Well then, it's certainly been a while between drinks/blog posts, so I thought I'd just post a little something here to try and sum up exactly what's been going on in my musical world in the past month or so? Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. It's been a busy month! Too busy, apparently, to post regularly... so as I did around this time last year, here's a quick summation of the final gigs of 2011!
So, since Harvest there's been almost two solid months of gigs. The first really notable one was a typically thrilling performance from Sydonia (19/11), and if you follow this blog regularly, then you must know that I. FUCKING. LOVE. THIS. BAND. Especially this year. But this performance was certainly one that stood out from the rest, and you know why? The band decided to treat their loyal fans to a start-to-finish rendition of their debut (and thus far, only) album Given to Destroyers, giving every track a healthy full-blown live rendition! The full-album-in-order-live format has been used with increasing frequency by many bands over the past few years and for good reason - it works an absolute treat, especially if the album is as good as this one is! It was definitely nice to hear all of these songs together, as a lot of them aren't really staples in the Sydonia set anymore due to them working in new material from their LONG-AWAITED second album! Anyway, a cracker of a show!
More than a few eyebrows were raised earlier this year when it was announced that Fucked Up were joining some rock band called Foo Fighters on their sold-out megastadium tour of Australia. But it was no mistake - Dave Grohl's apparently a bit of a fan of the Canadian hardcore troupe, like we all (read, anyone with a half-decent taste in music) are really; the band's third studio album David Comes to Life has been getting almost unanimous praise from critics and fans across the board, and though quite a few of the less knowledgeable Foos fans were scratching their head as to who and why that fat guy on the stage was yelling things, the more openminded were more than happy to see the Canadians return to our shores for the second time in the calendar year (they'd been a part of the Soundwave juggernaut in early March). The band also got the chance to squeeze in their very own intimate performance at the East Brunswick Club (30/11), and what a show it was. The band didn't waste the chance, obviously performing a lot more songs than they would at the Foos shows, and knowing that they were performing them to an audience who were actually Fucked Up fans! A few days later (03/12), of course, Foo Fighters, Tenacious D and Fucked Up (as well as local duo DZ Deathrays) rolled into AAMI Park for a mammoth stadium rock extravaganza, and entertained the capacity crowd immensely. You can say what you like about some of their recent material (although Wasting Light is arguably a cracking return to form), but the fact is Messrs Grohl, Shiflett, Smear, Mendel and Hawkins are pretty damn comfortable on a live stage, and this performance was a true stand-out for the year, as they ripped their way through a healthy TWENTY-SIX song set, covering just about every single facet of their extremely lengthy and productive career.
Meredith, Meredith, Meredith. Just saying those words makes me miss the place. So the second weekend (9-11th) of December rolled around once again, and once again the trip was made to the Supernatural Amphitheatre. Where to begin? Grinderman were pretty much the name on everyone's lips in the lead-up to the festival and naturally, Jim Sclavunos, Martyn Casey, Warren Ellis, and Nick fucking Cave did not disappoint at all - however, they played an extremely unexpected card at the very end of the set, with Cave annoucing that the band was "over", and that they'd "see (us) in ten years, when (they'd) be even older and uglier". Who saw that coming, hey? Other than that though, there were plenty of musical highlights scattered throughout the two nights and three days - Icehouse played to everyone's undeniable love of nostalgia, Future of the Left brought their raucous filthy noise, Explosions in the Sky chilled things out quite nicely with their sublime brand of post-rock, Barbariön allegedly spent most of their budget on literal explosions and had the entire amphitheatre fist pumping and shouting along to their hilarious take on the excessive side of heavy metal, hardcore supergroup Off! played a ridiculous amount of songs in a very short time, and well, that's about it really isn't it? Well done Aunty. Happy 21st!
Just two days later, it was off to the East Brunswick Club for a night of SHRED (followed by ANOTHER NIGHT) (13&14/12). And who better to deliver it than Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, a man who has released a shitload of albums and been the driving force of two of my (and everyone else's with a decent music taste) bands, The Mars Volta and At the Drive-In. On this occasion he would also play bass in Le Butcherettes, a wacky Mexican/American punk rock group fronted by the extremely unique Teri Gender Bender who played quite a different style of music to the headliner! Then once that was done, Omar, backed by his Mars Volta cohorts in Juan Alderete on bass and Deantoni Parks on drums, treated the audience to a mind-boggling display of his amazing axe abilities. With a set that consisted mostly of tracks from the forthcoming Vato Negro album, it's fair to say that most of the audience was unfamiliar with the material being aired, but when the talent onstage is that fucking good, who cares?!
