Big Day Out review, X-Press, Feb 2005

Selling out a few days prior to the event, the Big Day Out is now officially the biggest day out on the music calendar. All of the usual sights and sounds were there for the soaking, with every teenager and sundry dressed to the nines, or at the very least underdressed in accordance with the glorious Perth sunshine. From last year's massive headline-style show with Metallica, to this year's more broad 'multi-headline' event, the menu of the Big Day Out is ever-changing, and 2005's massive ticket sales proves that the treats were indeed tasty. Anyhow, on with the show...

The Flairz opened proceedings with a polite 'hello, and welcome to the Big Day Out'. Ain't this band the cutest. And not cute because they are kids in a band, but how much do these young'ns know how the rock the stage. Obtaining a pretty good sized crowd on the CAT stage, the band had smiles flashed across the audience, (namely when they were requesting more foldback and plugging their EP between songs) as they busted out tunes like Black Fox and Sidewalk Surfer; while the crowd got involved in the band's rockin' cover of TNT. Answering a request for encore with a Ramones cover, sure this is a very young band, and obviously there are improvements to be made - but seriously, can you really criticise a bunch of eleven year old who open up a stage at the BDO?

"Is this a fucking library?" yelled The Donnas' frontwoman Brett Anderson, obviously a little peeved at the crowd's less than animated response. She had a point though, for, with the majority of punters still intently scrutinising their BDO programme books to prepare for the long day ahead, the Donnas' reception was far from rapturous. Eventually the audience reaction picked up as the girls began to run through older material such as Take It Off and Who Invited You?, which were met with noticeably more enthusiasm than tracks from the latest and allegedly more mature album Gold Metal. Newer songs including Hook It Up and I Don't Wanna Know (If You Don't Wanna Know Me) had begun to sound distinctly same-ish despite the extra colour added from Anderson's occasion stroll over to the keyboards and the odd wallop on the cowbell from drummer Tory Castellano. Once the mood had improved, Anderson thanked the crowd just for turning up, implying that American audiences wouldn't have even gotten to the festival this early see to them.

Wolfmother splits opinion, but the trio kill-the-pig on stage, as it all comes together with the right amount of attitude and humility. You just can't beat the classical rock elements of Sabbath, Zeppelin and Jack White when combined with the lout mentality of three Sydney kids who understand that the key to success is not to take yourselves too seriously, especially when your influences are see-through obvious. Chris Ross dropped his bass guitar mid-set and replaced it with a vintage organ, which took nothing away from the bottom end. Such a big sound for a trio.

Local lads Eskimo Joe received a very welcoming reception when they graced the main stage this afternoon, giving much of their latest album A Song Is A City a healthy spin. Although it would have been nicer if the band had of included a few older tracks from their earlier days, it was great to see the popular tracks of past album Girl make an appearance. The always perfect Liar (where the band requested a specifically timed hand sway) and Planet Earth were by far the standout songs here, while Wake Up and the expected closer From The Sea had the moshpit up front soaking up every minute of it.
In contrast to Wolfmother, local act Screwtop Detonators seem to take themselves more and more seriously as the tempo rises and the songs get better. The energetic foursome drew a decent early crowd and threw all they had at the opportunity to play a Big Day Out slot. Good honest rock band this one.

The turnout for The Music's 2003 Big Day Out debut visit paled into insignificance compared to this year's show. Having been upgraded from the Green Stage to the Blue for 2005, the baggy beat aficionados enticed the sell-out crowd by continuingly asking "Perth is the craziest, yeah?" The audience proved they were indeed a little crazy as they went mental over Robert Harvey's stage antics, including his trademark octopus dance which culminated in the singer strangling himself with his microphone cable. The energetic set of swirling psych-guitar-meets-early-'90-beats contained almost no filler as the Leeds boys pulled out Take The Long Road And Walk It, The Truth Is No Words and the more recent Freedom Dance. "This song is for you" announced Harvey as the swaggering four piece launched into a blistering version of The People. When handed a guitar, Harvey introduced Bleed From Within before bassist Stuart Cole traded his instrument for a set of tribal drums. These later met a sticky end as he violently impaled the drums with the head of his bass guitar.
The rigors of the Big Day Out run took its toll on Katy Steele's vocals, but there's no walking off stage in your home town. To her credit and against an obvious drop out of her upper register, Steele and Little Birdy soldiered on through a brilliant set of newer material to start with, then all the hits toward the end. The brooding Excited and Close To You really stand out as great newer tracks and the huge sun-drenched audience weren't about give up on their local hero's for a bit of sunburn.

