Big Day Out 2010
On Australia Day I attended the Big Day Out in Melbourne. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been and to be honest, the line-up this year failed to interest as much as previous years. But that didn’t stop the record crowds. One thing I was prepared for this year was the day – lots of sunscreen, big-ass hat and my own food, etc… Not only did I save a shite load of cash but it mean’t the day was much easier because 11 hours on your feet gets tiring. Also when you’re about 10 years older than 99% of the crowd, you feel it even more. Despite feeling like ‘old’, I had a pretty damn good time!
The highlights for me were first and foremost The Decemberists. On a smaller stage and playing to a surprisingly quiet crowd to begin with, Colin Meloy and co played a number of tracks across their back catalogue which highly impressed. Really kicking myself I didn’t catch one of their solo shows now. Passion Pit were perfect summer musical fodder and again, playing on a smaller stage, brought the entire showgrounds to their feet once their massive 2009 hit ‘Sleepyhead’ surfaced. Dizzee Rascal started slowly but came through in the end. Still, I expected more. Lots of cliches too. The biggest surprise for me was Peaches. I’ve seen all her video clips before and read show reviews online but seeing her live is amazing. She brings a crazy energy and not only that, but her music is damn polished live and much better than the recordings. Muse of course, closed the show on one of the larger stages and whether you love or loathe them, you have to give them credit for owning a large crowd. They also played material from across their catalogue which made me happy since I haven’t really liked much from their last couple of albums. In the end though, a very good BDO, not a great one musically. But for organisers and the punters that came in spades, a raging success no doubt.
