Wednesday, January 30, 2008

My Big Day Out.

Ah, what a day. The day really started at 11 as I walked through the gates. Straight away I made contact with my mate form uni and companion for the day. Big plus. Then the music started and we were off.

We started out wanting to check out the jjj unearthed winners but wondered into Miso instead. Mistake, they are spacey electric stuff that probably would have sounded great after a bucket load of LSD. When we found The Pryor Theory, they weren't much better. Less LSD but still not something you want to stand in a crowd for. So we moved on.

Passing by Die! Die! Die!, we found out way to British India. If you have a chance, check them out, they are good live. We rocked out for a few songs but both being science students we were allured by a band with a nerdy name*. The Eddy Current Suppression Ring, nerdy name with a punk sound and the simplest drum kit I've seen on stage. The music was good and the singer had a dancing style that look like a young Joe Croker gone punk.

We then found our way to the main stage for the first time to see Anti-flag. Angry boys that do a good job of being the cliche rebellious punk band. They had a Mohawk, wore black, played loud and screamed, but for some reason their American specific anthems didn't do much for us. We found more joy when we wondered into Brotha Black, an Aboriginal hip-hop artist. Pretty sweet.

We were pulled back to the main stage for Faker. Win. From the moment the sing ran onto, then around the stage, I knew it was going to be good. The music was great and the performance one of the best for the day. The singer was fantastic, he went for running around, to jumping for speaker to speaker, to rolling around on the ground, to climbing the scaffolding without missing a note.

We strayed from the main stage again for Gyroscope. Not a mistake but we didn't stay long. Back again to the main stage for the end of Midnight Juggernauts and then Regurgitator. Remember them, they had hits with polyester girl and !(the song formally know as the song formally know as !) and they spent some time in a bubble. They well worth the walk**. They passed through so many genres in the hour they almost got a speeding fine.

Just a few steps away on the other main stage was the Hoods. I was afraid they would play the same set as they did at pyramid, but i had nothing to worry about, they even had some new friends on stage. Low rider*** played with the Hood for about half the set and it good. One thing that made me sad was the crowds reaction to the Aboriginal welcome ceremony before the Hoods Played. They showed it no respect. Just a few steps back to the first main stage for Grinspoon who did play pretty much the same set as at pyramid, but whee it rocks that hard you just don't mind that much. Still no just ace, most sad.

Next came tea. Hot chips from Nandos and a look at the Nightwatchman. Tom Morello's song acoustic project. Rage-brilliant, Audioslave-rocks, this-not so much. Then the real fun started.

Back for the final time to the main stage. First up, Silverchair. Well the old Silverchair is pretty much gone but the new puts on a good show. Jones is still rocks and the inclusion of the greatest view and freak kept me happy. And then, the longest hour ever! What were the organisers thinking, "I know what will go well between Silverchair and Rage Against the Machine. Bjork". NO! Now I wouldn't normally mind a bit of Bjork, but not there. And when so many of the crowd and turned up to see Rage, not many where I was enjoyed Bjork.

Then it happened. And I don't mean a punch on, which did break out just next to me. Rage Against The Machine! Best Ever! It started with testify and kept going****. The whole thing was one giant high light. From Zack's rant against war and consumerism and props for getting rid of Howard to Tom's Guitar. I didn't think it would get much better than Freedom and Killing in the Name for an encore, but there was short patch, for most of Sleep Now in the Fire, that everyone around me was moshing perfectly in time. It was just beautiful, Dream Come True!

We strolled away for that 70 mins happy beyond description. Nothing was left, in the line up or us, but to jam on a train and go home. We scored seats and conversation with strangers started by my F.R.O.G band, win.

Well that was my Big Bay Out. Nothing that anyone really needed to know, I was just wanting to brag, and to keep the blog momentum going. *****



*plus we had seen them at pyramid rock.

**not that we walked far. I just didn't want to say fantastic again so soon.

*** Hip-hop band with singer, keys, bass, drums.

****for the full set list see the herald sun hit lift out on thursday Jan 24, or my post on Sean Bentler's facebook wall.

*****you may have noticed a lot of the end notes in this post. That is because I love them. The best end note are by Terry Pracket. They are mostly factual information about made up things that don't add anything to the story. I am going to try and use them more as they are fun. Thanks goes to B.C for reminding me of them.

4 comments:

B.C. said...

Jealous. Any of them I could have lived without seeing, except for RATM. I'm going to steal your last week of your life somehow. That's what I'll do with ALL MY TIME OFF UNI.

David said...

Dam arts students! But that's ok, as the whole time your not in classes, you can sit there thinking about the fact that i have seen the two best four word bands (RATM and RHCP) live and you have not!

Ps. i hope this is how you reply to posts, or i'm just commenting on my own blog.

some girl said...

Yes, that is how you reply.
Wooooooooo how fun!
I never seen a band live, not properly.
Only like, Hillsong stuff.
Doesn't count.

Those asterisks seem to be going around these days...

B.C. said...

It's contagious like... BAM! HERPES!