Trying to find a decent spot to see the John Butler Trio proved to be difficult, with a huge crowd swarming the orange stage to greet the arrival of the trio. The band gave their audience a great set of tracks ideal for a festival, and while - as expected being on a main stage - there were the odd comments and shoes thrown towards the stage, it didn't bother the band the slightest as the majority were there to give the band the respect they deserved. Something's Gotta Give, Take, Betterman (with Michael Barker unleashing yet another top drum solo) and Zebra sounded in top form, and with Butler's endless flashing smile, the band's fun vibe and the audiences non - stop energy, was all the more reasons for such an enjoyable set from the trio.

Sounding like Perth's own version of The Datsuns, four-piece outfit The Volcanics erupted in front of the small Local Produce crowd. Initially, the almost schizophrenic frontman stood relatively calm during the high energy rock tunes, before repeatedly waving his arms about in true rock'n'roll fashion as if succumbing to a fit. Though the majority of the crowd couldn't resist the opportunity to sit down and simply soak up the catchy punk riffs, one ecstatic punter danced like a madman for the first half the set. The overjoyed fan then took advantage of the lead singer's tendency to stand perilously close to the edge of the stage as he attempted to pull him off the platform altogether. When not being dragged off stage, the frontman armed himself with double tambourines before eventually destroying them with frantic and excessive use. The Volcanics delivered highly entertaining punk rock in one of the most accessible viewing arenas of the day.

Grinspoon delivered a usual show - which mainly consists of Phil Jamieson stumbling over the stage, spitting liquids over the crowd and strutting the odd dance/rock pose - offering a set which was mainly what appeared to be the new crowd favourites. Material off the new album (more so the two singles) and songs off New Detention received the biggest cheers but thankfully the older fans were kept happy with some earlier (and far better) Grinners material from Guide To Better Living, even throwing in the classic Post Enebriated Society (where has that song been?) to keep the moshpit rocking. Their material may not be as strong as it used to be, but it doesn't stop them from being such a great live act.

With fifty-percent new members in tow since their November launch, many people rocked-up to the Local Produce stage to see if the fire was still burning in the Head Filled Attraction camp. Not only is it still burning, but a late tech addled start time and a sun burnt Corey Davison turned fire into rage as the frontman ordered each and everyone up off their arse and to the front of the stage with "I'm not up here to go off for no fucking reason". It wasn't a idle threat and go-off they bloody well did; Against The World, You Could Be Mine and Man On Fire is amongst their better live material but the rocked-over Scribe cover always pricks the ears with its "How many dudes you know rock like this..." deviation.

While Corey from HFA was commanding attention on the local stage, across the grounds another frontman named Corey was achieving the unthinkable. Fueled by five years of anticipation and whatever else, the front row Slipknot mosh was a seething black hole of chaos which threatened to destroy itself. But in a deliberate act akin to snake charming, Corey Taylor managed to seat the 8000-plus pit down on its arse until his command to jump. This was power Hitler would've flushed with pride over and few bands have this level of influence over their fans. While newer songs like Duality bring a welcome accessibility to the Slipknot sound, old and new combined; this band is one of the most incredible live acts on the planet and the relentless stage show only adds to the madness.

Opening with a brief DJ set, Scribe's producer P-Money took to the Cat Essential stage before the man himself eventually emerged and immediately kicked off with Not Many. The capacity crowd joining in on the chorus was inevitable, though as New Zealand's Scribe began to beat box, the atmosphere quickly turned sour. P-Money picked up the show with a new track Stop The Music from his album Magic City. Then, briefly, the music literally was stopped as the organisers instructed the duo to entice various scamps down from the trees. After numerous attempts to get them to return to the ground, Scribe began to speak gushingly of how he never thought he'd be here playing Australia, before dedicating a number of songs to the ladies in the audience. Before a long freestyling session, Scribe announced that if he was performing at one of his regular concerts, he would be playing at least two more songs. Judging from the negative comments yelled from the crowd at this point, not many (if any) of them seemed all that bothered.

"Look at me, I'm tanned!" exclaimed the shorts-wearing Mike Skinner as he paced up and down the stage, scanning the audience to point out the particularly fit girls. The Streets are the young people's poet, and whose 'poetry' happens to consist of well observed, everyday occurrences of the scally underclass, including kebabs, booze, Playstation and the dole. How this would all convert to a live show however, was uncertain. Thankfully, Skinner is a lot brighter than his lyrics might try to make out, as he makes the effort to haul around a band with proper instruments including guitar and drums and his duelling partner Leon. As Mike ran through his finest material including Fit But You Know It, Don't Mug Yourself, Blinded By The Lights, and Dry Your Eyes, you'd be forgiven for thinking they were all club anthems and not alternative garage tracks as the adoring fans sang along to every verse. Skinner's dazzling Brummie personality and particular brand of lad culture breathed further life into the show, especially during his charmingly unconvincing threats to pull down an entire group of tree climbers who were repeatedly holding up his set.

