Big Day Out

Melbourne

Flemington Racecourse, Flemington – 26th Jan 2010

The Big Day Out line-up cops a lot of flack from Metal fans. There’s a perception that the festival has abandoned it roots and that metal has become somewhat of a token gesture on the line-up. As a self proclaimed alternative music festival, the Big Day Out has over the years presented us with opportunities to see some of our favourite acts who might otherwise not be able to make it down here, something which Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory made mention of at their Melbourne gig the other day. Whilst heavy metal might take less of a precedence than it did in it’s heyday, when acts such as Korn, Rammstein, Tool or Metallica headlined the festival, the Big Day Out does continue to stick to its reputation as a festival of alternative music with metal acts year after year. On top of the many bands with cross genre appeal, this year, three bands stood out: Mastodon, Karnivool, and Fear Factory.

Weather reports had warned of another hot Melbourne Big Day Out, something which has become a tradition in itself. My brother and I were greeted at the festival entrance by the sight of a crowd at least the size of a full festival hall, slowly filing into the grounds. The festival organisers had encouraged patrons not to take bags with them, and the line for those who followed their advise moved quickly enough to see the start of the first bands. Unfortunately, for those of us who took the other advise of organisers to take lots of drink and sunscreen (and thus, a bag), forty minutes later, and ten minutes into Karnivool’s set, we were finally at the main stage.

Karnivool’s appeal has clearly only grown amongst Australian audiences since the release of their second studio album, Sound Awake. Despite not being anywhere near as radio friendly as their first album, a large crowd that turned up to see them at 12.30 in the morning justifying the organisers decision to put them on the main stage this time around.

As always, Karnivool were a treat. The band, led by eccentric frontman Ian Kenny, seem to be made to play open air festivals, as the sound is always perfect even in the worst windy conditions. The set consisted predominantly of new tracks, including the mesmerising Simple Boy, New Day and All I Know, as well the the heavy Goliath and Set Fire to the Hive. Without a doubt, though, the fans favourites are still those from the first album, and Roquefort and the closing Themata got a massive reception from the substantial fan base assembled. No doubt this will not be their final appearance on the Big Day Out circuit.

Mastodon were up next on the other main stage. Few metal bands receive much attention outside of the heavy metal media unless the band either has grown so large that they become part of the mainstream, or if they are to blame for the actions of a mass murderer/church burner. Thus, Mastadon’s success is almost unprecedented. Having albums named as one of the most important of the decade by Time magazine, and albums of the year by Rolling Stone, Kerrang and Metal Hammer, Mastodon’s fan base remains quite humble in size, something which probably hasn’t been more evident than at the Big Day Out.

Playing on the main stage, much of the D barrier emptied before the band began, with only the dedicated joining. Despite this, it was clear that those who remained were completely dedicated.  As soon as they hit the stage, the entire crowd were making their support heard. As they had done at the previous BDO shows, they proceeded to play their latest album Crack the Skye in full. Something which seems entirely justified considering the attention it’s received.

Whilst having your band play on the main stage of a festival might be a good idea from an exposure point of view, Mastodon are not the ideal band to fill such a stage. The band stayed pretty much nailed to the ground for their entire set, with only bassist/vocalist Troy Sander endeavouring to move about. Crowd interaction was also minimal, to the extent that the only words spoken to the audience were  “Thank you”, “Adios”, and then from the other vocalist Brett Hinds “Sorry about my shit voice” once the show was over.

However, in equal measure, a band such as this can be forgiven for letting the music do the talking. And the crowd did not seem disappointed at all. The quality of the sound was pretty much spot on, with both the vocalists and the instruments working together in harmony to create what was a solid rendition of a brilliant album. Although Bretts’s voice began to fade towards the end of the set, the crowd cheered them on, happy to have seen a modern classic played before them.

After a short break for snack’s between bands, we made our way to the third stage for what was to be my and many other’s highlight of the day, The Decemberists. Having not known much of their music before having seen them perform two days earlier at Billboards, the indie-folk-rock quintet proceeded to play probably one of the most entertaining gigs of my life. Although it would be hard for them to live up to those lofty heights again, they did not fail to please.

