big day

so anyway, i went to the big day out at the gold coast parklands and it was okay.

the thing is, when you go to a festival in the UK, you go because you're into the music. you like the lineup and you're there to see the bands. pretty much. here, the big day out is the only festival-type thing that they have, so young people just go to party. and young Aussies are, i'm sorry to say it, fucktards. their preferred mode of "partying" is to stagger around, drunk or not, and get in each other's faces. well, that might be fun for them, but it's not such fun for people who aren't into staggering around getting in other people's faces. like me. and i find it seriously detracts from enjoying popular music if half the crowd isn't into it, and is pushing its way somewhere else for whatever reason.

the venue is also far too small for this sort of event, with nothing like enough outlets for booze, and a deranged system of ticketing to buy it with, which leads to half the parklands being choked up with people queueing to get a drink. in the UK, you just go to the bar, and that seems to work. of course, a big difference is, in the UK, half the crowd is mashed on drugs. here, a few are smoking pot, but there's no one who's done a trip or e, and not a sign of anyone on the whizz.

it didn't help either that the main stage was split into two stages, to allow the stage to be set up for the next big band while one was playing. this totally doesn't work. you have to have your two main stages at other ends of the venue. what happens is that people arrive early for the band of their choice, and are not going to be there for the band that is playing. this is particularly a problem if you're retarded enough to put Bjork on before Rage against the Machine. it's fair to say that your average Aussie chav is not into Bjork, but Rage, oh yes. Aussies love pub rock and heavy rock, particularly if it has simple-to-grasp lyrics that are easy to sing along with. nearly all the Aussie bands who played were dreary pubrockers, with the exception of Regurgitator, who are heavy but excellent. Quan Yeomans, main Gurger, is truly talented.

so, what were the bands like? Kate Nash sucked arse. she seemed to be enjoying herself but her songwriting is so poor that you just can't enjoy what she's doing. Regurgitator roxxord. they are far and away the best Aussie band of the moment: a mix of cartoonish heavy rock and arch social commentary. i would have preferred a heavier set, because they leaned more to the funkier, Red Hot Chilli Peppersesque end of their material, which the chavs liked, but they were still very good. they were tight, but mostly i felt because half their stuff was on tape, and they were just embellishing the presets. the bassist in particular seemed to be producing a lot of notes for not much plucking. we wanted to see Billy Bragg but he seemed to get swapped with The Nightwatchman, who is Tom Morello of Rage ATM. he was okay, and i have a soft spot for protest singing, but my enjoyment of his set -- wholly acoustic and powerfully delivered -- was coloured by knowing that he is a Hollywood socialist, a rich man who sings about unions without ever, most likely, having belonged to one. still, can't knock a man for having his heart in the right place. Arcade Fire burnt the place down. they were brilliant from the first note, really up there with the best bands i've seen. their songs lend themselves to the live setting, and there are so many of them, doing so many different things, that they make a show just by turning up. the closing sequence of tunnels, power out and rebellion was as good a 15 minutes of live music as you're ever going to witness. like everyone else, they were let down by the terrible, muddy sound -- which seemed to me to be aimed squarely at producing volume and low end for the heavier bands -- but they overcame it by simply being excellent. we caught the last part of Battles, and they were also very good. they played a lot from tape, lacking numbers to re-create the huge sound on their record, and might have been better with more members, but that's a small criticism. their music translated very well to this setting, particularly the low end, which struck m particularly. so to Bjork. well, the bogan crowd didn't much like her, because they'd come to watch Rage, who were playing the split stage after her, and she didn't like them. the problem is that this venue had a D barrier and people had to queue to get into it. so the young lads who came to mosh to rage had to stand through a set by someone they can't understand or appreciate. Bjork would be well advised not to play an Aussie festival again unless she plays last. contrarian as ever, she did not endear herself to the chavs by playing an aficionado's set, heavy on slower ballads, thin on jump-up-and-down numbers. well, i'm an aficionado, so i loved it, but i'd have loved it more in a theatre, with a comfortable seat. i will say though, lest there's any doubt, that Bjork has a wonderful singing voice, as good live as it is on record -- beautifully controlled across her range. the outfit and the backing group of, i don't know how you'd describe them, swan lake with horns were fantastic too. she didn't seem to be enjoying it though. i think she had already had a hard time in Auckland.

finally, i caught most of LCD Soundsystem, who were fantastic, high energy and all in all showmen.

so the final analysis? definitely worth going but never going again. i loved the music, and the opportunity to see so many great bands (although probably fewer than i'd see at a similar day in the UK, because i just don't like pubrock) but i was particularly unhappy that my enjoyment of Bjork, someone whose music and person i rate very highly, was spoiled by people who i wouldn't choose to spend more than five minutes with. also, the ticket price is far too much. 125 bucks is 60 quid, more or less. there just was not enough on for that: not enough bands and not enough (hardly any) side material.

posted by Dr Zen @ 3:04 pm