Two of the world's biggest heavy acts leapfrogged one another as System Of A Down casually walked out onto the blue stage beyond Slipknot. A double-take was needed to be sure this was SOAD though, as the normally clean-cut Serj Tankian has sprouted shoulder-length hair. Oddly, SOAD kicked-off with the final and slowest track from 2001's Toxicity album, Aerials, before jumping straight into the brilliant and lesser known Mr Jack. The rest of the set played out like a best-of for the band with most of Toxicity represented, four from the bands '98 self -titled release including Suite Pee, where Slipknot's Joey Jordison took over drumming duties from Dolmayan- no prizes for guessing who hit harder- Suggestions, War and The Donnas joined the stage briefly for Sugar. A pair of new tracks pointed to good things for the pair of '05 SOAD releases.

The Panda Band didn't receive a very huge crowd to close the local stage for the evening, however this was more than likely for the fact that a) the local stage is quite hidden, b) the gigantic crowd awaiting to enter the boiler room was blocking the only path to make your way there and c) it was hard for many to take their eyes off SOAD on the main stage. But this didn't stop the band from pulling out a decent set. Much has been said about this band and wether or not they live up to their hype. The short answer is no...well, not yet. But give them time, and they most certainly will. Vocally, Damian Crosbie has improved vastly, while his oddball creations (like the catchy Sleepy Little Death Toll Town) are what make the Panda Band's live set so enjoyable. With their debut EP set to be released, this band are only going to get stronger.

The ever-so-casual Powderfinger took to the orange stage next, and my were those Fingers in fine form. Having recently released a 'best of', the band were in the perfect position to pull out a corker of a set, and they did just that. Without a doubt holding one of the best and most well known repertoires to their name, the band declared that tonight would be their last show for a year, and gave Perth a show to remember. Songs like Pick You Up, The Day You Come and My Happiness were delivered as freshly as they were when they were when they were first released, while Bernard Fannings' vocals are still to the exceptional range that they've always been, namely evident in Since You've Been Gone and a solo version of These Days. While Fanning possibly had the best line of the day "I'd like to say thankyou to all the Beastie Boys fans for waiting so patiently....Waasup Muthafuckas's", the band closed with On My Mind to a pumped crowd that were blessed with a damn fine Finger show.

Hatebreed headlined the Cat Essential stage as the chill found its way around the grounds. Arguably the heaviest band on the '05 BDO run, either it was the lock out on the Boiler Room, their underground popularity, or simply the first ever visit by Hatebreed that contributed to the huge turnout, but the foursome did not disappoint. These guys possess the phattest hardcore wall of sound combined with a mid-paced style that is never far away from a killer breakdown. It's all too easy and as the Hatebreed sound dominated the still night air, frontman Jamey Jasta thanked the Australian crowd for the respect they'd shown.

Sporting matching orange and black tracksuits, headlining act the Beastie Boys entertained to a sea of thousands who were chanting the band's name long before they emerged. The Beasties' every move was captured on a giant video screen complete with impressive special effects and the occasional humorous video of ninjas, a man in a gorilla suit biting Mix Master Mike and failed back-flip attempts. Shortly after Mike's set of insanely fast scratching which included Purple Haze, the boys opened with No Sleep 'til Brooklyn and ran through material from virtually their entire back catalogue including Sabotage, Intergalactic, Ch-Check It Out and Gratitude. The New Yorkers received possibly the biggest crowd reaction of the day, as they jumped off the stage to stand between the barricade and the mosh-pit. Despite how tired, dirty and sunburnt the fans may have been by this point, for many the Beastie Boys were the undisputed highlight of yet another excellent Big Day Out.

Well, didn't Regurgitator bring a musical bags of goodies this evening. The band had a mass of people (and a lot of pissed off Chemical Brothers fans who didn't make it into the pavilion) swarming the green stage to help them close the evening. No matter how stuffed you were by this point of the night, The Gurge were there to make you move, and that they did. It was great to see the guys dig out some of the old beauties that make their live set so much fun, with Black Bugs, !, Everyday Formula, I Sucked a lot...., I will lick your... (yes, you know the titles) and even tracks from new album Mish Mash...Phew! It was a non-stop party anthem set, as the guys admirable energy added to what was a fantastic set from the band.

RENAE POWELL
ROBERT PENNEY
BRETT LADHAMS