At Meredith, I had woken up on the second day with absolutely no voice as a result of Future of the Left's massive Friday night belter; suffice to say, I was keen to attend them again, albeit with a little more sobriety and common sense on my side. After all, they are releasing an album this year entitled The Plot Against Common Sense. Anyway. Falco and his band of merry men (and woman) were given the opportunity to play their own gig at the Corner (16/12) and they delivered another absolute ripper, with tracks from across their career (including PLENTY from the new album), which was of course interspersed with the usual witty banter, which covered such topics as Australian made keyboards, cricket (numerous times), dead celebrities, and the Olympic Games. Not necessarily in that order. And concluded with an extended jam involving plenty of audience participation...
The final (well, major) gig for the year? One I had fucking high expectations for, given that in July, Sydney post-rocking godchildren sleepmakeswaves had delivered a magnificent set from the soon-to-be-non-operational stage at the East Brunswick Club. The announcement of another date in December later in the year saw me marking the date IMMEDIATELY on my mental calendar. Due to some other things happening earlier in the evening, Meniscus were the only other support band I managed to see, but my god were they impressive, resulting in me immediately purchasing their War of Currents album. And then we made our way to the front, took our seats on the floor (yes) and braced ourselves for... a setlist identical to the aforementioned East Brunswick show? Though it has to be said that the band did deliver a brilliant show again, the fact that they didn't go out of their way to mix it up even a little bit was slightly disappointing, and meant the show just wasn't as awesome as the previous. Nonetheless, this band DID release an album that I enjoyed the shit out of in 2011 (hell, I still am!) and it was a great show regardless. And hey, it was our first live introduction to the band's new drummer, Tim Adderley! So that was nice.
2011, 2011, 2011. It brought many highlights, musical and otherwise. Live music this year, oh we had a belter. Too many great acts doing amazing things to possibly mention here... and yet, in the coming weeks, I will have to mention them. That's right, my end of year top 10 gigs are beginning to take shape, mentally at least, and hopefully will be posted in completed form before the month's end. And what was I doing when I wasn't at a gig? Listening to music, of course! Though I must say I didn't really keep up with new music last year as much as I usually do, obviously my (not-so-) hard-earned cash was often spent on CDs, and quite often, some of those were new! So yes, there WILL be, as always, a top 10 countdown of 2011's best albums according to yours truly. It will probably be posted quite soon, as I've had quite a good think about it and I've got a clear idea of where most things are going to land (or not land, as the case may be).
OH! One thing I do want to mention about 2011 is my introduction to the wonderful world of bootleg recording. For those who aren't aware, in late 2010 year my friend Chris Jacques, the founder of the wonderful Fan Made Recordings blog invited me to join the team, GIVING me his old recording equipment after he purchased some new stuff. Though the microphones were a little bit dead, I got a few good uses out of them before a new pair arrived in about April, and then the real fun began! Though quite often my err, state of inebriation lead to obnoxious conversations and RIDICULOUS singing, rendering some (quite a lot, really!) of the recordings unpostable, there were plenty more gigs where I managed to keep myself under control and it lead to some truly amazing gigs being captured for my own personal enjoyment AS WELL as sharing them with the wider world. I really can't thank Chris enough!
Anyway. That's about it. Top 10s are coming soon!
Showing posts with label Grinderman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grinderman. Show all posts
Friday, December 30, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Explosions, stage invasions, fokken riddikolos South African hip hop, and Nick Cave! - Big Day Out 2011, Flemington Racecourse, 30/01/11
So, yet again, what I saw as an excellent lineup convinced me to break my promise to myself that I would be giving this year's Big Day Out a miss. Yes, the lineup may have been a little recycled, with two of the three mainstage headliners appearing at the festival only four and five years ago and not releasing any significant new material in that time (Tool and The Stooges respectively), and the Australian undercard was absolutely yawn-worthy (with a few exceptions). But I never really understood that "they've been here before!" argument for knocking a lineup - if the artist is a great live performer (as Tool and The Stooges UNQUESTIONABLY are), then why not go back and see them again? Anyway, despite the 40 degree heat doing its best to ruin it, another fantastic day was had at my SEVENTH consecutive Big Day Out.
