Big Day Out Review

by Sean Keenan

It was 29 going on 45 degrees at Metricon Stadium and I had already finished my second bottle of water by the time I reached the appropriately named “Boiler Room” where Peking Duk was performing. I arrive near the end of their setlist and found myself walking almost slow motion-like into a crowd scattered. The audience were singing in their best falsetto voices to a sample of 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'. I approach the middle of the tent with trepidation - and that's when it happens….what I can only describe as a sudden wall of sound building slowly and the crowd tightens in unison engulfing me. Then it reaches critical pitch…the baseline drops and I'm hit with the sonic boom of sound and an earth shattering crowd roar explodes. Bodies jump up and down and pandemonium ensues.

This was my introduction to the day's proceedings.

A man wearing a 6 foot long Indian Headdress bumps into and spills his beer all over another man who's dressed as Robocop, unusual smells not normally associated with a lavatory, surreal conversations with strangers about what music tastes like and more female flesh (with a lot of sunburn) than you’d find in Playboy!

My first interview is scheduled and the nerves are building as I am ushered in to the backstage area.

"Yeah and at this one gig, we were literally shooting vodka into the crowd," Adam Hyde, one half of Peking Duk, gleefully exclaims when I inquired about some of their past gigs. These guys were as awesome in person as they were on stage; two down-to-earth best friends just loving life and the music.

Bluejuice were performing early in the day and I was standing at an ATM when their biggest hit 'Broken Leg' echoed through the walls of Metricon Stadium. Having conquered my “country boy” self-consciousness, I found myself singing out loud, complete with hand movements and an Air Guitar solo.

From there, I rush over to my next interview in the backstage area with a couple of the members from Loon Lake. Frontman, Sam Nolan forgave my nervousness at my first time interview and explained to me aspects of the band's sound and their video clips. It was interesting to hear his thoughts on the video for their single 'City Lights' (he wasn't a fan) and how they spend their downtime.

To avoid sunstroke I escaped to the shade of the red stage to chill. Later folk rockers “The Lumineers” were met with deafening crowd love and were possibly the highlight of the day. The beautiful and melancholy 'Ho Hey' was performed during the beautiful twilight period. It was a great preamble for the evening’s gigs and I was left positively charged.

Blur may not have made the trip down under, but Metricon Stadium's debut Big Day Out was hypnotic – add to this, the experience of having the privilege of interviewing Peking Duk and Loon Lake - I can't wait to come back and do it again next year!