This weekend, many of you will be packing your tent, your wellies and your hangover remedies for the annual trip to Balado. For most, this means that you’ve got the weekend off.
Spare a thought for the performers and the staff though, they’re still working!
For the performers, playing music at T in the Park probably feels like a lot more fun than the jobs that they had previously…
When Calvin Harris stacked shelves with tins instead of gold discs
Actually, we say “When Calvin Harris stacked shelves”, but really what we mean is when Adam Wiles used to stack shelves. That’s Calvin Harris’s real name and the one he was still going by when he was working shifts in his local Marks and Spencer in Dumfries.
These days? Well, with an estimated fortune of £30m he can probably get through his headline set at T in the Park without being distracted by fears of ending up back on the shop floor anytime soon.
Check the art cupboard for Mr Ricky Wilson
For a rock star, Ricky Wilson always came across as a very nice young man on The Voice. This niceness really came through when he described his motivation for going into teaching: “I thought I’d change those kids’ lives”. Unfortunately, this enthusiasm ended “by the afternoon” of his first day in the job.
How did he cope with pursuing a career in music while still being employed as a teacher? “I’d be on tour with the Ordinary Boys and if anyone asked they’d [the 18 year-olds he was teaching] say I was in the art cupboard.”
Who says young people today aren’t as helpful as they used to be?
Paolo Nutini avoided being a chip off the old block
For many of us in Scotland, the dream job is a toss-up between working in a chip shop or touring the world as a famous singer. Few get to choose between the two but Paolo Nutini is one of that lucky number.
Growing up, he’d help out in his family’s chip shop in Paisley and was expecting to one day take the reins. Fate, exceptional song writing skills and a gravelly voice that belied his youth meant he took a different path. Perhaps he’ll turn up with his own food van at Balado just to keep his hand in?
Inspiral Carpets – an Oasis of employment
Manchester veterans Inspiral Carpets will be appearing on the Radio 1 stage at the festival this year, but they’re unlikely to have the same guitar tech with them as they did in the late 1980s.
Noel Gallagher originally auditioned to replace the band’s departing lead singer Steve Holt… he lost out on that role but did end up touring with the band as a roadie.
Don’t expect to see him in the wings re-stringing guitars this time around.
The multi-skilled Alex Kapranos
During his early days in music, Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos still needed other work to keep the pennies rolling in. His jobs during this period included being a chef (working in the same kitchen as Franz Ferdinand’s bass player, Bob Hardy), a delivery driver, a barman and a waiter.
Food has continued to play a large role in his life while touring with Franz Ferdinand too, he wrote a newspaper column on the culinary delights that they were able to sample while travelling the globe.
So, if you’re dreading going back to work after TITP, just remember that even the stars have had normal jobs. Oh, and that you can always find a different job.
Calvin Harris photo by Carlos Delgado, Alex Kapranos photo by Alejandro Navarro Moya, used under Creative Commons license