A combination of misreading the train timetable and my own laziness saw me get through the gates a bit later than intended, then a friend arrived soon after I did so I met up with him. Unfortunately by then it was too late to go over and check out Super Wild Horses, who I'd heard good things about, and we instead made our way in the direction of the main stages so I could get my spot for Dead Letter Circus and he could go and see Little Red with some others. Within ten minutes however, said friend had joined me over on the Orange Stage side, finding Little Red boring, and indeed they were. One band that was not boring was Dead Letter Circus! Despite the sound guys doing a very average job - vocalist Kim Benzie was barely audible at the best of times, the guitars of Rob Maric and newish live member Tom Skerlj were completely overwhelmed by drums and the sampled beats and programming were almost non-existent - the band still threw themselves into their early afternoon timeslot with all the usual enthusiasm we see from them at live shows. As expected, the rapidly rising profile of the band saw plenty of keen punters arriving early to check Dead Letter Circus out, and the fans were more than happy to lend their voices to just about every lyric of every song! This time last year, DLC were a lot less well-known and were just starting to rise out of the "underground", yet the sudden success has clearly not gone to their heads. Benzie was genuinely thankful of everyone in attendance, preceeding One Step with a mention of their recent Hottest 100 success (the song made it in at #65), and later dedicating Lines to the fans who had been there from the beginning. Having always seen DLC at club shows with longer sets than the 50 minutes they were allocated today, I was expecting them to miss a few classics, but the setlist was actually quite satisfying, with a healthy selection of their amazing debut album This is the Warning, and three out of the six tracks from their debut self-titled EP making the cut. The set concluded in great style; as the introductory speech from This is the Warning played out over the PA, Benzie introduced Sean Bailey from Sydonia and Zane Rosanoski from Black Devil Yard Boss to the stage, to belt the floor toms in that middle section.
SETLIST
The Mile
Reaction
This Long Hour
Disconnect and Apply
One Step
Lines
Cage
Here We Divide
The Space on the Wall
Next in Line
This is the Warning (with Sean Bailey (Sydonia) and Zane Rosanoski (Black Devil Yard Boss) on guest percussion)
(Dead Letter Circus's performance was worthy of a 10/10, but unfortunately due to abysmal sound the overall set was an 8/10 at best. Not the band's fault though, I'm sure. They didn't even seem to notice a problem.)
It was then time for a bit of a wander and take-it-easy time. In this time I found myself pondering the appeal of Washington, when we tried to meet up with a few friends near a jam-packed Essential Stage. I mean, her music sounds... nice and easygoing and all, I'd even say it's good, but FIVE sold-out nights at the Corner Hotel good? I don't get it. Anyway. After staying there for a bit and finding ourselves increasingly bored, we headed over to the Boiler Room to enjoy the fact that it had a roof, and also to secure an early spot for South Africa's Zef hip-hop trio Die Antwoord. What a show! I didn't get the chance to have a listen to the music of MCs Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er, and DJ Hi-Tek before the day, but I was expecting some extremely over-the-top rave-rap, and that's exactly what I got! As Ninja and Yo-Landi belted out vicious rhymes over Hi-Tek's bass-heavy beats, they were accompanied by some excellent visuals, one of which proclaimed "DIE FOKKEN ANTWOORD", which really summed up the mood of the whole show. The crowd was huge for such an early slot, and we all enjoyed this totally over-the-top display of Zef culture at its finest.
(Die Antwoord score: 9/10)
Up next in the Boiler Room (well at least, after a short half-hour interlude from DJ Perplex) were typically bonkers Canadian glitch-electro duo (with a bit of help on drums for their live show) Crystal Castles. The big story of this tour has been that vocalist Alice Glass had done some serious damage to her ankle at a recent show in Japan. Naturally, someone from BDO thought it a good idea to get the crowd amped up even more by declaring that Glass had been advised by doctors to cancel the tour. Pause for boos and shouts. "But she didn't want to disappoint you, so here she is!" How cliche. With a crutch under one arm and holding her microphone in the other, Glass and producer Ethan Kath whipped the Boiler Room into a frenzy in what seemed like a very short but intense set. The massive sound system in the stage did the band a lot more favours than their 2009 appearance at Parklife, and the crowd lost their collective shit to a handful of favourites from their two self-titled albums. Predictably, it was numbers like Baptism and Alice Practice that elicited the biggest response, but really, all went down a treat for the sweaty punters.
SETLIST (something along the lines of this, anyway. Doesn't seem to be up on setlist.fm yet and I couldn't be bothered doing my usual setlist-in-phone on the day.)
Fainting Spells
Baptism
Doe Deer
Crimewave
Air War
Alice Practice
Reckless / Through the Hosiery
Not In Love
(Crystal Castles score 8.5/10)
It was time to head the Main Stage again, and while waiting it out in front of the Blue Stage, I got to witness most of what seemed like just another John Butler Trio gig. I don't mean that in a particularly negative way; I used to be a pretty big fan and I found myself singing along (albeit a little quietly!) and nodding my head to some of the songs that he played during his set. Unfortunately there was quite a lot of material from last years' April Uprising album, which I never bothered to check out. But he did make up for it with the usual classy rendition of Ocean, showing his impressive talents with fingerstyle and percussive guitar playing. Unfortunately for those anticipating the next act on the Blue Stage, he decided that his last song Funky Tonight would involve an extensive percussion jam that stretched the set over-time. Poor form Mr Butler, especially considering that rock royalty was being held up!