Frontman Colin Meloy has to be one of the most entertaining front men out there, and that’s just between songs. Keeping the crowd laughing between songs, there was rarely a moment where the crowd weren’t clapping, singing or dancing along during them. Keeping the set based around their more mainstream indie songs than two nights earlier, the performance reached its pinnacle for the final song, ‘The Rake’s Song’, where accompanied by three drummers and his acoustic guitar, Mr Meloy finished off the set to end a magnificent show and leave behind a very entertained crowd.

Rise Against were the next band we saw on that stage. Pulling a much larger crowd than The Decemberists, their political punk rock seemed to be just the thing this crowd needed in the 30 plus degree heat. Moshing and clapping along, Rise Against made the already quite small stage look even smaller as they actively went about inciting the crowd into a fervour.

Across on the main stage a short time later, Lily Allen was wearing an Australian flag, which thankfully wasn’t as common a sight at this years BDO as it has been in the past. Playing her ever so slightly alternative pop (…she swears…), Lily was entertaining for the most part, and gave us the chance to go buy a beer, before finding out that they were $10.50!

Luckily, the Mars Volta were on the main stage next to sooth the sober heart, and gave us what was for me a second highlight for the day. Having seen them previously at the BDO, my hopes weren’t high. A friend of mine still hasn’t forgiven me for dragging her away during a Muse set to go see them on another stage, where they proceeded to make an hour long jam session out of one song. Thankfully, this time around they came to play some of the songs that made me fall in love with the band at the time of their first album.

Although they still have a flare for the long, Hendrix style guitar jam, they kept it to an acceptable level this time around, and played mainly songs off the first album, some from the second and only one new song. Vocalist Omar Rodriguez was his usual self, part lead singer, part flamenco dancer. Antics included going down into the barrier, giving a security member the microphone while he took off his glasses and hat and gave the security members’ hat to the crowd. After a bit more rythmic dancing, their amazing set of fast paced and technical music was over, and Powderfinger hit the stage.

… So we went and had some dinner.

Returning to the main stage, it was clear that almost everybody who had turned up to the Big Day Out this year was going to be seeing Muse play. Having been promised a “3D light show”, we were duly rewarded. When the band came out on stage, the video being shot of the band was projected onto the massive white sheets which had replaced the usual art work covering the speaker stacks. This was almost a necessity, as the crowd stretched so far back that seeing more than a speck would have been otherwise impossible. Having seen a highly entertaining “Uprising’ and “New Born”, it was difficult to drag ourselves away for the start of the Fear Factory show.

Clearly, this wasn’t just a difficult decision for me. Arriving at the stage to the intro music to Shock, the crowd couldn’t have numbered more than 150 people. But if the band were disappointed, they didn’t let it show, as they gave this small audience everything they had, going at least some way towards convincing us that we had made the right choice to leave Muse.

The newly reformed band played for an hour, which was a good length for a band that doesn’t play anything from their two most recent albums. This left just enough time for them to play their way through all the classics, album by album. After Shock came Edgecrusher, before they turned the clocks back to their first album to play Matyr and Scapegoat. Acres of Skin and Linchpin are the only songs the band peform live from the most recent album they still play, Digimortal, before the crowd were introduced to their new material, playing Powershifter and Fear Campaign. Although neither song exhibits the softer edge that made the band such a hit back in the day, the songs are heavy as hell, and introduce the first use in a Fear Factory song of the guitar solo. Overall, they got a pretty solid response from the crowd for unreleased material.

Finally, Demanufacture produced Self Bias Resistor, Zero Signal and the title track, before the night was finished off with their classic, Replica. Although it’s a shame the band is barely recognisable from only a year or two ago, Dino Cazeres back on guitar and Gene Hoglan being brought in on drums performed a flawless set, and provided a just finale to what was one of the more enjoyable Big Day Out’s of the last few years.