The West Australian (Perth)
February 7, 2005 Monday
METRO
Big bands make it a big day
by SIMON COLLINS
Techno, hip-hop and good old rock’n’roll – there was something for
every one of the 36,000 music lovers
More than 36,000 fans rocked into Claremont Showground yesterday for
Perth’s sell-out instalment of the Big Day Out.
They flocked to hear a big range of acts from the hip-hop of Beastie
Boys, the Streets and Scribe, and techno of Chemical Brothers, to
straight-up rock’n’roll from Powderfinger, Spiderbait and the Donnas.
There was something for just about everyone – if you didn’t like the
Aussie hip-hop of Adelaide’s Hilltop Hoods, you could squeeze through
the huge crowd to catch almost veteran rockers Grinspoon.
Punters turned to one another to comment how much Melbourne act
Dallas Crane rocked on the green stage. Or agreed to disagree about
Leeds dance rock act The Music. Or asked the quickest way to the beer
ticket stall.
The Big Day Out is also the ultimate opportunity for self-expression,
with hairstyles designed to turn heads and shock mothers, or bodies
painted head-to-toe in blue paint.
Many simply declared their allegiance by wearing their favourite
band’s T-shirt, usually black.
One of the biggest acts were Iowa hardcore band Slipknot, whose
unrelenting barrage of drums, guitars and guttural roars nearly shook
the Showground into rubble.
The nine-piece act took the stage in their trademark fright-masks,
welcomed by their legion of fans whom the band refer to as Maggots.
Based on the tried and true method of determining a band’s popularity
by the number of T-shirts worn by punters, Slipknot seemed streets
ahead – and the screams of the Maggots confirmed it.
Slipknot and Armenian-American hard rockers System of a Down
delivered the most intense effort segment of the day, prompting mass
moshing and headbanging.
Stage announcers asked for calm in the crowd as the testosterone
flowed as thick and mean as the dense noise.
Decked out in matching Aussie green-and-gold tracksuits,
forty-something rap veterans Beastie Boys busted out some fly hip-hop
jams – that means they were good – to complete 11 hours of action on
the main stages.
There were seven stages in all, including the Local Produce stage
where Screwtop Detonators rocked as if their lives depended on it.
Ten Perth bands performed on this comparatively tiny stage, nestled
in a nook of the venue between the bastion of dance music, the Boiler
Room, and the smaller green and essential stages.
Many local acts have moved beyond this stage in their careers, with
Eskimo Joe and the John Butler Trio earning their spots in the main
arena, while Little Birdy followed Jebediah on the back stages.
And if you felt overwhelmed by the musical smorgasbord, you could
take it easy in a chill-out tent.
GRAPHIC: Home-grown talent: Local boy made good John Butler shows how
his trio earned a spot in the main arena of the Big Day Out.
Pictures: Lee Griffiths.; Fun in the sun: Zeb Hollingsworth and Ashar
Lumsdaine enjoy their big day out at Claremont Showground.;
Rock’n’roll: Powderfinger delivered lashings of straight-up
rock’n’roll.; Surf’s up: Some of the more adventurous fans had a go
at crowd surfing, seen here during Grinspoon’s performance.