Big Day Out Co. has had a fairly turbulent few months as has been well document, but Friday in Adelaide was about trying to putting that to rest with a top show. Their cause was hurt in no small part by the fantastic weather Wayville brought out over the Royal Adelaide Showgrounds for the day – definitely the finest weather for a Big Day Out that I’ve had.
Attendance wasn’t that high, which actually made for quite a good day. The promoters had been saying that Adelaide would be a smaller, more intimate festival, and it did turn out that way. There was no barrier around the singular main stage, which made coming and going from sets quite easy. Unlike most other BDOs, there was no need to queue for the act you wanted to see by listening to the three sets before it. The vibe of the festival was much more relaxed than previous years and it made for a very different BDO. The performances varied, as they always do, but most of what I saw was worthwhile, and I think I could get used to a BDO like this.
The day started with Abbe May, who slowly but surely is establishing herself and her band on the Australian music scene. While she’s been performing and recording for a while, she’s only just now getting to the point where she can draw a festival slot. Next step will be to draw a crowd at a festival slot. This is the second festival in as many months that I have seen her, and both times the crowds were underwhelming. Hopefully over the next 12 months Abbe can produce some great performances and command a stronger audience on her next festival circuit.
I just want to give a quick mention to the My School Act winner Love Cream. These guys managed to make me smile with their cheeky song ‘Sex, Drugs and Lord of the Rings.’ When you’re in for a 12 hour day, you appreciate the little smiles. Rock on, Love Cream.
Another smile came during Frenzal Rhomb’s set, when a Channel 7 reporter forced his way to the circle pit and attempted to give his report. He must have got about ten seconds into it before he was hoisted onto the shoulders of the crowd and paraded around like a martyr before being half thrown by the audience and half dragged by security over the barrier. Frenzal themselves were good to see, though I don’t ever really need to see 40 minutes of them. Probably the best part about seeing them, other than listening to ‘Russell Crowe’s Band’, is that they remind me of a time when I enjoyed listening to Triple J breakfast.
The first major act I saw, and one that I was looking forward to most, was Bluejuice. I saw them at Pyramid Rock a month ago, but for various reasons I could not remember much of their performance. I say various reasons, but in actuality there was one main reason – I was toasted. One thing I did remember following their Pyramid set was that I could not stop singing their songs and playing their albums over and over. These guys got the Boiler Room steaming for their 45-minute set. They rattled off hits from all three albums and by the 30-minute mark both Jake and Stavros were topless, which the female portion of the audience seemed to enjoy. Bluejuice are producing some of the best alternative, upbeat music in Australia at the moment and have become one of my favourite local acts.
As I was acting also as a photographer for the day, I managed to see the opening songs for a number of different acts. I enjoyed getting briefly acquainted with Mariachi El Bronx, who braved the elements and maintained their matching full black Mariachi suits. Their quite inoffensive to listen to, but it’s hard not to think of them as a niche act.
In a similar vein I saw a few minutes of Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All while I tried to capture their manic method on camera. Unlike Mariachi, I did not particularly enjoy them. From what I saw I found Odd Future uninteresting and unengaging and as far as I can tell they engage shock tactics to make up for a lack of musical proficiency. But maybe I just need to give them another chance.
Kimbra was another that I caught part of. She gets the award for Prettiest Performance. She looked gorgeous in a banana-themed dress and she voice matched her looks, which was particularly impressive as she had only just come off a flight from LA. Kimbra is fun, cute, talented and becoming a real gem of a performer.
Boy & Bear were lovely as usual. When I first listened to Moonfire I was not much of a fan, but just like the lump on my neck, it’s grown on me quite significantly. As I have seen them before I did not stick around for their whole set, but it did spend a lovely few minutes relaxing on the grass to their melodic harmonies and acoustic soothing.
