An Ever Burning Affair: T in the Park and The Divine Comedy

The man's so un-diva in real life you can't help but check yourself when listening to the cutting lyrics under the trademark eloquent crooning.

Feature by Melissa Thomson | 15 Jul 2006
In 1990 a young Neil Hannon dabbled in outdoor festivals for the first time: "I went to see the Happy Mondays and Ride, that I do remember, but vividly my memories are of the fact that I thought it was cold and wet and not a pleasant experience at all. I was quite pleased to go quickly to the other side of the festival… backstage and on stage suits me better."
Okay then. So Neil Hannon doesn't exactly favour the concept of festivals. Yet festivals, T in the Park in particular, love him. It sounds like we've got an ironic and troubled relationship to ponder here, one that could be a character in a Divine Comedy song - how very fitting…

When Hannon first graced the T in the Park main stage in 1997 Something For The Weekend was the highlight in this writer's early festival dabblings, partly because it was wry, dandy-humoured pop and there was nothing else like it in Britpop. Interestingly, it was this season which seemed to give them a fanbase that still remains, as a quick squizz on MySpace testifies. Again, in 2001 he played the King Tuts tent with a slightly different line-up of his ever rotating cast, and as he reflects that he "very bizarrely remembers looking out at tens of thousands singing along to my songs and thinking 'my, I'm bloody Freddie Mercury!'" he laughs at himself with disbelief of his own pop-star status. Bless. The man's so un-diva in real life you can't help but check yourself when listening to the cutting lyrics under the trademark eloquent crooning.

Five years later he's set to play the freshly christened Pet Sounds arena at the same event, where the single Diva Lady from the au courant album 'Victory For The Comic Muse' is the song most likely to ignite new long burning flames in the crowd. The album harks back to the days of the cult classic 'Casanova' (1996) in its humour and characters and Hannon admits when asked how much has changed in his musical direction in the past ten years; "not much actually!" Laying these two albums side by side this rings true, but in between you find the rockier (as dubious as it sounds) Regeneration; the slightly twitch-inducing track National Express; the knock out collaborative shows with classical composer Michael Nyman where jaunty pop is ransacked with beautiful, swooping orchestration; and a pocketful of TV/film soundtracks. It makes you think that he's looked back at this peculiar CV and thought, 'can we just go back to what we were best at?'

It's not often something to brag about if you peddle half-arsed clones of former hits, or something so niche-market that it'll date like bargain bin mince - but no-one ever complained about Peter Kay being funny again, or Lorraine Kelly being nice again, or Tennents being fizzy and refreshing – again. The new album is catchy and touching, with its countryside swing and one eyebrow-raised real life observations gladly bringing back The Divine Comedy that their fans know best.

Festival highlights this year? His answer is genuinely thoughtful and for once devoid of tongue-in-cheek; "Well I really do hope the little fridge backstage has some cans of Guinness… and I'd like to see the Artic Monkeys - I love that they have a love of sharp detail in their lyrics - there's simply not enough funny lyrics these days." New fan or old, if you're at Balado this year swing by to watch how pop does humour - Neil Hannon will show you how it's done.
The Divine Comedy play T in the Park's Pet Sounds Stage on July 8
'Victory For The Comic Muse' is out now. http://www.thedivinecomedy.com