(JBT score 7.5/10)
Seeing the mighty Iggy Pop fronting his band The Stooges in a reasonably far-off country like Australia could be considered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. However, five years on from their EPIC performance at the 2006 Big Day Out, lightning struck twice and The Stooges would perform on Australian stages yet again. Since their last outing, they have tragically lost founding axeman Ron Asheton, and so as a mark of respect for their fallen bandmate are now continuing under the Iggy and the Stooges moniker, featuring the return of guitarist James Williamson, who played on the group's third album Raw Power. As one might expect, the material from this set was drawn mostly from this aptly-titled album, still performed with an intensity that most other performers at this festival struggled to match, despite the fact that the five members of the band probably have a collective age of greater than the rest of the festival put together! The backdrop behind the band was a simple PLAIN WHITE SHEET, perfectly epitomising their no-nonsense rock and roll attitude, in stark contrast to the two acts that would take to the stage after them. And at the front of it all was James Newell Osterberg Jr, better known as motherfucking Iggy Pop - running around on stage like a madman, knocking over those microphone stands foolish enough to stand in his way, screeching out those lyrics with all the fury he could muster, and even punching out a camera who got a little too close! Where does this 63-year-old man get so much energy?! Arguably the highlight of the 2006 BDO was the massive stage invasions that Iggy brought on during the anthem Real Cool Time, and of course history repeated itself this time around - the band didn't play that particular song, but four songs in, as Iggy introduced Shake Appeal, the chaos began and punters began spilling themselves over the barrier and onto the stage - I managed to get over the barrier pretty quickly, but the chaos of people scrambling to the stage made the next part quite a challenge, and security very quickly prevented any more people from climbing up! We remained on that side of the barrier for the whole song, until security eventually had to kick us out! The rest of the set was highly enjoyable, featuring a few more ditties from Raw Power, as well as the Fun House double of Fun House and 1970 (oddly played in that order) and a handful of tracks from the Iggy/Williamson collaboration Kill City. The set conclude with No Fun and the immortal I Wanna Be Your Dog as taken from their self-titled debut album, but after vanishing offstage for a bit, being the rock gods that they are, they were allowed to bend the BDO rules slightly and get an encore, which would be Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell. Iggy and the Stooges really showed up just about everybody else on this bill with a high-class performance despite their increasing age.
(Iggy and the Stooges score 9.5/10.)
SETLIST:
Raw Power
Search and Destroy
Gimme Danger
Shake Appeal (with stage invasion!)
Johanna
Kill City
Fun House
1970
Night Theme
Beyond the Law
No Fun
I Wanna Be Your Dog
----Encore----
Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell
Towards the end of The Stooges, I'd shuffled over to the other side of the D-barrier to the Orange Stage, where I was greeted by the side of a roof-to-floor black curtain, obscuring the stage set-up of German industrial metal legends Rammstein. It was a hotly (pun intended) anticipated performance for quite a lot of people on the day; after all, it's their first Australian tour in ten years, and in that time they've released FOUR albums. I think the method of covering the set-up time is a good tension builder, after all, you've got no idea what's going to happen until BAM, it actually does happen. And as The Stooges wrapped up, lights could be seen flickering behind the black curtain, and the familiar synthesiser opening of Rammlied, from the band's 2009 album Liebe ist für alle da, drifted out across the grounds. Still behind the curtain, the operatic voice of Till Lindemann began the song in fine style, before the opening chord blasts and chant of "RAMM! STEIN!" began the song proper. The black curtain fell to the floor to reveal a SECOND curtain, this time a massive German flag, before that too dropped, the first of MANY loud explosions went off, and the six German rockers became visible for the first time! After ten years away from this country, it's fair to say the fans were waiting a long time for this, and the band weren't disappointing at all. Now, it would be impossible to review this show without saying that THE STAGE SHOW WAS INCREDIBLE. After all, this was the only band on the bill today (and probably in BDO history) that boasted a licensed pyrotechnician for a frontman, and they put his skills to excellent use. Fireballs going off in every direction (including from above the band), flamethrowers wielded by band members, and even the occasional dazzling fireworks display, the band was so over-the-top you couldn't help but be amazed at their show. My personal favourite stunt occurred during Du hast, when the purpose of the wires running from the stage to the mixing tent became immediately clear; Lindemann fired a crossbow in their general direction, setting of a dazzling chain of explosions along the wires. There were some comical theatrical moments as well, such as during Ich tu dir