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Big Day Out Report
Feb. 4th, 2008 10:03 amDespite only having been out of my cast for three days, I managed to survive this year's Big Day Out. By the end of my night my ankle wasn't giving me any major issues, although my feet, knees and back were all aching like crazy.
I didn't arrive at the Showgrounds until the early afternoon, so I missed the morning acts. Not that there was anything I was especially keen to see before mid-afternoon.
First thing I caught was the last 20 minutes of the Anti-Flag set. I had no desire to see them, but was interested in watching Faker and they were on immediately beforehand. Anti-Flag were kind of hilarious - one of those well-meaning-but-totally-naive politically charged punk groups. They said "fuck" a lot (come to think of it, just about everyone I watched said "fuck" a lot), and yelled at the audience to do things like shaking the hand of the person next to them. It was all very cute. Musically, they kinda sucked.
Faker were okay. They're one of those bands I don't especially love or hate, but I'd heard their live shows were good so I thought I'd check them out. Nothing particularly special - a good degree of energy, the lead singer was charmingly goofy, decent chatter with the crowd and they just seemed like they were really enthusiastic about playing. "Hurricane" was definitely a highlight, but the rest of the show didn't really get me going at all.
After Faker I had a bit of a wander around to look at merch and whatnot before returning to catch Regurgitator. I've seen them 5 times now, and they've still got the knack for putting on a very solid live show. All the new material is pretty weak, but they played a few of the older numbers and still managed to do a really solid job. Hearing "Track 1" again (my favourite song from high school) was a bit of a blast from the past.
Left Regurgitator early to go and watch Battles, who I was very keenly anticipating. I'd heard great things about their live show, and they didn't disappoint at all. They showed some really tremendous levels of energy and very solid cohesion, and the cyclical catchiness of Mirrored translated very well to the live set. Their drummer must have arms of steel, because I don't think I've ever seen someone drum so hard (and so solid and consistent) for such a lengthy time with so few breaks - the guy's a machine! I enjoyed the show so much that I've found a new degree of enthusiasm to "get into" Mirrored, since it didn't ever really completely work for me before. Sometimes seeing a band live can give you that extra nudge that makes an album go from good to great.
Was going to hang around and watch Spoon, but decided instead to get some food, buy some merch and have a rest, since there was going to be a solid 4 hour block of music after that. Ended up having hot chips for dinner. It was either that or Hare Krishna, and I wasn't in the mood for curry of any sort in that weather. I bought myself a Battles shirt and a Sonic Youth shirt, and got Tina a David Bowie shirt. Then wandered over to the main oval to get a decent spot for Arcade Fire.
Caught the very end of Grinspoon. They're pretty meh. Loud, too.
Arcade Fire were utterly fantastic, probably the best thing of the night. There were around 10 musicians on stage at once, a couple of whom were multi-instrumentalists who'd be playing on instrument, only to suddenly lob it aside, dash across the stage and pick up another one. By the end of each song there were generally instruments of all sorts strewn across the stage, which the roadies very efficiently dealt with. Barring "Une Annee Sans Lumiere", they played pretty much all my favourite songs, and showed a degree of passion and emotion that actually outdid what they display on the albums. As with Battles, the show's given me a newfound desire to get into Neon Bible a bit more, although I suspect that album is genuinely flawed, rather than just me not being able to get into it. I guess we'll see. Highlight of the show was watching two of the multi-instrumentalists have a mock fight using drumsticks as swords and drums and cymbals as shields. Brilliant! At the very end one of them also climbed up the support railing, several metres above the stage, and hung there, beating his drum for all he was worth. You certainly couldn't fault their enthusiasm.
I sat on the grass during Silverchair and watched them on the big TV screen, rather than relocating to be able to see the stage. They actually put on a really great show, and Daniel Johns has clearly developed into a very strong frontman. His communication with the crowd was excellent, as were his wacky stage antics - at one point he asked the crowd to give him, in order, one scream, two screams, three screams, and then one very long, very sexually frustrated scream. He also shredded on guitar while playing behind his head, with his teeth and while writhing around on Paul Mac's piano. It was all very amusing.
Bjork was awesome, but I suspect my by-then completely munted feet, knees and back made it difficult for me to fully enjoy the show. Biggest highlights for me were "Hunter", "Army of Me" and "Hyperballad", the latter of which gradually untangled into a tribal rave, complete with crazy dancing and laser lights. Bjork herself was incredibly tiny and cute, squeaking out "Tenk-choo" (thank you) after every song, and at one point uttering "Can you handle another slow one, or are you all rrrrrrrrrrrrockers?"
By the time Rage Against the Machine started, I'd wandered off to a quiet corner of the oval to collapse. I kind of wished I had full energy levels and a fully-functional leg because, honestly, they sounded fantastic. They're not a band I've really been enthusiastic about since I was 15 or so, but I can't deny that when it comes to playing ridiculously catchy riffs, incredibly loudly, there's few bands who are better. The entire oval was filled with people thrashing around, dancing like they hadn't just spend 12 hours in the sun. Eventually, I had to succumb to the screams of my body, and (very, very slowly) wandered back to the exit.
