Despite scorching heat and reappearing talent, the 2011 BDO was surprisingly satisfying.
BIG DAY OUT 2011 PHOTO GALLERY
If you want to catch a full set from your favourite bands, go to a sideshow: the Big Day Out is a day, a sampler, an excuse to laugh at kids burning to a crisp, and a nice slice of what is going/has gone on in popularly alternative music.
First off, after the hellscape nightmare of Sydney Soundwave 2010, it was a joy to see how well the BDO cared for the punters on a blazing 39-degree day. As you get through the review, imagine your correspondent wandering through the multiple misting tents in between sets and assuming sweaty repose underneath many treed and tented areas. Huge kudos to the organisers for taking care of those who aren’t so crash hot at taking care of themselves.
Start at the start (sadly, not early enough to catch some reportedly well-received local sets from The Vines and Little Red): walked in to catch New Zealand synth masters The Naked And Famous polishing off their set with a majestic ‘Young Blood’. Crowd goes wild.
Thus set the trend of catching snippets many bands, although I first settled in front of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion-a-likes Jim Jones Revue. For a UK act, they did a prodigious job of inciting the crowd with piano-bashing, howling rock n’ roll straight out of ‘50s America. Jones himself teetered on the flanks, sweating through his dapper vest and rallying an increasingly impressed crowd.
Skipping across to the opposite stage, platinum-pop nymph Washington did her very best to stymie the crowd’s excitement by opening with four non-single tracks, some of which might’ve been new, and all of which were plodding and flat. Pity, because the grass was swarming with fans who quickly adopted quizzical looks.
Christ, Washington, we came to party. So who better to pump adrenaline through the crowd than The Tony Robbins Of Hard Rock - Andrew WK. Vocal sound hiccups prevented he-in-white from killing it at the beginning but the drums were huge and constant, his wife Cherie was astonishingly aerobic, and by the time the band crested with their modern classic ‘Party Hard’, it was easy to forgive the previous howevermany songs pretty much sounding exactly the same: full blast pop metal.
Straight from over-sincerity to arch-irony with South Africa’s oddball rave-rap sensation Die Antwoord in the Boiler Room. They opened with a foreboding drone and the face of progeria mascot Leon Botha looming from the screen. Then enter DJ Hi-Tek, the squeaking harpie of Yo-landi Vi$$er, and finally ‘Enter The Ninja’. Nice work opening with your only (halfway) hit. The energy was ludicrous, the potty-mouth copious, Ninja breathlessly stumbled over his raps, and the Fido-Dido-meets-Keith Haring image was almost, almost, enough to distract everyone from the fact that these joke songs kinda go on too long.
More dapper dudes hit the Green Stage for the hip-hop soul revue of UK ringleader Plan B. His own songs were more Motown than downtown, which resulted in a jubilant medley of soul classics and worthy singalongs. How they weren’t dying in three-piece suits I’ll never know.
How about Andrew WK solo at Lilyworld. Well, he was grubby and endearing behind the keys, crashing through some amusing covers – everything from ‘Silent Night’ to ‘Piano Man’ to ‘Ganster’s Paradise’ – with guests pulled from the crowd on harmonica, drums and guest vocals. What a champ. Everyone grinned under the netting.
A quick run around: Saw one snooze-worthy track from unlikely stars Angus & Julia Stone on a smaller stage decorated with clouds and hot-air balloons and attended by thousands. Caught one buzzsaw electro track from Crystal Castles on the way through and decided I didn’t need a headache right now. Saw another couple from reborn melodic rocker Birds Of Tokyo. Crowd seemed more curious than fanatic but their songs are certainly built for main stages. Lucked out by seeing Matt & Kim going cuckoo bananas at a jam-packed Lilyworld stage for their final, much-loved song ‘Daylight’ (yunno, that one from that ad).
Wow, Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros have the songs. As welcome shadows started to creep across the lawn, a reclining crowd were treated to some savvy, hooky indie from this swirling collective. It’s hard to get excited at this time of day in this weather, but tune-wise, they were mightily impressive.
Less impressive was the crowd for Wolfmother. They were ostensibly up against Iggy And The Stooges, and the audience was spread out, but it was a little disappointing to see their cosmic rock fall on less ears. I’ve made my peace with their cribbing, they have some catchy rockers, and the sound coming out of the speakers was crystal. Pity people were getting burnt out (literally) by this point.
Time for Teutonic industrial metal Ubermenschs Rammstein. Much has been made of their plumes of flames, showers of sparks, lazers and giant dildos, most likely because their songs crunch along with all the charm of a greasy, smoky factory. Picking out occasional recognisable words (I translated “arsehole” and “young woman” far too close to each other in a song), and wondering what/whom would be set on fire next, was the most fun that could be had.
Wincing at the thought of extended prog wankery from Tool (or maybe the worship of same from their fans) I wandered towards the exit to the strains of LCD Soundsystem and kids as wet, red and locomotively incompetent as lobsters danced down the lanes and across the fields all around.
Eerily familiar, and comfortingly so. A surprisingly satisfying BDO.