weh, when Lindemann picked up keyboardist Christian "Flake" Lorenz and put him in a bathtub, before ascending high above him on a hydraulic platform and pouring fireworks down into the bathtub. After returning to the stage, Lindemann inspected the bath and pronounced Flake "dead", however as he returned to his microphone, Flake re-emerged, now in a sparkling suit and returned to the keys, continuing the rest of the set most amusingly on a treadmill! Then there was the "fan" being set on fire during Benzin! Stage-show, schmage-show, some of you might say. WHAT ABOUT THE MUSIC? Well, as some other bands have proven over the years (umm, Empire of the Sun?), blowing your budget on the visual side of things is pointless without a decent collection of songs to back it up with; thankfully, there were no such complaint's of Rammstein's material on the day. The band played a decent set of tunes, consisting as expected mostly of LIFAD tracks, but interspersed with a couple of favourites from across their career, even dating back to debut album Herzeleid, with Du riechst so gut delighting the hardcore fans in the audience. Elsewhere, third album Mutter got the next highest representaion, and one song from everything else was played, including, of course, Du hast, which certainly got the biggest reaction on the day. The explosions finally died down enough to allow the band to farewell the crowd with Pussy, but there was one final stunt to come and that involved Till Lindemann mounting a suspiciously-penis-shaped cannon on the stage and blasting foam out into a delighted audience. The only complaints about Rammstein's set that I think everyone had, were, 1) It wasn't properly dark yet, meaning the amazing stage show was slightly less intense than it should have been, and 2) THEY JUST WEREN'T ON FOR LONG ENOUGH. This was undoubtedly one of THE BEST performances in Big Day Out history; definitely my personal favourite since Rage Against the Machine's comeback in 2008, and over the seven years I've been, probably only second to that performance as well. Usually I don't like to include festival performances in my end of year top 10 gigs, but bearing in mind that they didn't do a sideshow, there is no way that this cannot make it at the end of the year. RAMMSTEIN SCORE 10/10!
SETLIST:
Rammlied
Waidmann's Heil
Keine Lust
Feuer frei!
Weiner Blut
Ich tu dir weh
Du riechst so gut
Benzin
Links 2-3-4
Du hast
Sonne
Ich Will
Pussy
After that, there wasn't a lot that Tool could do to impress me; going to a set of arty prog-rock after that, and staying in the jam-packed D, just didn't seem like the right option, especially seeing I was going to Tool's sideshow. So a good mate and I decided we'd head over to the Green Stage to see Warren Ellis, Martyn P Casey, Jim Sclavunos, and NICK CAVE in action, as wired garage-rock revivalists Grinderman. I'd seen the band perform at the ATP Festival a few years ago, but didn't really know their material at the time, so I was pretty keen to see them this time around. Naturally, the "other" three members came onstage first, then Cave himself entered to an extremely enthusiastic response. Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man, from the band's Grinderman 2 album, was a good choice for opening the set, as Cave chanted "We sucked her, we sucked her, we sucked her dry!" and howled out at the crowd. The band really were throwing everything into this performance, with Cave thrashing around the stage in a manner not dissimilar to Iggy Pop's earlier performance, taking out a few microphone stands with him. He seemed to have some sort of extension of the stage set up (I was a little far back in the crowd so I couldn't tell exactly), and utilised it frequently to get even closer to the adoring crowd, especially during Kitchenette where he screeched "I JUST WANNA RELAX!" repeatedly. The sexually-charged performance featured numerous cuts from both Grinderman and Grinderman 2, with highlights including a typically violent Get it On and No Pussy Blues. There were however the occasional moments of contrasting tranquility; Nick Cave introducing Palaces of Montezuma with: "Now, this next one's a love song, so if you're with someone you love... or even someone you hate, take a hold of them and let the sweet..." *long pause* *Sclavunos shouts something* "Yes, the sweet sentiments, thank you Jim, wash over you". After Bellringer Blues, Cave made to leave the stage, but stopped, saying "Apparently we've got one more," and so it was that the set concluded with a beautiful extended version of the eponymous Grinderman. (Grinderman score 10/10.)
SETLIST:
Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man
Worm Tamer
Get it On
Heathen Child
Palaces of Montezuma
Honey Bee (Let's Fly to Mars)
Kitchenette
No Pussy Blues
Bellringer Blues
Grinderman
Naturally, the Boiler Room was still kicking until the very end, with M.I.A. taking the headline slot, but the group I was with decided it was time to go, and after the excellent day I'd had already, I decided that I wouldn't be missing much to call it a night at that point. I was getting a little bit fed-up of the whole Big Day Out experience this time last year, but this time around I really did enjoy myself a whole lot, probably because of the excellent performance by those crazy Germans. So, I won't write this festival off just yet; if the lineup has enough goodness in it next time around, I may just return for an eight visit!
