd and invited them to join her in publicly mauling him. 

Professor Green followed Tulisa on the main stage, giving a confident, energetic, and crowd-pleasing performance.

He opened his set by announcing Wireless as the ‘biggest f***** audience’ he’d played to all summer.  His nerves didn’t show as he ferociously rapped his way through a number of chart friendly tracks.   Biggest cheers (and mass audience participation) came for his encore, the No.1 hit and Emeli Sande collaboration, ‘Read All About It’.

Over on the Pepsi Max stage, British singer-songwriter Delilah lived up to recent music press hype.

A striking presence in camouflage jacket and knee-hi dominatrix style boots, she captivated the audience with her soulful and haunting voice.

Heartbreak and versatility framed her set as she stunned the crowd with a track list that compassed a cross of genres such as dub- step, soul, trip- hop, and R&B.

 Her last release, ‘Breathe’,   and the debut single, ‘Go’ (which carries a heavy sample from Chakka Khan’s ‘Ain’t Nobody’), were met with astounding reception.

Labrinth did his best to outshine Delilah, and very nearly succeeded until he was let down by poor sound quality inside the Pepsi Max tent.

An exuberant performer, he carried on regardless, and got the masses bouncing along to the cheery and catchy single ‘ Express Yourself’.

The Hackney-born star turned things down a notch with a beautiful, acoustic version of his debut hit, ‘Let The Sun Shine’.

 A massive crowd hurtle ensued as he launched into the mega selling single‘‘Earthquake’, which concluded a lively but inconsistent set.

Proving you don’t have to sell millions of records to make an impact at a commercial festival, up- and-coming South London soul singer Josh  Osho took to the tiny Bandstand Stage and became the surprise highlight for many.

Blessed with a powerful and silky voice, he also displayed his flair for epic song writing on tracks such as ‘S.O.S’, and ‘Redemption Days’.

A cover of the Alex Clare hit ‘Too Close’, went down a storm with the younger crowd, and worked exceptionally well in acoustic format.

As the rain started to pour down, the Wireless crowd waited in anticipation for U.S. hip-hop star and female powerhouse, Nicki Minaj to take to the main stage.

Sporting a typically colourful outfit (and bright blonde wig), she was greeted with a frenzied response. The Wireless crowd just couldn’t get enough of the eccentric performer and her foul-mouthed banter. From firing a dry- ice gun into the crowd, to performing hits such as ‘Moment 4 Life’, ‘Starships’ , and ‘Superbass’, she proved to be festival gold and kept the damp punters smiling through the rain.

Deafening screams were heard all over Hyde Park as headliner Drake took to the stage.

The charismatic rapper was completely at ease with his huge audience(who were gradually getting wetter and wetter as heavy rain set in), revealing that ‘London is like a second home’, and requesting that they chant along with his rhyme: ‘ I don’t give a f*** about the rain tonight cos I’m here to watch Drake go insane tonight’.

His adoring fans responded immediately and sang along to the short bursts of rapping at the start of the set.

Drake performed two storming collaborations- ‘Crew Love’, with The Weekend, and ‘Make Me Proud’ with Nicki Minaj.

Racing through rap numbers, ‘She Will, and Headliners and Practice, Drake’s vocals shone through on his slower, R&B tracks- sounding smooth and effortless.

The obvious encore had to be -and was, the Rihanna duet, ‘Take Care’.  The Barbadian superstar didn’t appear in person but her vocals were sampled throughout the track.

She closes the festival tomorrow and is sure to successfully round off a fierce, dance-tastic Wireless 2012.

Photos courtesy of Wireless Festival

Waking up to pouring rain I was not discouraged for the day ahead, driving through the rain I was not discouraged, but sitting in the car park, putting on layers upon layers of waterproofs, waiting hopelessly for the rain to stop I will admit, I was not feeling awfully enthusiastic. Today, Scotland was living up to it's reputation for hideous weather. Prepared with two jumpers, a water proof jacket and the infamous waterproof poncho, I felt I could conquer this rain. Oh how wrong I was.

I'm only grateful that the first act I saw was worth standing in the rain for. Enter Shikari will smash, trample and burn on any genre you place them in. They have a unique sound that intertwines upbeat dance samples and post-hardcore metal breakdowns which leaves you with a sort of happy-hardcore. Front man Rou Reynolds is not only a great vocalist but has a sense of humour when performing by dancing along to the upbeat parts. Their "Sorry you're not a winner" single from their debut studio album Take To The Skies is still a favourite with fans, the song features three claps at the beginning which the crowd took full responsibility for. They then continued to sing along with vocalist Rou Reynolds during their set. Enter Shikari have transformed and improved since their first album, continuing to surprise and impress years on and with live performances like this it is no wonder why they had such an impressive and committed crowd. They give it their all, providing an unforgettable high energy show.

Walking around the arena there was definitely a buzz for Jessie J's performance hours before it had even started and her performance displayed why. Not only did she display her vocal range remarkably but interacting with her band, the crowd and the television cameras made her performance that much more entertaining, she knows exactly how to please an audience whether they be in the crowd or watching from home. Jessie J has such a powerful voice, even when experimenting with different pitches she always stays in tune offering a startling performance. Shouting "I'm going to make you really warm" Jessie with all her smash hits and a rendition of Luther Vandross "Never Too Much" definitely gave the crowd something to dance along to. Closing with "Domino" the crowd certainly made Scotland proud, fighting through the awful weather and enjoying her performance fully.

