Photo: Charlyn Cameron

If the rumours are true and the Big Day Out is on its last legs, no one has told today’s crowd. Enthusiasm for the festival is high in the Gold Coast Parklands, and everyone seems more relaxed because lines for everything aren’t as long, and the D-barrier’s not as claustrophobic as years past.

With guitarist Lindsay McDougall wearing a fluoro pink headband and gaudy boardshorts, Frenzal Rhomb are taking the piss at the Orange Stage before they play their first song. In between cracks about Kanye West’s barber and how tough Parkway Drive are, the band play their oeuvre of 20-second joke songs like Caps Lock and Beaded Curtains Parts 2 and 3. What other band could get paid to play a festival and spend most of their set ridiculing it?

Outside on a glaringly hot day, in relatively close proximity to beaches, Unearthed winners Dune Rats come alive. With the sun behind them on the Hot Produce Stage, the two-piece (a three-piece today with the help of Last Dinosaurs’ Sean Caskey) ride the wave of their ironically bubblegum surf rock. With a catalogue of songs dedicated to reefer, Xbox and slacking off, the fuzzed out slacker rock outfit sound like Dinosaur Jr. cross-pollinated with The Beach Boys.

A suspicious plume of smoke rolls out of the green stage as Best Coast win over a loosely filled tent with their set of nostalgic odes to love, cats and weed. The lovely Bethany Cosentino & Co. keep the crowd entertained with new material, but tracks Crazy For You and Boyfriend from the band’s debut album are the real highlights; all involved swaying their way throughout a perfectly chilled mid-afternoon set.

What’s the proportion of Boiler Room attendees here to see Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All perform or to flip out? The flip out-hopers will go home disappointed, as the dozen strong hip hop collective are captivatingly aggressive, just this side of chaos. Yonkers is a highlight of fuzzy beats and growls from Tyler, The Creator, but the aftermath is a sharp decrease in crowd numbers, off to graze on another patch of grass.

Photo: Charlyn Cameron

After a mild delay it takes local hardcore exports The Amity Affliction all of seven seconds to send their eager fans gathered at the Essential Stage into complete chaos. At one point during the set five separate circle pits can be counted, but what those standing away from the arm-swinging antics can see amongst the anarchy and energy is a super tight and impressive live band that can’t be faulted on effort.

Long overdue in this hemisphere, the amazing Norwegian monsters Röyksopp summon an hour of bliss at the Boiler Room – and for this reviewer, a tear of joy during Only This Moment. Opening with a menacing, guitar-heavy Alpha Male, Svein Berge, Torbjørn Brundtland and friends make sure everyone’s Happy Up Here, venturing into Melody A.M. domain with early singles Eple and Poor Leno, and bring out the … um, robot helmet for The Girl & The Robot.

The internet hype surrounding Brooklyn’s Das Racist does not translate into audience numbers, but the ‘white demons’ that made the journey to the Hot Produce Stage are treated to a show with a capital S. Heems, Kool A.D. and Dapwell are almost overshadowed by their pelvis gyrating manic DJ. The organ-shifting bass and lyrical interplay of Michael Jackson and You Oughta Know is even enough to keep the rain momentarily at bay.

Architecture In Helsinki get their dancing shoes on as they run through their set with a complete command of pop music. Churning out highly infectious tunes with ease, they have even the most reluctant punters moving at the Green Stage. Recent hits Escapee and Contact High induce a sea of bouncing bodies ending the set on a high even if the stage-props resemble giant tennis balls in stockings.

As the excited masses cavort in a confusing array of international dances, Mariachi El Bronx work through the most unique set of today’s Big Day Out at the Hot Produce Stage. In their charro suits, the seven-piece mariachi band play numbers like 48 Roses and Revolution Girl. As a focal point of the band, frontman Matt Caughthran is unfailingly charismatic; introducing songs with protracted poetic asides that hold the crowd’s attention. While over at the Essential Stage, lauded US experimentalists Battles ably show there’s plenty of life in them post-Tyondai Braxton. Revered drummer John Stanier has what must be the tallest hi-hat in the world; Ian Williams thinks nothing of simultaneously playing two synths and Dave Konopka lays down uber-heavy bass grooves. The loping Sweetie & Shag (Kazu Makino appearing on the screen) is an early highlight, but it’s Stanier’s work on Atlas that causes a collective jaw-drop.

