Big Day Out 2005

The Big Day Out has rolled into town for another year. After sold out shows in every city so far, and a sold out show today, everyone would be in for a treat. The 2005 headliners were New York's finest, The Beastie Boys, UK Kings of Dance, The Chemical Brothers and one of the worlds biggest political bands, System of a Down.

I arrived at the show early, hoping they would let us in because Australia's finest Punkers Frenzal Rhomb were opening the main stage at 11am. To everyone's surprise they started letting us in around 10:30. I went straight to the main stage and caught Frenzal. Their theme this year was 12 Years of Frenzal in 12 songs. It was a very interesting performance, performing some crowds favourites like ‘Never Had So Much Fun' and ‘Punch In The Face', but I was rather pissed that they never played ‘You Can't Move Into My House', but shit happens. During the set, Jay spoke about achieving one of his dreams - finally having Frenzal thongs, which he threw into the crowd. Next on the main stage were New Zealand's The D4. I had heard nothing by these guys up until this performance and really enjoyed them. They had a very garage rock thing happening. The next act on the main stage were the first International act for the day, The Donna's. These ladies are always a joy to watch, they had the crowd eating outta the palms of their hands the moment they come on stage. They played a lot of new material from their current album ‘Gold Medal' but then finished with their classic "Take It Off'. After them, I went for a walk over to the Caterpillar shed stage to see the band whole of Australia is talking about, Wolfmother. I loved these guys. I'm sure they didn't play anymore than 5 songs in the entire 45 minute set, which is very weird. A crowd favourite was the single ‘Woman' which went down very well. From there I went back out onto the main arena to see the end of Eskimo Joe and the start of The Hives. Both impressed me. Back to the Cat stage to see one of the few punk acts on today's bill, Rise Against. A band I had never heard anything by but after today I think I will be going to get some of their records. For most of the set, circle pits were breaking out all around the shed, the security and organisers were getting a little worried about this, so they decided to cut the power at one stage of the set.

Next I went and caught the end of the Spazzy's at the RRR Green Stage. I don't see what everyone's problem with these guys are, I really enjoy them. They are better than a lot of girl bands out there. I made my way back to the Cat stage to catch some of Little Birdy, I couldn't see much so I decided to leave and catch Spiderbait. They were good as usual, only problem was that they were playing the same set I seen them play at the Falls, which was a disappointment, but apart from that, they were great. The highlight was a melody of Old Man Sam and Black Betty to finish their set. Back to the main arena, to catch the triple bill of the day. First were Lismore's favourite sons, Grinspoon. Brilliant. They played mostly older stuff due to singer Phil's broken finger which ensured he couldn't play guitar. They started with the classic, 1000 Miles and played older stuff like Ready 1, Black Friday and More Than You Are. The next band were the one most of the teenage boys had come to see, Iowa's 18 legged Army, Slipknot. From the word go, the crowd went wild, last report I heard was that 12 people went to hospital from pit injuries during Slipknot. Anyway, they started with 'the Blister Exists' from their current album ‘Vol.3 The Submissal Verses' and that was only the start of the mayhem. This was one of the best greatest hits performances you could ever see. They had the whole pit sitting on the ground during the bridge of one of their biggest hits ‘Spit It Out' and had them all saying fuck you to the world during their closer, the classic ‘Surfacing'. Last for not least, was System of a Down. Tonight their set was lacking the energy they had when they performed in 2002. They started with ‘Aerials', which wasn't a real highlight. They seemed bored with the songs they have been playing live now for 3 years. The only other highlight was them showcasing some of the material off their upcoming new album.

I left the main arena, to try and get over to the Cat Stage one last time to catch the end of the world's biggest hardcore act, Hatebreed. They were well worth the pulling to get through the crowd. I only caught about 15 minutes of them but in that I got to see why they are so respected as a live act. They finished with their classic ‘ I Will Be Heard'. I ran over to the RRR stage to catch the last 30 minutes of Regurgitator. They seemed to play a lot of their newer stuff, which wasn't a surprise, but they finished with their recent single ‘The Drop' into ‘Kong Foo Sing' which was a highlight. Last, but not lest was New York's finest, The Beastie Boys. I'm not much of a hip hop fan, but they had me glued to my seat. The stage show was an enough to keep you happy. Anyone that was watching the video screens on the back of the stage knows what i'm talking about. It was funny to watch them be wheeled out on a portable little stage and play jazz. But who cares, people got their moneys worth. They played classic's like ‘C-Check It Out' and ‘Intergalactic' in which they got into the crowd and performed. They finished by playing the classic ‘Sabotage'.

This was by far, the best Big Day Out I have attended.