Indeed it’s a Big Day Out

Last October The Surfer didn’t know what to get me for my birthday and after a bit of thinking I suggested a Big Day Out ticket. I haven’t been to one of these since the year 2000 – the year I became pregnant with JJ.

It was a  fairly warm and quite humid day so we went suitably attired with hats and sunscreen. It didn’t help that the humidity probably made us sweat off all the sunscreen.

I know these two fellas below and had to capture their t-shirts.

The Big Day Out is a pretty well-oiled machine and because it’s become bigger than it was 11 years ago I noticed a few changes.

One is that you have to buy drink tokens which makes going to the bar a lot quicker. For a can of beer it was two tokens, ie $7. We were lucky enough to have guest services bar passes which meant that we could pay for drinks in cash, sit down in comfort indoors and had access to our own toilets. There’s always a big queue for the ladies at things like this so that was a blessing although the bar staff (and I asked two) didn’t know of these toilets even though they were just outside one of the doors. I had to discover them for myself. I’m sure it’s a tiring gig working all day at the Big Day Out but a bit more friendly customer service wouldn’t go astray. At one stage I was obviously waiting at the bar and saw that two bar staff were standing one metre away from me. I had to approach them for service!

Here’s three of our group in the bar between music.

Not everyone’s lucky enough to have access to this bar to cool off so there are things like this. It’s a mist dome – a very pretty one. This one provided some shade as well. There were other spray type tents that had more water so you could just go and soak yourself to cool down.

Here’s The Surfer getting some spray.

‘Big Day Out. Insert wisdom here…’  Not sure what it says underneath.

Musically, we started off watching The Jim Jones revue who were really good. They were recommended by a friend and I’m glad that we got there to see them. I’d like to see them again too.

Then we had a bit of a break before the late afternoon when our schedule was jam packed. We saw a few things including Gyroscope. We did pop along to the silent disco around 5.

I’ve never been to one before and it’s good fun, especially with a group. You go in and get given a set of headphones. There are three channels for three different choices of music, or in this case two. So there are two DJs who are competing to get you to listen to their tracks.

At one stage Beastie Boys were on – Fight for your Right to Party and we must have all been on the same channel because we were singing along. It’s funny watching people dancing to a different tune.

Early evening onwards was when the other bands that we wanted to see were on. Firstly Iggy Pop and the Stooges whom I’ve never seen before. Iggy was a bit of a dot in the distance but we could hear them well enough and had room to move. He’s up  there somewhere.

Here’s myself and a couple of friends at the guest services bar. I’ve either got my eyes and my mouth wide open in shots like this or my mouth and eyes closed. Hmmm.

After a rest we saw Primal Scream who did the Screamadelica album they released about 20 years  ago. There’s some great songs on there. While they were a bit slow to start with, by the end of the show they were rocking. I’m glad I hung around and saw them to the end. It was quite a change from the last time I saw them at the last Big Day Out I went to in 2000 where they did their new stuff.

Lastly, but definitely not least, we saw Grinderman fronted by one of my favourite musicians, Nick Cave. Grinderman were so energetic and fabulous. It helps knowing the music but even though I’m reasonably familiar with it, it’s much better seeing them live and getting the gist of the music and lyrics in a way that you just can’t by only listening to music on a stereo.

We finished off the day with a Chip on a Stick – one potato cut up in a continuous chip that’s put on a stick and then we caught the tram home. My legs were in absolute pain from standing up most of the day – something I’m not used to. It took me a few days to recover but I’m definitely glad I went.