Music lover Laney checked out Big Day Out on the Gold Coast and reported back with the highlights for Australia’s biggest music festival.
It’s early afternoon when I arrive, and since I don’t know my way around the venue and haven’t looked at the timetable yet, I plunge into the Boiler Room at random. Tzu are playing, no they are doing more than playing – Tzu are tearing the crowd apart at 1pm in the afternoon. I jam my hat on more firmly and dive deeper into the tent, because this is a fabulous start to BDO. Highlight of the set is their own version of a Motown dance routine.
I always aim to drop into the Hot Produce tent at BDO, just to check out who’s playing. Being in a different city makes this even more random. I’m lucky this time because Gold Coast band Adelle are playing. Five young guys, armed with guitars, a keytar and more percussion than might really be safe, and who are obviously having a really good time. Adelle should play closer to Perth so I can catch them again.
Next up, The Ting Tings. I discover an issue with the Gold Coast venue: a bottleneck between the main area and the Green Stage and Essential Stage area. Possibly the BDO organizers have not expected ten or fifteen thousand people to want to see The Ting Tings. Anyway, I spend a panicked couple of minutes in a huge crowd with absolutely nowhere to go, with thousands of people shoving from behind, and no crowd control or security in sight. The BDO organizers are a drunken punch or a couple of fallen people away from disaster.
The crowd sorts itself out in a surprising display of sensible behavior, and The Tings Tings play the Green Stage. Ten or fifteen thousand people squash around the tent. I listen to The Tings Tings playing in the distance and dance with the drunken young man beside me in the crowd, who describes the show as a “daylight nightclubâ€.
It’s time to crash out on the oval, at the far end of the main stage area. Bullet for my Valentine are playing metal to picnic to, if you like to picnic with vodka slushies. They thank the crowd for paying attention. Up front, people are doing more than paying attention. There’s serious enthusiasm in the crowd shots on the big screens. I wave my fruit-and-nut snack supplies in the air.
Revived, I move up close for Sneaky Sound System, who play polite pop. There’s actual dancing in the mosh pit.
Pendulum are stompingly good. It’s possible Pendulum expect too much sophistication in the way of crowd participation (“You all shout out this! And you all over there, you shout out that!â€), but everyone jumps up and down when told. The mosh pit moshes properly for them. I lose my voice shouting. The girl beside me at the barrier shows me her nipple piercings.
I don’t really intend to go back to the Boiler Room for Simian Mobile Disco, because it’s ridiculously warm and humid for that kind of exertion, but they sound so good. Can I dance in a crowded tent in 100% humidity? Yes, I can!
I catch the first hour of the Neil Young set. Everyone should hear Neil Young sing “Hey Hey, My My†live once in their lives.
I suspect there are musical appreciation rules. One of these rules probably says ‘don’t go directly from a live Neil Young set to a Dropkick Murphys gig’, but I do anyway.
The Dropkick Murphys are fabulous; loud and abrasive, getting down off the stage and into the crowd. When they sing “Kiss Me, I’m Shit-facedâ€, my day is absolutely perfect.
In summary: Get to BDO early enough to catch Tzu’s set. Don’t miss Pendulum, or Neil Young singing “Hey Hey, My Myâ€. And good luck choosing between Dropkick Murphys and Prodigy.
