Beauty & the Beat

Big Day Out in the big city.. Sydney city. Excited? yes. Slept in and got there later than I wanted missing two principal bands? Yes. First argument of the day done over something trivial before we even got there? Yes. Had awesome time? Yes. Okay I’ll stop that now. So went to Sydney for the Big Day Out, absolutely nothing to do with an unbridled urge to see Kanye (COUGH*pretentiousoverratedgenius*COUGH) but purely for the fact of already spending two Big Day Out’s in Adelaide and wanting a change. Seeing as it was such a long way away and I didn’t want to deal with the drama of being turned away because of my camera I left my precious at J.’s house. So what follows are my random Vignette moments captured by my mobile and to add a little something special, let’s get personal. Like we were sitting together on a comfy couch, alcoholic beverages on hand, you by my side and myself holding the photos..

..So this was us going in, what you can’t see is that we have just passed barricades and clusters of policeman of every shape, size, dismount, on cycles, undercover, more of the colour blue than you should ever hope to see but interestingly enough.. no sniffer dogs which was refreshing.

..This is waiting in the line for our first drinks, this random shot had the added bonus of butt-cheek which I will explain to the festival-virgins out there is THE staple uniform for all 16-25 females with no imagination, saggy asses, low self-esteem and the belief that this will attract the perfect gentlemen =P.. if you are a female and are not showing half of your ass then that’s just not good enough. At the bar I found it amusing that there were signs saying you were not allowed to tip the bar staff.. dammit

This is the end of Cage The Elephant’s set where lead vocalist Matthew Schultz mounted the crowd after an entire performance of captivating head banging, spine tingling vocals and continuous crowd surfing with a roadie feeding him microphone line while he wailed over the crowd.. literally. This is the moment right at the end where he stood atop people’s hands and waved the Australian flag it was glorious. Not the fact it was an Australian flag as I’m not Australian he could have been waving a Britney Spears poster it was just one of those fantastic moments where you saw a glimpse of something pure and Rock’n'roll, unedited, unpredictable, raw, electrifying and head-bangingly awesome. I said it in my review when I saw them again at the Adelaide Big Day Out a week later (another story for a different post) but they are the amalgamation of Nirvana with The Sex Pistols and are my new obsession..

..Finally figuring out where everything is in that huge place and watching from atop Boy & Bear play. So many people it just looked like too much effort to get in the mix, not that I didn’t want to I guess I just felt slightly restricted..

Our surroundings.. I know it was Australia Day but the amount of Southern Cross tattoos was ridiculous, out in full force I think they let you in for free if you had one…

Amazing…

A high hat that high?? Has to be Battles. Managed to hold out until I heard Atlas which was disappointingly sub-par, no female singer singing the vocals when needed they just had a pre-recording playing and a video that didn’t match up. This was a lonely three-piece who looked fed up it took half of their gig to really get into the swing of things and so when Atlas came on I was happy to move on afterwards because they really were not inspiring..

Yeah.. not impressed..

Royksopp were awesome.. not going into too much detail because I wrote a lengthy review which I will post (amongst others, yes, yes I know I have been saying this forever but I will get round it when someone can teach me how to add pages and do fancy things with WordPress).. but any-time that bands incorporate costumes and mood lighting is a good time by me..

I loved it really…

I’d found a great spot in the crowd waiting for Kasabian to come on with sufficient surrounding space and the minute they came out it was like a tidal wave coming in every nook and cranny filled with people.. c’est la rock’n'roll..

Loved hearing Shoot the Runner, one of the best video clips of all time, great song to get your animal instincts pumping and libido switched on.. one downside was not hearing their magnum opus, their ‘I am the Walrus’, ‘La Fee Verte’.. played it a bit too safe for me

End of the day.. the Kanye triple act spectacular with dancers and everything..

Way too tired.. after Kanye went home like a couple of fuddy-duddy’s and couldn’t be bothered with watching a little bit of Noel Gallagher’s high flying birds. Next day walked straight into the record store and bought Cage The Elephant’s ‘Thankyou Happy Birthday’