See the photos from 2008 Gold Coast Big Day Out HERE

If Big Day Out has proved anything it was that diversity is the key to a successful festival, something that the organisers seem to bear in mind with each passing year…

2000
If 1999 was the year that the Big Day Out was angry and pissed off with the world in the form of Korn and Marilyn Manson, the 2000 edition of the Big Day Out was far happier, with headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers and blink-182 pleasing many, whilst for many the highlight of the main stage came in the form of goth-nihilists nine inch nails, touring on the back of an experimental third album, The Fragile. On the main stage for 2000 were Gerling, new to the Big Day Out phenomenon, and determined to create a ruckus, Shihad (a late replacement for the ill Frenzal Rhomb), Jebediah (who paid out on Limp Bizkit by covering “Nookie”, complete with audience participation), Grinspoon, Spiderbait, and the Foo Fighters.

The side stage and the Boiler Room were where it was really at for Y2BDO – popsters Icecream Hands played their winsome pop complete with special guest star Ashley Naylor from Even, and the gloriously refined Beth Orton wowed many. Local hip-hop started to state its presence thanks to the likes of Resin Dogs, while the Boiler Room saw the duo of Josh Abrahams and Amiel cooling things down. But the real highlights of the Boiler Room came in the mid-evening and the late night. Firstly, there was Primal Scream, touring on the back of their brilliant XTRMNTR, whose set was something to behold – at one stage, there were twelve people crammed onto the stage, including my bloody valentine’s Kevin Shields! At the end of the night, there was the eclectic Basement Jaxx but even they were eclipsed by the Chemical Brothers, complete with a massive video screen setup.

2001
2001 will go down as the year the Big Day Out lost its innocence. Ostensibly headlined by Limp Bizkit – fresh off the allegations that they fuelled the riots that ensued at Woodstock 99 – with support from German industrial rockers Rammstein, BDO 2001 turned disastrous on an extremely hot Sydney evening. It was there that fifteen year old Jessica Micahlik was crushed in a sea of bodies watching Limp Bizkit. Grinspoon, her favourite band who missed this year’s edition of the festival, would later play at her funeral. Inquests ensued; resulting in future Big Day Outs having a D-shaped barrier, but some say that the Big Day Out has never fully recovered from this disastrous year.

However, it proved to be the making of Brisbane five-piece Powderfinger. Thrust into headline position – they reportedly refused to replace Limp Bizkit directly, kowtowing to Rammstein’s previously higher billing – and becoming the second last band of the night on the main stage, they hit large. “These Days” had become a massive, massive hit, while fellow future superstars Coldplay played in afternoon slots, sandwiched in between a brutally awesome Queens of the Stone Age and first-time Australian tourer P.J. Harvey. Funnily enough, it was probably at the drive-in who were the most talked about band of the festival; ironically the band stopped their Sydney performance after twenty-five minutes as a result of moshing.

2002
The Prodigy headlined the main stage, but disappointed those expecting anything like the performance seen in previous years. Madchester stalwarts New Order wowed, while Garbage showed that while their tunes may have dropped in class since their brilliant self-titled debut, they can still most certainly cut it on the stage. Speaking of wowing, the White Stripes marked their first trip to Australia and were THE band of the festival despite playing on a side stage. The incendiary System of a Down impressed, while the newly capitalised Silverchair were the other big story of BDO 2002, with Daniel Johns coming back from his arthritis to thrill the fans.

Peaches was funny, Regurgitator were awesome, Kosheen and Drowning Pool stunk up whichever stage they were on, while Basement Jaxx proved to be a treat in the Boiler Room. Young Kiwis Betchadupa (fronted by Liam Finn, son of Crowded House’s Neil) got their first taste of the Big Day Out, playing at home in Auckland as well as along the east coast of Australia, while Gerling introduced themselves to New Zealand. Elsewhere, the Crystal Method disappointed but Dave Clarke did not, and Jurassic 5’s no-gimmicks hip-hop had the Melbourne BDO crowd scaling rooves for a better view.

2003
While Foo Fighters headlined, it was a reformed and joyous Jane’s Addiction that stole the show, alongside fellow veterans Kraftwerk in the Boiler Room. Both of these acts proved to be amongst the greatest highlights the Big Day Out has ever seen, with Kraftwerk truly extraordinary and Jane’s Addiction radiating with the good vibes not present in their early documented shows from Los Angeles. P.J. Harvey and Queens of the Stone Age reportedly only agreed to play if the former could follow the latter, and the combination proved to be divine. Wilco made their first trip to Australia on the back of the album of their career (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot), while at the drive-in offshoot Sparta also appeared.

Jebediah announced their return to the live arena, while jimmy eat world proved to be just as big a hit with their fans. The Vines exploded on stage and in people’s faces and got some incredibly bad press as a result, while Xzibit sadly played the east coast shows only. The Waifs were the winners of the festival, coming off the back of the success of “London Still”, winning new fans at a rate of knots. There’s always one band that ‘emerges’ at a Big Day Out, and in 2003 it was most certainly the Waifs.

2004
In 2004, it was darkness vs. light. The pop joi de vivre of the Strokes was followed by the sturm and drang of Metallica. In Sydney, a thunderstorm of epic proportions made for a wonderful light show during the Strokes, while it bucketed like no tomorrow for Metallica. Muse blasted their epic prog-rock all over the main stage, while Kings of Leon shook their skinny hips like there was no tomorrow. Poison the Well and Thursday shows just how great ProTools can make any band sound on record, while Welsh pop nü-metallers Lost Prophets completely upstaged the both of them.

