Moby

T in the Park 2000 review

Following the tragic events of Roskilde it is sensibly that Moby is moved to the top of the bill on the main stage on Saturday evening from the Stage 2 tent that, judging from the size of the audience, would have been far too small. Most of the people with day passes that we spoke to seemed to be here for Moby and given the phenomenal success he has had with Play and the increasingly critical acclaim for his live act, that is unsurprising.

Before Moby comes on stage Stuart Clumpas - the T promoter - appears; "Everyone who comes to a music festival expects to go home at the end. In respect of those who died last weekend I ask for a minutes silence". One minute. Silence.

Moby then appears to a very excited welcome from a large crowd. Is there anyone who doesn't know all the songs from Play? So much have they been played in so many different circumstances that we felt we own them. They are beautiful though, and live there is no disappointment whatsoever. All the favourites are given full justice with Moby contributing vocals, lead guitar and percussion whenever the opportunity arises and when he's not running and bouncing around the stage with amazing amounts of energy. Porcelain, Bodyrock (Moby playing guitar and bongos), Honey, Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad, and "the ultimate love song" Feeling So Real are all big hits with the crowd. These and other Play tracks are mixed in with the James Bond Theme Tune 'a la Moby', the classic Go, betraying his techno roots, which receives an enormous roar of approval.

Moby is an awesome performer. I don't know if it was the rain but having seen him perform this set a few times he wasn't as passionate as I have seen him (Glastonbury in particular). Perhaps the speed with which he says 'thank you thank you thank you' after every track is the sign of how psyched up he is and in that case this time it was quite slow. But whatever, I am splitting hairs and judging different levels of excellence and the T crowd were certainly lapping it up. The finale saw Moby rip his shirt off and wind the crowd up as he stands on his synth and assumes the position for the shortest dance track ever.

Consensus seemed to be that Moby was the pick of the bunch on Saturday and we won't argue with that.