Well a year had past and I had forgotten about the badly aching legs from the last
Big Day Out. This was yet another line up not to be missed. (Not quite as good as the 2007 line up but then Muse-Tool headline is near impossible to top.) My plans at this year Big Day Out changed quite a bit since I decided kind of last minute to go to Spunk Rock.
The John Steel Singers (V Energy Stage)
The John Steel Singers attracted a decent size crowd for 11am. All members performed well and were well received by the crowd. With their catchy songs and recent air time on triple j, things are really starting to move along for The John Steel Singers. And, I know the bass player. How cool am I? I know someone who played at Big Day Out. Yeah. Jealous?
Performance 6.5
Technical 7
The Gin Club (Green Stage)
The Gin Club are another great Brisbane band churning out some of the most entertaining acoustic folk rock that you will ever hear. These guys always look like they are having the best time on stage. Only saw the last 15mins of their set but what I did see was quite good. You will be hearing more from The Gin Club in the near future I am sure.
Performance 6.5
Technical 7
British India (Green Stage)
British India gets the award for the loudest band. Not that surprising with a sound that combines hard to heavy rock with punk influences. The crowd got right into this set, and there was a sudden influx of people as the rain started to come down. The atmosphere was good and I quite enjoyed their set.
Performance 7
Technical 7
Josh Pyke (Green Stage)
Josh Pyke has had one of the quickest rises of any Australian artist in recent time; starting in mid 2006 with his first Brisbane headlining show at The Troubadour, only to return later that year to play The Zoo, then again in mid 2007 to play The Tivoli, finishing 2007 in the Concert Hall at QPAC, and in front of sold-out crowds. And now playing to a packed Green Stage at the Big Day Out, a truly talented singer/songwriter. I can’t wait to see what he does for his next album. I only caught the first 15 minutes of Josh Pyke’s set, but what I did see was good, sound was bit screwed (too loud really for Josh Pyke’s acoustically driven music).
Performance 7
Technical 6.5
Kate Nash (Essential Stage)
This was another one of those unfortunate events where the technical side of things was so bad that is was hard to really enjoy the performance. The mixing was just woeful. The vocals were lost, instrumentation wasn’t balanced. Surely it isn’t that complicated music to mix. I mean The Gin Club had 10 musicians on stage and the sound techs coped with that, likewise with the 11 strong Arcade Fire. It wouldn’t be fair to judge Kate Nash solely on this performance as I am sure with a competent sound tech this would have been a much more enjoyable set. The sound did get marginally better as the set progressed, but it still wasn’t good.
Performance 6.5
Technical 5
Then there was some lunch before we headed to the main stage to make sure we were in the D for Arcade Fire which was some 3 hours in advance. We got in without too much problem this year, and unlike last year there was a lot of movement in and out of the D (which is good). Yet again the Big Day Out organisers stuffed up the big video screens set up at the main stage. They still think that you can have an outdoor screen without a black surround that provides the contrast so it’s easier to see the picture.
Midnight Juggernauts (Orange Stage)
I had actually wanted to see Midnight Juggernauts for a while but never really was keen enough to pay for a gig. Well I enjoyed their set and they have some pretty eager and excitable fans, which added to a great atmosphere. I was pleasantly surprised by their live performance. However I still don’t know if I am keen enough to go out of my way to see them again, they just didn’t quite win me over.
Road to Recovery and
Shadows were the two main highlights of the set.
Performance 7
Technical 7
Regurgitator (Blue Stage)
I haven’t really been all that impressed with Regurgitator’s last few releases. The last album of theirs that I really liked was
…art. They did perform well and where looking pretty stylish all dressed in white. The crowd was up and dancing. Naturally the highlight for most of the crowd was
Polyester Girl.
Performance 7
Technical 7
Hilltop Hoods (Orange Stage)
I was quite impressed with the Hilltop Hoods. The only draw back to seeing the Hilltop Hoods live is the type of people this type of music attracts. We have stereotypes for a reason people, because they exist. A great example was when one of these “fans” tried to converse with me. “Oh look man they are doing it with an orchestra”, she said pointing to the string quartet. Naturally I said nothing. With intelligence like that one can’t help but think that this fantastic music is wasted on people who simply don’t have the capacity to comprehend it.