I caught both Hilltop Hoods and Drapht, but it was only the later whose set I sat all the way through. In my humble opinion, Drapht has raised the bar for hip-hop performance in Australia in the same way that Hilltop did mid-way through the previous decade. While Hilltop were always going to have a phenomenal live set in their hometown, Drapht is now the premier hip-hop act in the country. He has lifted the standard of Australian song-writing across all genres. Drapht recounts relatable Australian experiences in his songs in a distinct and original manner. Distinct and original are two words Australian hip-hop has been crying out for since Hilltop burst onto the scene. Further, he gives skinny, white, middle-class boys a dream that they too could become something great. Hilltop had an explosive performance, but Drapht is the act you want to see if you have to choose between the two.
Röyksopp was the act I had been most looking forward to. I never thought I would get the chance to see them in Australia, so I made sure to stay all the way through their set. I had expected to see a fairly reserved performance, having heard that the two gents who make up the Norwegian duo are a little quiet. What came out was one of the more bizarre live music experiences I’ve witnessed. The outfits these guys wore were completely out of this world. I genuinely thought that this could be as close as I might come to having an alien encounter. My favourite one of the outfits was a giant head which had a wide mouth like a shark and two small mouths on the side, with three glowing eyes and two little openings as a nose. Their performance was as brilliant and eclectic as I had hoped. Swedish singer Robyn, who appears on Junior, was present to provide her golden voice on most of the tracks she appeared on the album. The live rendition of ‘Poor Leno’ was just as I had dreamed it would be and I hope these guys return for a proper tour of solo shows sometime soon. If you’re ever in Europe and they’re around, give them a look for an excellent show.
The biggest highlight though was yet to come. Girl Talk has done something in the last 12 months or so that I never thought would happen – he has me singing and dancing along to top 40 hits! Of course, I’m only listening to these hits when they’re mixed in together in one of his delicious mash-ups. (Okay, maybe I indulge in Justin Bieber every now and then, but so do you!) His live performance reminded me very much of the Flaming Lips, in that he also had confetti cannons, giant balloons and about 50 people dancing around him on stage. Listening to the album, you might think there is not much Girl Talk could do live, but he changes things up quite significantly and seeing him perform is almost like hearing an alternate version of his album. It’s as if someone pressed shuffle on his mixes and they all landed back in sync in different positions. I’ve never seen a solo performer give as much as he did. He stood up on his decks and screamed at the audience to take it up, something I have not seen from a solo performer before. His intensity and energy was fantastic and he was definitely the best part of my day. I hear that he frequently tours, so hopefully he’s back in Australia soon for a complete set of solo shows around the country.
I finished the evening with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. While Gallagher’s new act is easy on the ear, I was quite disappointed that Noel neglected to tell anybody to fuck off for the whole show. He was at least sporting the distinctive Gallagher scowl through most of the performance, and while we all felt as if there was a scuffle between performer and audience about to erupt, no such incident occurred. They finished with ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’, which we hope those who took part in BDO 2012 can achieve. While there has been a lot of negative comment surrounding this year, the people I’ve spoken to who actually attended the show have given great feedback. The price of admission was probably a little steep given the high proportion of local acts on the bill. However, the quality of just about all acts was quite high, and the lineup this year did include a lot of more obscure acts. This meant that those who did attend got to see some groups and performers who many thought may never visit our shores. But it also reduced total attendance because many of the acts still exist in relative obscurity in Australia.
I think the new style of BDO can be a success, but if the Adelaide show is going to consistently be smaller than the East coast lineup then price of admission will need to fall. Although there are a number of people who attend BDO no matter who is on the bill, for most, Big Day Out is a year-to-year prospect, depending on getting at least one major headliner they want to see, and three or four smaller acts to enjoy through the day. Having a reduced lineup in Adelaide is another consideration the festival-going people in this town will have to take into account and could lead to people heading East for their BDO fix. If this trend forms, it could see the end of Adelaide BDO altogether, which would be a real shame. For this year, it seems to have worked, and hopefully Big Day Out returns to our city for many years to come. She’s welcome.
Nick Harris - AAA Backstage
For all photos please go to the AAA Backstage facebook page
