Part 2 of our massive two part Big Day Out coverage, in which we
take in Hot Chip, Fantomas, Arctic Monkeys, Neil Young, some kind of
foodstuff and the bliss of the sun finally leaving our skin alone.
READ PART 1 HERE
As someone points out,
Hot Chip look like all your Geography teachers got together to throw the best damn party the entire campus has ever seen. That frontman Alexis Taylor, in his oversize hip-hop wear also looks a lot like Napolean Dynamite's brother Kip adds perfectly to their
Revenge of the Nerds vibe. Like a smoother and less hyperventilating !!!, the sprawling dance band are in healthy command of the Boiler Room and I kick myself for missing their sideshow earlier in the week. Meanwhile Mike Patton is having fun with
Fantomas on the tiny essential stage. Dressed in the aforementioned cricket whites - bar Melvins guitarist Buzz Osbourne who presumably isn't that low - Patton's able to make the set even more unsettling, as he sings about hitting his "pecker with a wrench" before spazzing out hardcore style behind a keyboard and laptop, goading the band as much as the crowd and generally looking delighted with himself. Using his all-star band as if they were a live backing track, he signals like a conducter, grimaces, spits and plays up the ridiculousness to its hilt. All the while oblivious to how many bands from Frankston he inspired.
Back to the main stages and after
The Living End do their spinny bass thing (still), the
Arctic Monkeys are content to swagger around nonchalantly as the sun thankfully sets. They have a confidence that belies their young age, but maybe orchestral side-projects and Scott Walker-esque song cycles do that to you. I'm pushed back by having to mill around the edges of the large crowd, but take in a serviceable cover of Nick Cave's 'Red Right Hand', on the way to trying to find a burger that hasn't apparently been eaten and dumped back in the bain marie.
All of the conjecture about whether
Neil Young was the right choice for the country's biggest rockin' yoof festival is swept aside the second that guitar sound hits the air. Shit it's good. (I've even spent the last half an hour
reading about how he gets it it's so good. And
weird.) A big, majestic, sonic tunnel of apocalyptic sound that, unlike your run-of-the-mill pedal-heavy bands, sounds like no instrument. It sounds like mountains, thunder, a wave. Yeah, all that hippy shit. Am I making myself clear? It was BIG, and unlike anything I've ever heard before. Mogwai would wee themselves.
That he then 180s and throws in a trio of acoustic classics like 'Needle and the Damage Done', 'Old Man' and 'Heart of Gold' is goosebump stuff. I profess at this point, I'm not even a Neil fan. More a passing observer. But these songs are inside people through a lifetime of radio/car stereo/friend's party osmosis, and to suddenly have the harmonies of 'Old Man' ringing out over the showgrounds is otherworldly. Neil is on fire, and by the time he finishes with a cover of The Beatles 'A Day In The Life' that ends with a warped, feedback wig-out, I know exactly why he should be headlining the festival. It lacked the bug-eyed spectacle of last year's Rage Against the Machine madness, but exceeded it and maybe every other Big Day Out headline performance I've seen by sheer musicality and sonic wonder. Not to mention a glimpse into the songbook of Rock n Roll history itself. The groups of oiled up singlet wearing dudes now all standing motionless around the fringes with their arms folded, soaking it in, might quietly agree.
After Neil Young,
The Prodigy seem -
ironically - hilariously old hat. Where the execution of Young's songs are timeless, The Prodigy seem dated and tied to an era long gone. Frontguys Keith Flint and Maxim prowl the stage, spitting at the cameras, dancing and jumping up and down endlessly in front of a blitzkrieg of strobe lights, flash pots and people being hauled out of the pit. Still, there's a sense they couldn't last a minute in front of Young's amp.
And another Big Day Out is through. What on paper seemed like reasons for some not to go, became bonuses. The reorganisation of the festival grounds made it comfortable, inviting and largely free of stage bleed. The lower crowd numbers made it a breeze to walk around. (Not to mention when entering the shiteful D barrier, the single worst music-related experience of my life at last year's event. Organisers: Don't avoid the crush at the front by bottle-necking it and moving it back!). And best of all, the line-up revealed itself to be deep with quality music, if not momentarily "hot" marquee names. More please.
UP NEXT: 2009 BIG DAY OUT - PHOTO GALLERY
(Pics: Tim O'Connor)