A combination of misreading the train timetable and my own laziness saw me get through the gates a bit later than intended, then a friend arrived soon after I did so I met up with him. Unfortunately by then it was too late to go over and check out Super Wild Horses, who I'd heard good things about, and we instead made our way in the direction of the main stages so I could get my spot for Dead Letter Circus and he could go and see Little Red with some others. Within ten minutes however, said friend had joined me over on the Orange Stage side, finding Little Red boring, and indeed they were. One band that was not boring was Dead Letter Circus! Despite the sound guys doing a very average job - vocalist Kim Benzie was barely audible at the best of times, the guitars of Rob Maric and newish live member Tom Skerlj were completely overwhelmed by drums and the sampled beats and programming were almost non-existent - the band still threw themselves into their early afternoon timeslot with all the usual enthusiasm we see from them at live shows. As expected, the rapidly rising profile of the band saw plenty of keen punters arriving early to check Dead Letter Circus out, and the fans were more than happy to lend their voices to just about every lyric of every song! This time last year, DLC were a lot less well-known and were just starting to rise out of the "underground", yet the sudden success has clearly not gone to their heads. Benzie was genuinely thankful of everyone in attendance, preceeding One Step with a mention of their recent Hottest 100 success (the song made it in at #65), and later dedicating Lines to the fans who had been there from the beginning. Having always seen DLC at club shows with longer sets than the 50 minutes they were allocated today, I was expecting them to miss a few classics, but the setlist was actually quite satisfying, with a healthy selection of their amazing debut album This is the Warning, and three out of the six tracks from their debut self-titled EP making the cut. The set concluded in great style; as the introductory speech from This is the Warning played out over the PA, Benzie introduced Sean Bailey from Sydonia and Zane Rosanoski from Black Devil Yard Boss to the stage, to belt the floor toms in that middle section.
SETLIST
The Mile
Reaction
This Long Hour
Disconnect and Apply
One Step
Lines
Cage
Here We Divide
The Space on the Wall
Next in Line
This is the Warning (with Sean Bailey (Sydonia) and Zane Rosanoski (Black Devil Yard Boss) on guest percussion)
(Dead Letter Circus's performance was worthy of a 10/10, but unfortunately due to abysmal sound the overall set was an 8/10 at best. Not the band's fault though, I'm sure. They didn't even seem to notice a problem.)
It was then time for a bit of a wander and take-it-easy time. In this time I found myself pondering the appeal of Washington, when we tried to meet up with a few friends near a jam-packed Essential Stage. I mean, her music sounds... nice and easygoing and all, I'd even say it's good, but FIVE sold-out nights at the Corner Hotel good? I don't get it. Anyway. After staying there for a bit and finding ourselves increasingly bored, we headed over to the Boiler Room to enjoy the fact that it had a roof, and also to secure an early spot for South Africa's Zef hip-hop trio Die Antwoord. What a show! I didn't get the chance to have a listen to the music of MCs Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er, and DJ Hi-Tek before the day, but I was expecting some extremely over-the-top rave-rap, and that's exactly what I got! As Ninja and Yo-Landi belted out vicious rhymes over Hi-Tek's bass-heavy beats, they were accompanied by some excellent visuals, one of which proclaimed "DIE FOKKEN ANTWOORD", which really summed up the mood of the whole show. The crowd was huge for such an early slot, and we all enjoyed this totally over-the-top display of Zef culture at its finest.
(Die Antwoord score: 9/10)
Up next in the Boiler Room (well at least, after a short half-hour interlude from DJ Perplex) were typically bonkers Canadian glitch-electro duo (with a bit of help on drums for their live show) Crystal Castles. The big story of this tour has been that vocalist Alice Glass had done some serious damage to her ankle at a recent show in Japan. Naturally, someone from BDO thought it a good idea to get the crowd amped up even more by declaring that Glass had been advised by doctors to cancel the tour. Pause for boos and shouts. "But she didn't want to disappoint you, so here she is!" How cliche. With a crutch under one arm and holding her microphone in the other, Glass and producer Ethan Kath whipped the Boiler Room into a frenzy in what seemed like a very short but intense set. The massive sound system in the stage did the band a lot more favours than their 2009 appearance at Parklife, and the crowd lost their collective shit to a handful of favourites from their two self-titled albums. Predictably, it was numbers like Baptism and Alice Practice that elicited the biggest response, but really, all went down a treat for the sweaty punters.
SETLIST (something along the lines of this, anyway. Doesn't seem to be up on setlist.fm yet and I couldn't be bothered doing my usual setlist-in-phone on the day.)
Fainting Spells
Baptism
Doe Deer
Crimewave
Air War
Alice Practice
Reckless / Through the Hosiery
Not In Love
(Crystal Castles score 8.5/10)
It was time to head the Main Stage again, and while waiting it out in front of the Blue Stage, I got to witness most of what seemed like just another John Butler Trio gig. I don't mean that in a particularly negative way; I used to be a pretty big fan and I found myself singing along (albeit a little quietly!) and nodding my head to some of the songs that he played during his set. Unfortunately there was quite a lot of material from last years' April Uprising album, which I never bothered to check out. But he did make up for it with the usual classy rendition of Ocean, showing his impressive talents with fingerstyle and percussive guitar playing. Unfortunately for those anticipating the next act on the Blue Stage, he decided that his last song Funky Tonight would involve an extensive percussion jam that stretched the set over-time. Poor form Mr Butler, especially considering that rock royalty was being held up!
