There had been fears that the return of T in the Park to Balado at Kinross last weekend would be overshadowed by the weather and worries over traffic arrangements following problems last year.

But in the end the rain stayed away and the sun shone for most of Scotland's biggest music festival, which attracted more than 80,000 fans in its 15th year.

Sadly, the death of one young camper and the brutal stabbing of another provided the wrong kind of headlines on Sunday.

But in the end music triumphed as the predominantly good natured music fans enjoyed one massive party, with one of the best line-ups in recent years and plenty highlights to remember.

FLOODING

Organisers made several changes to T in the Park after bad weather and mud last year led to traffic problems and flooding in car parks.

As well as opening the campsite up on Thursday for the first time, they put in place more staff and encouraged revellers to use public transport.

The party started on Friday evening with recently reformed The Verve headlining the main stage, bringing 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' to the masses.

The show included old favourites such as 'The Drugs Don't Work' and 'History'. Early in the set, Ashcroft declared the T in the Park crowd to be the "greatest on earth".

LEGENDARY

The Chemical Brothers brought one of their legendary audio-visual displays to the Radio 1 NME stage, whilst Welsh rockers the Stereophonics and St Andrews-raised KT Tunstall went down a storm, setting the bar high for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday saw the likes of Eddy Grant, Gun and The Stranglers put on top performances through the afternoon with Rage Against the Machine bringing the main stage to a thunderous climax.

Kaiser Chiefs rocked the NME stage whilst Irish rogues, The Pogues and former Stone Rose Ian Brown brought their own manic finale to King Tut's Wah Wah Tent.

Into Sunday, and festival favourites Shed Seven put on a welcome early performance on the main stage, while talking points included Amy Winehouse and 'Will she, won't she?'

Last year the troubled star didn't turn up to due 'exhaustion', but this year she got arguably one of the biggest crowds of the weekend, putting on a show worthy of the main stage.

Another Amy, Scots singer songwriter Amy MacDonald belted out hits such as Poison Prince and Mr Rock and Roll.

The 20-year-old from Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, told the crowd it felt "surreal" to be on the main stage, having performed at the T Break tent this time last year.

SHOWCASE

Some of the smaller stages also gave a great showcase for a number of local up and coming bands over the weekend with the likes of State of Affairs and Sergeant from Fife and Luva Anna, The Hazey Janes and The Law from Dundee reaching out to a whole new audience.

But it was the seasoned big guns that brought the festival to its finale with headliners REM and Kings of Leon rocking the main stage.

On the NME stage, The Prodigy proved again that they are 'Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned', with dancer and vocalist Keith Flint and MC Maxim still proving they can put on one of the most incredible live dance acts around some 17 years after the release of their first single, Charly.

TRADITIONAL

Anyone looking for 1990s nostalgia was also well served in King Tut's with The Charlatans and Primal Scream bringing matters to a close ahead of the tradional piper and fireworks which signalled the end of the festivities for another year.

No sooner had the curtain gone down on the festival, than organisers DF Concerts announced that all the early bird tickets for the 2009 event were snapped up in just 10 hours on Tuesday, meaning that half of the tickets for next year are already sold out even before a single artist has been confirmed!