The Stone Roses were headlining the Main Stage to T in the Park's Saturday evening and rightfully so. Although being in their peek in the early 90's songs from all of their albums have continued to circulate over the years, even after they split up, meaning that the crowd was not just full of Mum and Dad's reminiscing their wild years but contained younger generations there to celebrate their music. This band do not need to have dancers in skimpy outfits or huge laser lights cutting through the night sky, them playing in front of a backdrop showing all their old music videos was enough to capture the attention of the huge crowd. They were chilled, laid back and let their music do the talking. As it should be some may argue? I'll let you decide.

David Guetta returned to T in the Park this year after an explosive set two years ago, now given a larger stage area and more room for the crowd to dance it was already sounding promising. You could see David Guetta's lights from the other side of the arena, drawing crowds in to see him perform. Having seen him two years previous, for me he had set himself a standard bar and the question was, would he surpass it? Unfortunately I would say no, although his set was phenomenal and the atmosphere in the crowd was overwhelming I was let down by the lack of his own material. However I would say, his set is worth a watch on the BBC Highlights.

Leaving David Guetta's set early I stumbled across Sub Focus's set on the Transmissions stage, still of a similar genre to David Guetta, he offered something less commercialised with a lot more bass, and this is how I ended my Saturday T in the Park 2012 experience, with ears pounding, how it should be done.

Check out photos from Friday @ T in the Park
Check out photos from Saturday @ T in the Park
Check out photos from Sunday @ T in the Park
 

Walking in to the main arena the Kaleidoscope Club is the first tent to be seen, inside I found a group of street dancers performing to a small crowd. A crowd of ten men spinning on their heads later joined by the DJ, was definitely not the welcome I was expecting from T in the Park this year. Within five minutes of entering the site I find something new and exciting that had never been done in previous years and with only one reported arresting so far, that too was surprising. It seem T in the park is on the up, I just hope I'm continued to be surprised over the weekend.

I will admit, singing along to "I predict a riot" always made me feel that little bit cool, as if somewhere, deep, deep down I had a dangerous hidden streak but apart from that, I never have been that great a fan of the Kaiser Chiefs, that is until I heard them live. Oh, those boys can play, and can vocalist Ricky Wilson sing (probably why he was offered a coaching job on hit show "The Voice"!). At one point I also thought Ricky Wilson may have been a good contender for the GB team in this years Olympics judging by the amount of running back and forward he was doing. Putting aside the impressive stamina displayed by Ricky Wilson during the band's performance I believe the band's recorded songs play down how good they really are, I was extremely impressed by their live performance.

I did take time to celebrate the T, to the T in the Park (Tennents). Having a wee wander around the arena I saw the usual festival sights; collapsed drunk persons, noodles in mud, 6ft Smurfs, chips in mud, men urinating with poise and delicacy against peeling advertisement boards, all in all Scotland's finest!

Now, it is not because I had a cup of Tennents or because this gentleman is in fact VERY good looking in person, but Labrinth's set was brilliant. In between jumping around the stage and singing I lost count how many instruments he played. Album songs are not usually the highlight to anyone's performance but Labrinth's certainly made his more atmospheric, holding the standard of quality, very high, throughout every song he played. It was refreshing to see that an artist in the charts today, actually has his level of talent.

I did go see Example but well, he really is not worth the time I'm taking to type out this small review of his performance, he already stole precious minutes of my life I will never get back. He's well known for mocking artists that mime, but maybe he should follow in their footsteps because he really was awful.

Now, Florence and the Machine, I'm sure everyone has watched her perform live at some point, therefore there is not much I can say that hasn't already been said. Her angelic voice drew in one of the largest crowds of today so far, and it is no surprise why. She captured the crowd with her stunning voice and put on, as always, a phenomenal show.

Professor Green, having been delayed getting to T in the park apologised profusely to the crowd in his own witty way, the T in the park crowd held no grudges after he followed his apology with "there will be plenty more flights to Glasgow but only one T in the park 2012". He then proceeded to blow the crowd away. You could see when singing his songs, he was singing you the words, his performance seemed more personal than other artists I had seen so far (how you can do "personal" with lyrics like "Saw a chick walk in with a big behind, Now I'm stalking my victim out" I will never know, but he managed it.) An amazing performer, one I would not hesitate to go see again!

Having Tinie Tempah on after Professor Green, on the same stage was awfully nice of the organizers, no trekking to the other side of the arena! You could tell from Tinie's entrance that he was ready to put on a good performance, and that he did. He seemed impressed with the Scottish crowd, grinning as they sang all his songs back to him. His pretty sparkly microphone and cool patchwork leather jacket certainly took no attention away from his performance, he held the stage well with his presence alone, playing hit after hit pleasing the huge crowd that had come to see him.

Finally I sneaked away early to catch the end of The Blackout's set and I'm glad I did. Those Welsh men can put on a performance! Possibly not to everyone's music taste, which is okay but if  you were to see them live you would undoubtedly have to appreciate their showmanship, in between their songs they communicated with the crowd like no other artist I had seen today had done, they thanked the crowd for coming, and it seemed more sincere than the odd "cheers for coming" you seem to get from some of the bigger artists. The two vocalists Sean Smith and Gavin Butler meshed well together, especially when they suggested to the crowd they make the most of the heavy security they were given. Without further hesitation the crowd turned in to a whirlpool of mosh pits and I counted at least 16 of the audience crowd surfing and having to be pulled out by security. Revealing new songs they have been working on over the last few months, The Blackout have the capability to go far, and I really hope they do. Their high energy performance gave the perfect ending to my Friday of T in the Park 2012.

Check out photos from Friday @ T in the Park
Check out photos from Saturday @ T in the Park
Check out photos from Sunday @ T in the Park