ANOTHER year passes and another Big Day Out festival takes place at Claremont Showgrounds, but the feeling of familiarity this year was stronger with a bill of acts including many performers from festivals past, including headliners Muse.
Nevertheless, punters had snapped up tickets in record time, hinting that for some, the music was secondary to the party, which was enhanced by perfect sunny weather that didn’t top 30 degrees.
The job of opening the main stage at 11am to a small but rapidly growing crowd went to local lads Sugar Army, while Perth prog-metal act Karnivool delivered a set drawing on their excellent 2009 album Sound Awake.
Big Day Out first-timer Mastodon was the first international act to grace the main stage, with the US metal band delivering an astounding set of swirling psychedelic tracks that didn’t grab the attention of as many as it deserved.
Not so for UK lad-rockers Kasabian, who drew a huge and rapturous crowd, showing that their promotion to the main stage since their last appearance was justified.
On the smaller Green Stage, 2009’s big success story The Temper Trap attracted a huge crowd that completely packed out the area, with many unsighted punters content just to listen to warm but dynamic indie tracks like Fader and breakthrough single Sweet Disposition.
While familiar Australian acts Eskimo Joe and Hilltop Hoods minded the main stage, many punters made their way to the Boiler Room (not really a room) to catch a gleefully anarchic set from US mash-up artist Girl Talk.
A big crowd squeezed into the indoor Essential Stage to catch hyped electro outfit Passion Pit, and few left disappointed.
Meanwhile, UK garage-rapper Dizzee Rascal astounded many punters with his freaked-out beats, followed by the catchy pop of Lily Allen, who made several costume changes before informing the punters that this would be her last gig ever. Time will tell.
The Mars Volta had a similar fate to Mastodon, playing an musically stunning set of prog-metal freak-outs that didn’t really engage the crowd, save for a few diehard fans.
Scottish electro whiz kid Calvin Harris worked the already packed Boiler Room into an absolute frenzy with tracks from his two stellar dance albums, while enduring rock band Magic Dirt entertained a smaller but no less dedicated crowd with tracks from their extensive back catalogue including a killer rendition of the infectious Dirty Jeans.
Despite a rather lacklustre response to their latest album, Brisbane’s Powderfinger have had enough ‘Australian anthems’ to support their slot as second on the bill, and fulfilled this role by delivering definitive versions of such crowd pleasing hits as These Days and My Happiness.
On tour in support of their ambitiously grandiose fifth album, The Resistance, UK’s Muse were no doubt the band of the moment, and from the moment Matthew Bellamy, Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard casually strolled onstage and headed straight into the triumphant Uprising, they had the rapturous crowd eating out of the palms of their hands.
While their 80-minute headlining set had all the bells and whistles of the shiniest rock show – which included some of the most awesome visual displays ever utilised during a gig – it was Bellamy’s incredible and effortless musicality that was the star of the show.
The pint-sized lead singer and guitarist, dressed in shiny silver sneakers and pale green slacks, was a barrel of energy as he worked a barrage of unique guitars and a customised piano.
For their encore, the band said they wanted to do something special to mark the end of their Big Day Out tour and invited Jet’s lead singer Nic Chester onstage to duet on AC/DC’s ubiquitous Back in Black, before finishing with the only song that could finish such an amazingly stress-fee and entertaining big day out, Knights of Cydonia.
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