Performance 8
Technical 8
Grinspoon (Blue Stage)
Grinspoon were better than I was anticipating and crowd just went off. I have seen Grinspoon a number of times before so I was quite impressed with how well they got the crowd going. Most likely had lot to do with their new album
Alibis and Other Lies which has given Grinspoon a newer and slightly more upbeat sound.
Performance 8
Technical 8
Arcade Fire (Orange Stage)
Now the main reason for me coming to this year’s Big Day Out. Arcade Fire did not disappoint. All 11 band members that were on stage are all individually and extraordinarily talented, with most members changing/rotating instruments for each song and each joining in with the vocals. And I have nothing but respect for a band who tours with a pipe organ. The set list was as follows:
Wake Up
Keep The Car Running (Antichrist Television Blues)
Neighbourhood #2 (Laika)
No Cars Go
Haiti
Black Wave/Bad Vibrations
Intervention
Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)
Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)
Rebellion (Lies)
Intervention and
Wake Up,
Keep The Car Running were my personal highlights, although the whole set was astounding. Towards the end of the set the percussionist (at the time) ran out into the crowd beating his drum and running around the D which really got the crowd going and some security guards left wondering what the hell was going on. Truly remarkable performance, they get a 10 and it was only a festival performance. I think if I see them on their own headlining tour I might explode … or something.
Performance 10
Technical 9
Silverchair (Blue Stage)
Now for the biggest mistake of my 2008 Big Day Out, being close enough to the main stage to still hear Silverchair’s pitiful set. I should have left the D and seen Unkle in the Boiler Room. Daniel Johns just seemed out of it, drunk most likely. He was constantly trying to get the crowd to cheer. That kind of shit just doesn’t work at a festival … unless you are doing an exceptional job, which Silverchair most certainly were not. Paul Mac was accompanying Silverchair on stage I would have much preferred to here Paul Mac play some solo stuff than listen to Silverchair. The crowd really wanted to hear something from Frogstomp (Silverchair’s first album) but they didn’t deliver. Now I know they must get sick of playing the stuff they wrote when they were only 14, but that is what got them to where they are today, it’s a part of who they are. The only reprieve we got was when they closed with
Freak.
Performance 5
Technical 7.5
Björk (Orange Stage)
Only Björk could get away with being lead onto the stage by a marching band without it coming across totally pretentious. OK maybe it was pretentious but Björk can totally pull it off. This whole stage show was stimulating, with the full brass band, the costumes and the awesome laser show. If you have the chance to see Björk, you must. Even if you don’t particularly like her music, the randomness and purely questionable art (isn’t that true art, ok too deep a discussion for here) will surely entertain you.
Performance 9
Technical 9.5
The Lord of LightningThe link above is the best thing I could find on the interwebs about these guys that shows what they do. This is cool for anyone, but way cooler for the physicists, electrical engineers, nerds and geeks alike. Essentially you have two guys wearing metallic mesh suits (that acts as a faraday cage) that climb on top of Tesla coils and put on a show with huge arcs of electricity and have a “fight” with said arcs.
LCD Soundsystem (Boiler Room)
I caught the last 40 minutes of LCD Soundsystem, which was great. The Boiler Room was practically empty for this time of night, you could casually walk right up to the stage or hang back a bit about a third of the way back in the marquee and have heaps of room to dance. The lack of people had something to do with some band that got back together called “Rage Against The Machine”. Anyway LCD Soundsystem put everything into their very energetic performance. I was glad I didn’t miss them.
Performance 9
Technical 8.5
Rage Against The Machine (Blue Stage)
After LCD Soundsystem I did pop around to the check out the crowd in front of the main stage for Rage Against The Machine. It was insane and I was glad that I didn’t bother. For those of you who know how the Big Day Out main stage is set up the mosh-pit extended beyond the D barrier all the way back to the entrance to the D. Insane!
Top three bands from this year’s Big Day Out (in my opinion) in order were:
Arcade Fire
Björk
LCD Soundsystem