(JBT score 7.5/10)
Seeing the mighty Iggy Pop fronting his band The Stooges in a reasonably far-off country like Australia could be considered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. However, five years on from their EPIC performance at the 2006 Big Day Out, lightning struck twice and The Stooges would perform on Australian stages yet again. Since their last outing, they have tragically lost founding axeman Ron Asheton, and so as a mark of respect for their fallen bandmate are now continuing under the Iggy and the Stooges moniker, featuring the return of guitarist James Williamson, who played on the group's third album Raw Power. As one might expect, the material from this set was drawn mostly from this aptly-titled album, still performed with an intensity that most other performers at this festival struggled to match, despite the fact that the five members of the band probably have a collective age of greater than the rest of the festival put together! The backdrop behind the band was a simple PLAIN WHITE SHEET, perfectly epitomising their no-nonsense rock and roll attitude, in stark contrast to the two acts that would take to the stage after them. And at the front of it all was James Newell Osterberg Jr, better known as motherfucking Iggy Pop - running around on stage like a madman, knocking over those microphone stands foolish enough to stand in his way, screeching out those lyrics with all the fury he could muster, and even punching out a camera who got a little too close! Where does this 63-year-old man get so much energy?! Arguably the highlight of the 2006 BDO was the massive stage invasions that Iggy brought on during the anthem Real Cool Time, and of course history repeated itself this time around - the band didn't play that particular song, but four songs in, as Iggy introduced Shake Appeal, the chaos began and punters began spilling themselves over the barrier and onto the stage - I managed to get over the barrier pretty quickly, but the chaos of people scrambling to the stage made the next part quite a challenge, and security very quickly prevented any more people from climbing up! We remained on that side of the barrier for the whole song, until security eventually had to kick us out! The rest of the set was highly enjoyable, featuring a few more ditties from Raw Power, as well as the Fun House double of Fun House and 1970 (oddly played in that order) and a handful of tracks from the Iggy/Williamson collaboration Kill City. The set conclude with No Fun and the immortal I Wanna Be Your Dog as taken from their self-titled debut album, but after vanishing offstage for a bit, being the rock gods that they are, they were allowed to bend the BDO rules slightly and get an encore, which would be Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell. Iggy and the Stooges really showed up just about everybody else on this bill with a high-class performance despite their increasing age.
(Iggy and the Stooges score 9.5/10.)
SETLIST:
Raw Power
Search and Destroy
Gimme Danger
Shake Appeal (with stage invasion!)
Johanna
Kill City
Fun House
1970
Night Theme
Beyond the Law
No Fun
I Wanna Be Your Dog
----Encore----
Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell
Towards the end of The Stooges, I'd shuffled over to the other side of the D-barrier to the Orange Stage, where I was greeted by the side of a roof-to-floor black curtain, obscuring the stage set-up of German industrial metal legends Rammstein. It was a hotly (pun intended) anticipated performance for quite a lot of people on the day; after all, it's their first Australian tour in ten years, and in that time they've released FOUR albums. I think the method of covering the set-up time is a good tension builder, after all, you've got no idea what's going to happen until BAM, it actually does happen. And as The Stooges wrapped up, lights could be seen flickering behind the black curtain, and the familiar synthesiser opening of Rammlied, from the band's 2009 album Liebe ist für alle da, drifted out across the grounds. Still behind the curtain, the operatic voice of Till Lindemann began the song in fine style, before the opening chord blasts and chant of "RAMM! STEIN!" began the song proper. The black curtain fell to the floor to reveal a SECOND curtain, this time a massive German flag, before that too dropped, the first of MANY loud explosions went off, and the six German rockers became visible for the first time! After ten years away from this country, it's fair to say the fans were waiting a long time for this, and the band weren't disappointing at all. Now, it would be impossible to review this show without saying that THE STAGE SHOW WAS INCREDIBLE. After all, this was the only band on the bill today (and probably in BDO history) that boasted a licensed pyrotechnician for a frontman, and they put his skills to excellent use. Fireballs going off in every direction (including from above the band), flamethrowers wielded by band members, and even the occasional dazzling fireworks display, the band was so over-the-top you couldn't help but be amazed at their show. My personal favourite stunt occurred during Du hast, when the purpose of the wires running from the stage to the mixing tent became immediately clear; Lindemann fired a crossbow in their general direction, setting of a dazzling chain of explosions along the wires. There were some comical theatrical moments as well, such as during Ich tu dir weh, when Lindemann picked up