And that was my Big Day Out. It was good.
I didn't arrive at the Showgrounds until the early afternoon, so I missed the morning acts. Not that there was anything I was especially keen to see before mid-afternoon.
First thing I caught was the last 20 minutes of the Anti-Flag set. I had no desire to see them, but was interested in watching Faker and they were on immediately beforehand. Anti-Flag were kind of hilarious - one of those well-meaning-but-totally-naive politically charged punk groups. They said "fuck" a lot (come to think of it, just about everyone I watched said "fuck" a lot), and yelled at the audience to do things like shaking the hand of the person next to them. It was all very cute. Musically, they kinda sucked.
Faker were okay. They're one of those bands I don't especially love or hate, but I'd heard their live shows were good so I thought I'd check them out. Nothing particularly special - a good degree of energy, the lead singer was charmingly goofy, decent chatter with the crowd and they just seemed like they were really enthusiastic about playing. "Hurricane" was definitely a highlight, but the rest of the show didn't really get me going at all.
After Faker I had a bit of a wander around to look at merch and whatnot before returning to catch Regurgitator. I've seen them 5 times now, and they've still got the knack for putting on a very solid live show. All the new material is pretty weak, but they played a few of the older numbers and still managed to do a really solid job. Hearing "Track 1" again (my favourite song from high school) was a bit of a blast from the past.
Left Regurgitator early to go and watch Battles, who I was very keenly anticipating. I'd heard great things about their live show, and they didn't disappoint at all. They showed some really tremendous levels of energy and very solid cohesion, and the cyclical catchiness of Mirrored translated very well to the live set. Their drummer must have arms of steel, because I don't think I've ever seen someone drum so hard (and so solid and consistent) for such a lengthy time with so few breaks - the guy's a machine! I enjoyed the show so much that I've found a new degree of enthusiasm to "get into" Mirrored, since it didn't ever really completely work for me before. Sometimes seeing a band live can give you that extra nudge that makes an album go from good to great.
Was going to hang around and watch Spoon, but decided instead to get some food, buy some merch and have a rest, since there was going to be a solid 4 hour block of music after that. Ended up having hot chips for dinner. It was either that or Hare Krishna, and I wasn't in the mood for curry of any sort in that weather. I bought myself a Battles shirt and a Sonic Youth shirt, and got Tina a David Bowie shirt. Then wandered over to the main oval to get a decent spot for Arcade Fire.
Caught the very end of Grinspoon. They're pretty meh. Loud, too.
Arcade Fire were utterly fantastic, probably the best thing of the night. There were around 10 musicians on stage at once, a couple of whom were multi-instrumentalists who'd be playing on instrument, only to suddenly lob it aside, dash across the stage and pick up another one. By the end of each song there were generally instruments of all sorts strewn across the stage, which the roadies very efficiently dealt with. Barring "Une Annee Sans Lumiere", they played pretty much all my favourite songs, and showed a degree of passion and emotion that actually outdid what they display on the albums. As with Battles, the show's given me a newfound desire to get into Neon Bible a bit more, although I suspect that album is genuinely flawed, rather than just me not being able to get into it. I guess we'll see. Highlight of the show was watching two of the multi-instrumentalists have a mock fight using drumsticks as swords and drums and cymbals as shields. Brilliant! At the very end one of them also climbed up the support railing, several metres above the stage, and hung there, beating his drum for all he was worth. You certainly couldn't fault their enthusiasm.
I sat on the grass during Silverchair and watched them on the big TV screen, rather than relocating to be able to see the stage. They actually put on a really great show, and Daniel Johns has clearly developed into a very strong frontman. His communication with the crowd was excellent, as were his wacky stage antics - at one point he asked the crowd to give him, in order, one scream, two screams, three screams, and then one very long, very sexually frustrated scream. He also shredded on guitar while playing behind his head, with his teeth and while writhing around on Paul Mac's piano. It was all very amusing.
Bjork was awesome, but I suspect my by-then completely munted feet, knees and back made it difficult for me to fully enjoy the show. Biggest highlights for me were "Hunter", "Army of Me" and "Hyperballad", the latter of which gradually untangled into a tribal rave, complete with crazy dancing and laser lights. Bjork herself was incredibly tiny and cute, squeaking out "Tenk-choo" (thank you) after every song, and at one point uttering "Can you handle another slow one, or are you all rrrrrrrrrrrrockers?"
By the time Rage Against the Machine started, I'd wandered off to a quiet corner of the oval to collapse. I kind of wished I had full energy levels and a fully-functional leg because, honestly, they sounded fantastic. They're not a band I've really been enthusiastic about since I was 15 or so, but I can't deny that when it comes to playing ridiculously catchy riffs, incredibly loudly, there's few bands who are better. The entire oval was filled with people thrashing around, dancing like they hadn't just spend 12 hours in the sun. Eventually, I had to succumb to the screams of my body, and (very, very slowly) wandered back to the exit.
And that was my Big Day Out. It was good.