But the two bands everyone was talking about in 2004 were the Mars Volta and the Flaming Lips. Both were making their first visits to Australia, even if elements of the Mars Volta had appeared earlier, in 2001, as at the drive-in. Both were magnificent, albeit in very different ways. The Flips turned their show into a party of epic proportions for all, while the Mars Volta’s technical precision while playing loose jazz-prog-rock-expansiveness was nothing short of extraordinary.

Aphex Twin was the story of the Boiler Room, while hip-hop expanded everywhere – Black Eyed Peas played the main stage, while Scribe & P-Money, King Kapisi, MC Trey, 1200 Techniques and Downsyde all toured Australia. Other highlight local acts included the newly emerging Jet and the Sleepy Jackson, as well as BDO veterans Something For Kate and Gerling, but the reformed Hoodoo Gurus won the biggest cheers for their set of hits and classic memories.

In 2004, the number of shows expanded to seven, with Sydney getting two slightly reduced capacity shows. Those noted sharers – Metallica – reported received all the proceeds for the second show on top of their appearance fee.

2005
As was becoming a regular occurrence, 2005 saw a host of repeat performers – the likes of System of a Down and Chemical Brothers were return visitors, while Beastie Boys made up for their Summersault ‘transgression’ by headlining the show. English guitar heroics were represented by The Music, and American rock fans found favour with the likes of the John Spencer Blues Explosion and The Donnas.

2005’s line-up felt flat in comparison with previous years, and complaints abounded that there wasn’t any international act that was really on the cusp of something big, with the possible exception of English hip-hopper Mike Skinner, a.k.a. the Streets. Locally, however, that couldn’t have been further from the truth – Hilltop Hoods were exploding Australian hip-hop into the mainstream, while Eskimo Joe and Wolfmother also cemented their place as two of the nation’s fastest emerging acts.

2006
While the White Stripes were the ostensible headliners, perhaps in retrospect they weren’t the wisest choice. Some little band before them – without stage-set, without fancy lights – completely upstaged them with every set they played. Mind you, not many bands can compete with Iggy and the Stooges, the progenitors of punk-rock, the epitome of cool, the masters of Detroit rock. Nobody touched the Stooges in 2006, as they tore through a set that lasted as long as they damn well wanted it to last, with Iggy always inviting stage invaders for the set-closing “I Wanna Be Your Dog”. After the monstrous sound of the Stooges, how could the frail two-piece sound of the Stripes cope in comparison?

Franz Ferdinand also impressed on the main stage, while Kings of Leon had developed detached cool since their last visit. Once more, plenty of repeat visitors graced the stages – the question became not so much whether BDO organisers had their favourites, but whether or not there was a paucity of genuinely thrilling alternative music makers emerging. Fortunately, more esoteric fare – from Chicago hip-hopper Common to a spoken word performance by Henry Rollins – added a touch of something different after the lacklustre 2005.

A host of English acts appeared – alongside Franz Ferdinand, there was also the likes of the Magic Numbers, the Subways, and M.I.A. – while original riot grrl heroes Sleater-Kinney said goodbye to Australia. Airbourne were supposed to be the Wolfmother of their year but didn’t quite live up to the hype, but the sound of dance was most certainly strong in 2007, with James Murphy, Cut Copy, and Soulwax all performing highlight sets.

2007
There was a decidedly prog-rock feel to the 2007 Big Day Out, with headliners from either side of the Atlantic aiming for the stars in very different ways. Tool did it through surprisingly delicate use of restraint tempered by flashes of genuine power, and were an amazing, assaulting sound – even if most people couldn’t see frontman James Maynard Keenan as he hovered at the back of the stage. The same couldn’t be said for Muse frontman Matt Bellamy, who lead English three-piece Muse through a great set that coupled genuine songsmithery with guitar tomfoolery.

Violent Femmes cast memories back to 1992 – no, really; they don’t have any new songs – while Las Vegas foursome the Killers proved to not have the power in their sound to be worthy of a spot on the main stage. The Vines returned and certainly impressed, with Craig Nicholls masterful use of pop melodies and guitar smashing ending a delightful response to their poor run of shows some years earlier. My Chemical Romance were a hit with the kids, while Jet’s star most certainly had faded – and didn’t Lily Allen let them know it every time she stopped singing her wonderful pop music!

Lupe Fiasco played with just a turntablist and was nothing short of amazing, while New Zealander Macromantics and the Streets added a different hip-hop flavour to proceedings. The Incredible Beatbox Band and John Cooper Clarke kept things interesting, and Hot Chip were the highlight of the Boiler Room in the wake of their irrepressible The Warning.

Locally the Drones and Snowman marked their BDO debuts with great sets, while a host of the usual suspects – Eskimo Joe, John Butler Trio, Little Birdy, Something For Kate, and so on and so forth – made up the lower spot on the main stage and smaller stage contingent. If the 2007 Big Day Out proved anything it was that diversity is the key to a successful festival, something that the organisers seem to bear in mind with each passing year, serving up a sumptuous feast of surprises that can’t help but please every festival goer.

Check out the review of the Gold Coast 2008 BDO HERE

See the photos from 2008 Gold Coast Big Day Out HERE