keyboardist Christian "Flake" Lorenz and put him in a bathtub, before ascending high above him on a hydraulic platform and pouring fireworks down into the bathtub. After returning to the stage, Lindemann inspected the bath and pronounced Flake "dead", however as he returned to his microphone, Flake re-emerged, now in a sparkling suit and returned to the keys, continuing the rest of the set most amusingly on a treadmill! Then there was the "fan" being set on fire during Benzin! Stage-show, schmage-show, some of you might say. WHAT ABOUT THE MUSIC? Well, as some other bands have proven over the years (umm, Empire of the Sun?), blowing your budget on the visual side of things is pointless without a decent collection of songs to back it up with; thankfully, there were no such complaint's of Rammstein's material on the day. The band played a decent set of tunes, consisting as expected mostly of LIFAD tracks, but interspersed with a couple of favourites from across their career, even dating back to debut album Herzeleid, with Du riechst so gut delighting the hardcore fans in the audience. Elsewhere, third album Mutter got the next highest representaion, and one song from everything else was played, including, of course, Du hast, which certainly got the biggest reaction on the day. The explosions finally died down enough to allow the band to farewell the crowd with Pussy, but there was one final stunt to come and that involved Till Lindemann mounting a suspiciously-penis-shaped cannon on the stage and blasting foam out into a delighted audience. The only complaints about Rammstein's set that I think everyone had, were, 1) It wasn't properly dark yet, meaning the amazing stage show was slightly less intense than it should have been, and 2) THEY JUST WEREN'T ON FOR LONG ENOUGH. This was undoubtedly one of THE BEST performances in Big Day Out history; definitely my personal favourite since Rage Against the Machine's comeback in 2008, and over the seven years I've been, probably only second to that performance as well. Usually I don't like to include festival performances in my end of year top 10 gigs, but bearing in mind that they didn't do a sideshow, there is no way that this cannot make it at the end of the year. RAMMSTEIN SCORE 10/10!
SETLIST:
Rammlied
Waidmann's Heil
Keine Lust
Feuer frei!
Weiner Blut
Ich tu dir weh
Du riechst so gut
Benzin
Links 2-3-4
Du hast
Sonne
Ich Will
Pussy
After that, there wasn't a lot that Tool could do to impress me; going to a set of arty prog-rock after that, and staying in the jam-packed D, just didn't seem like the right option, especially seeing I was going to Tool's sideshow. So a good mate and I decided we'd head over to the Green Stage to see Warren Ellis, Martyn P Casey, Jim Sclavunos, and NICK CAVE in action, as wired garage-rock revivalists Grinderman. I'd seen the band perform at the ATP Festival a few years ago, but didn't really know their material at the time, so I was pretty keen to see them this time around. Naturally, the "other" three members came onstage first, then Cave himself entered to an extremely enthusiastic response. Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man, from the band's Grinderman 2 album, was a good choice for opening the set, as Cave chanted "We sucked her, we sucked her, we sucked her dry!" and howled out at the crowd. The band really were throwing everything into this performance, with Cave thrashing around the stage in a manner not dissimilar to Iggy Pop's earlier performance, taking out a few microphone stands with him. He seemed to have some sort of extension of the stage set up (I was a little far back in the crowd so I couldn't tell exactly), and utilised it frequently to get even closer to the adoring crowd, especially during Kitchenette where he screeched "I JUST WANNA RELAX!" repeatedly. The sexually-charged performance featured numerous cuts from both Grinderman and Grinderman 2, with highlights including a typically violent Get it On and No Pussy Blues. There were however the occasional moments of contrasting tranquility; Nick Cave introducing Palaces of Montezuma with: "Now, this next one's a love song, so if you're with someone you love... or even someone you hate, take a hold of them and let the sweet..." *long pause* *Sclavunos shouts something* "Yes, the sweet sentiments, thank you Jim, wash over you". After Bellringer Blues, Cave made to leave the stage, but stopped, saying "Apparently we've got one more," and so it was that the set concluded with a beautiful extended version of the eponymous Grinderman. (Grinderman score 10/10.)
SETLIST:
Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man
Worm Tamer
Get it On
Heathen Child
Palaces of Montezuma
Honey Bee (Let's Fly to Mars)
Kitchenette
No Pussy Blues
Bellringer Blues
Grinderman
Naturally, the Boiler Room was still kicking until the very end, with M.I.A. taking the headline slot, but the group I was with decided it was time to go, and after the excellent day I'd had already, I decided that I wouldn't be missing much to call it a night at that point. I was getting a little bit fed-up of the whole Big Day Out experience this time last year, but this time around I really did enjoy myself a whole lot, probably because of the excellent performance by those crazy Germans. So, I won't write this festival off just yet; if the lineup has enough goodness in it next time around, I may just return for an eight visit!
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