Big Day Out @ FlemingtonRacecourse, Melbourne(29/01/2012)

Tue 31st Jan, 2012 in Gig Reviews

Twenty years is a pretty good effort, even those with the gravest of doubts has to admit. In a year full of controversy, the Big Day Out probably managed to pull as much press for the wrong reasons as it did for having reached a double decade. There it was, cowering behind partnership fall outs and social media slaughter; a 20 year old beauty that only wanted to put on its dancing shoes, invite tens of thousands of its closest mates and have a beer whilst partying up a storm in the sun. And if you were smart enough to ignore the amount of bad press that followed this year’s event, then you were probably among those having a great time at the country’s premier music event.

If there was one thing to rival any band for “most talked about” at the event, it had to be the incredible heat, out in force to singe those not wise enough to slap on the sunnie. The early afternoon that brought in the crowd copped the worst of it, and the opening rock and rollers on the main stage had to do some pretty fine work to draw people out from the tented stages scattered over Flemington.

Abbe May had such a duty, opening the Orange stage and the festival with her breed of rock more suited to dark and dingy corners than the blazing 11 am wake up call. She had her work cut out for her, but managed to put on a solid set, growling her way through and proving to be one hell of a dominant new front woman on the scene. A stoner guitar break finished things in style for May; she and her guitarist using their guitars to machine gun the most eager punters forming her crowd.

Keeping in the spirit of rock n roll, Papa Vs Pretty ignited the Blue stage for the day, undeterred by the heat and creating a genuine buzz on stage that translated to the few brave enough to nod their heads approvingly in front of them. PvP deserved credit for keeping their energy up and drawing a crowd into the D, with songs like Heavy Harm doing them plenty of favours.

Stonefield’s set raised an interesting thought over at the Converse Stage: are these four girls really popular or are all these people just lapping up the tent’s shade? Either answer could have been correct, though the former probably had the edge, as last year’s rising stars showed how ready they are for a major event like the Big Day Out. It’s no surprise the girls have kept Whole Lotta Love as a set staple, with their entire catalogue representing the glory of Led Zepplin, and the cover was widely accepted as a set highlight, as were some piercing shrieks and serious hair flailing care of bassist Holly Findlay.

Across the way to the Essential Stage, and Kentucky boys, Cage the Elephant were demonstrating why you pay attention to bands packing out tents at international festivals. Whilst their crowd was kind of modest, those watching were up for a good time, and certainly didn’t shy away from moshing with their neighbours. Between modelling various hats and jumping into the crowd, wild and wacky front man, Matthew Shultz, found time to sing some songs (_Around My Head_ and Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked being the best) and inform the crowd he wanted to “take you to my house and strap you to my bed and every time you try to leave I’ll break your legs – that’s how much I love you.” Cage the Elephant were a serious fun band, and those who caught them weren’t disappointed.

Back into the worst heat of the day, there was no better cure than a mandolin rock out, courtesy of another one of last year’s favourites, Boy and Bear. They had the first full bodied main stage crowd for the day and with good reason, last year’s Moonfire produced some mighty tracks. Amazed at how attentive the crowd was for the Big Day Out, Boy and Bear were privileged to play tracks like Part Time Believer (a slow song because they’re “technically still a folk band”) and actually have a massive afternoon crowd join in. The real participation came on Fall At Your Feet, as it should on any great Finn track, and on closing track Feeding Line, which probably would have had more movement if people weren’t already melting where they stood.

Following on from the day’s starters, there was loads more local rock music to be had as the afternoon moved on. The kids that just couldn’t stay away from one another, The Getaway Plan delivered a mild, yet melodramatic set at the Converse Stage, opting for a quick move to soppy ballads instead of keeping to the high octane performance they started with. The big sounds came back at the set’s end, with some effective harmonies and Matthew Wright wailing his way out.

At the Hot Produce stage shortly thereafter, there was nothing short of sensational set from King Cannons. Mixing up the birth of rock n roll with reggae, King Cannons were a band out to prove something, with every one of their six members giving (and sweating) their all. Whilst many were in the tent to take a breather, the band were out to impress and garnered themselves a few new fans with anthem tracks like Take The Rock and an overall stage presence to give some acts on the main stages a run for the money.

Speaking of main stage, Hilltop Hoods were finishing things up back out on the Orange stage and delivering a questionable lesson on getting bogans to to verbally abuse one another. MC Pressure and Suffa were suitably dripping as they tag-teamed across the stage, coming to a conclusion with Chase That Feeling, a track that’s quickly become a Big Day Out regular.

And if ever there was a Big Day Out regular, it was on the Blue stage following the Hoods departure. Having played on almost half of the festival’s tours, The Living End were the furthest thing from strangers the main stage could have. “There’s no excuse for not knowing this by now,” announced Chris Cheney as he passed the microphone to the crowd on Second Solution, and he was right – the song has probably been played as many times as they’ve performed. Roll On, Prisoner of Society and West End Riot joined as usual features of a Living End set, as did the signature bass-climbing acrobatics and rendition of Waltzing Matilda. There were a couple of new tricks in the old dogs’ bag, though, such as tossing cake at the crowd and inviting 360 to do a interluding rap mid-track – a stunt no one really knew how to take. All in all, TLE’s set was fun as it should be, but caused far too many deja vu moments.