Giant Drag are a big hit.
With the album 'Hearts and Unicorns' being one of this writer's favourite albums of the year so far, hopes were high for Giant Drag's performance at T in The Park and thankfully there was no disappointment. The Californian duo have a reputation for some interesting live shows, with lead vocalist Annie Hardy being known to have an erratic behaviour about her at times.
That said, there was an air of humility about her throughout the set, almost childlike in her thanks and praise which was strongly set off by the band's at times crude titles and chat. Hardy had already made reference to how the festival should be renamed Pee in The Park due to the amount of men she saw urinating against fences around the backstage area. She should think herself lucky that she wasn't out in the Main Arena.
The cover of Chris Isaak's 'Wicked Game' was prefaced with a funny intro and the song works superbly well in the middle of the set, retaining the haunting side of the original but moving it away from the polished sheen and giving it a rough edge. Hardy's vocals excel on this track and you can almost feel she believes the pain of the track.
Their own tracks weren't that shabby either with 'You Fuck Like My Dad' appearing early on and perking the crowd to life and 'This Isn't It' with its nagging and repeated vocals worming its way into the listeners mind. The vocals really were clear and crisp and carried a light air to them.
Just as everything was going great for Giant Drag, a power cut sabotaged their set and threatened to derail the good work they had put in. Thankfully, they managed a final song and 'Kevin is Gay' closed brilliantly, with its 'Tomorrow Never Knows' esque drumming, there was a happy ending to the tale that Giant Drag bestowed upon an expecting crowd.
With a new song impressing greatly with its upbeat tempo and big sound, hopefully there will be a lot more to come from Giant Drag in the future.