Photo: Charlyn Cameron

The unchallenged master of the mash-up, Girl Talk, makes his case for possibly the most knowledgeable man in the field of popular music in the Boiler Room. At one point throwing The Ramones, Vampire Weekend and 50 Cent at the gathered masses, it – like almost all of his mashing – oddly works. Flanked by a stage show that is essentially 50 people partaking in the wildest party you’ve ever seen, the crowd happily concurs with the onstage action.

Bravely competing with Chris Cornell’s troops (and additionally battling a dodgy mix and feedbacking mics), Brisbane indie-folk harmonists Inland Sea give it their all from atop the Local Stage. The gigantic Alastair McRae looks natural with a uke, Beau Frith imbues recent single The Only One with raspy rock & soul stylings and Dani Marano, Tahlee Frith and Claire Whiting charm the pants off everyone in attendance with their bewitching choral vocals.

Hometown (more or less) heroes Regurgitator aren’t going to waste the captive audience they have (under the Essential Tent when the rain gets heavier), and barely a scrap of stage time is wasted with their greatest hits set. With matching flowing brown wigs, the trio pick out the punchiest songs from their back catalogue (Kong Foo Sing, Everyday Formula), while the smattering of new tracks suggest there’s life in the ol’girl yet.

Torrents of rain are illuminated in psychedelic stage lights as grunge survivors Soundgarden aptly strike up Let Me Drown on the Orange Stage. The band explore rather than recreate some of their most iconic hits, and the crowd are taken on a journey along with the four-piece. Jesus Christ Pose, Black Hole Sun, Rusty Cage, Spoonman … nothing obvious is omitted, and the band sound superb as Kim Thayil’s rich, classic guitar tone finds its perfect counter-point in Ben Shepard’s thick-as-mud bass guitar.

Meanwhile, LA indie-popsters Foster The People turn in a slick re-run of their triumphant Splendour set at the chock-full Converse Tent. Call It What You Want sparks a mini-acid house revival, while the jaunty Don’t Stop is the closest Mark Foster & Co have to a ‘proper’ rock song – yet it’s the brain-worming Waste, Houdini, Helena Beat and bona fide 2011 anthem Pumped Up Kicks (with a now-requisite bass drop) that have literally everyone dancing.

For a band with ‘conspiracy’ in their moniker, there is nothing clandestine about the Cavalera Conspiracy’s set closing out the Essential Stage; Max and Igor Cavalera’s post-Sepultura project are brazen and furious tonight. For punters uninterested in Kanye West’s preening, Cavalera are the perfect antidote; without pretension, the band tear the crowd apart with numbers like Torture and Sepultura staples like Arise.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds close out the Green Stage to a crowd that thankfully grows quickly. Frankly, it would just be embarrassing for the Britpop elder statesman to play to a crowd barely breaking triple figures. Noel never shied away from the microphone, but the lean set of Oasis favourites and solo material cement his qualifications as a frontman, with help from a cracking live band. To quote the man himself, “fookin’ brilliant”!

Arriving on stage 45 minutes late, Kanye West’s three act performance, complete with interpretive dancers, is much like the man himself for this reviewer: gratuitous, egotistical and only occasionally entertaining. A mid-set block of self-indulgent, heavily Auto-Tuned material is terribly received by a mostly bored crowd, and at this point not even huge tracks like Stronger can save the set as West forgets his own lyrics and stops only to blame the weather for his poor performance.

Despite what was generally considered a very average performance from the headlining act, this year’s Big Day Out, like always, offered up plenty of highs. The event may have an uncertain future, but the veteran of the increasingly competitive festival field showed in its 20th year that it still has some staying power left.

TOM HERSEY, DENIS SEMCHENKO, MITCH ALEXANDER & BEN CROCK

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Comments (5)

5. Written by MaybeBaby, on 26-01-2012 12:09 I heard from a reliable source that BDO had originally booked Prince (which wouldve been so awesome!! ) but that he then backed out of the deal. Kanye was obviously an emergency choice & a poor one at that, but meh. Why on earth would the BDO follow so closely on the heels of SITG festival with the same headliner...?

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