Big Day Out @ SydneyShowground, Sydney (26/1/12)

Mon 30th Jan, 2012 in Gig Reviews

Normally one of the more unbearably hot festivals of the season, it seemed odd that many began their Big Day Out with ponchos at the ready, watching the grey clouds above for any sudden movements.

Thankfully, the dreariness did not translate to the music on stage, as Victorian siblings Stonefield brought their parents’ record collection to life through their splashing drums, huge guitars and howling vocals. As a live act, the Findlays have strengthened their respective abilities. The crowd responded enthusiastically to staples such as Black Water Rising, their now-obligatory rendition of Whole Lotta Love and, of course, Through the Clover. The latter saw eldest sibling Amy emerge from the drum-kit while a female session drummer takers her place. It’s an experiment to see how well Amy handles frontwoman abilities, and although she seems a tad uncomfortable, it’s early days yet.

Frenzal Rhomb wasted little time in their set, tearing through Bird Attack, Mummy Doesn’t Know You’re a Nazi and Russell Crowe’s Band in the course of roughly three and a bit minutes. Dozens more followed, as the band made the very most out of their forty-five minutes. Being the guinea pigs to the Orange and Blue sound meant that a lot of the set saw various members struggling to be heard, the quartet soldiered on like the veterans that they are. Love them or hate them, Frenzal know their festival crowds remarkably well – when frontman Jay Whalley holds out the microphone during the first verse of Never Had So Much Fun, the audience knew exactly how to respond, vocalising exactly what time they coughed up their respective lungs. Raw, unpretentious chaos is Frenzal Rhomb’s business – and business is good.

It’s safe to say that Kentucky natives Cage the Elephant are quickly becoming the talk of this year’s festival. It took all of two songs for irrepressible vocalist Matthew Shultz to leap into the surging crowd, leaping over punters and crowd-surfing to his heart’s content. This off-kilter nature never came across as routine or gimmicky – rather, it felt more like second nature to Shultz, as the rest of the band played their Kentucky-fried brand of bluesy garage rock. Shake Me Down left Shultz practically inaudible for all the crowd’s singing, and Around My Head saw the first of many en-masse bunny mosh-pits start up. Put it this way: if you’re not left with a shit-eating grin and worn-out dancing shoes at the end of a Cage the Elephant show, you were watching a different band.

After a much-maligned and problematic return to the fold in 2011, Faker have started the new year with something to prove. It’s this drive and motivation that allows the Sydney duo – beefed up by a rhythm section live – to give one of the best live sets they have done in quite some time. Vocalist Nathan Hudson, covered in kid’s face-paint and with little more than a vest covering his skinny frame, excitedly ran about the stage, leaping from side to side and losing himself in the music with an energy most fans haven’t seen out of him since a Big Day Out of yore, probably around the Be the Twilight era. Faker’s road to redemption has been a long one, but they seemed to be on the right track here. Let’s see if they can get their groove back.

It was always going to be interesting to see exactly what Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All brought to the table. Mixed reviews from their previous Australian visit as part of the Vivid Festival suggested that perhaps they were not quite up to translating their music to the live environment, but not even those warning signs would serve as preparation for the utter mess that their performance was. Although their enthusiasm for the most part could not be faulted, practically everything else involving their set could: Tyler, the Creator’s mic was not working for half the set, the mix was turgid and it looked as though none of the six people on stage had any idea what was going on. Even a track that was meant to be a set highlight, Yonkers, was dragged down by Tyler himself: “I hate this song,” he mumbled, before apathetically sticking the microphone out in the audience’s direction. One of the day’s sorest disappointments.