It was a perfect sunny day, and apart from the usual shitty crowds everywhere (mind you the bar queues were near empty all day…except in the VIP area, where they were chockers all day…now what does that say about the media etc? Hmmmm? Pissheads the lot of us!), SG and myself had a pearler of a day.
The wonderfully scorched and powerballed Magic Dirt were tearing up centre stage as we arrived. Loud and beautifully obnoxious and laden with those jagged guitars…"You fucking rock Sydney" screams Adalita…and yeah, we know it’s so! Fuck they can rock!
We grab some chook on a stick and wander by the two smaller outdoor stages (big improvement on the former indoor hothouses), where Eskimo Joe are doing that perfect Planet Earth pop thing…wicked melodies and oozing with that infiltrating WA charm. The Lilypad loons are doing wondrous things with a single bed and a turntable, keeping the pep kids wired, but it’s the mighty force of Shihad that draws us back to centre stage.
Totally worked up and loving every sweaty moment, Jon Toogood talks about their upcoming new album, in the way an expecting Dad would talk about his pending child. Can’t wait for the ‘rock monster’ he’s promising. And when Toogood’s fave (and SG’s too) Pacifier comes into play, Jesus, the ‘Hads suddenly become the centre of the universe...a beautifully brutal drug that surges thru your system and bludgeons all other thoughts senseless. All mighty.
Just can’t imagine them under any other name! "Skinny cunts rule"…screams the little fella…and that’s for sure Jonny boy!
And as another renegade game of footy runs amuck in the crowd, that second VB goes down a treat. We head on over thru the markets to catch the gorgeously goofy Gerling who are already into those killer melodies and ball caressing toons they do so fucking well.
The perfect man-marries-machine medium, and cool to the core. So long Nerdsville, we’re on the road to Cool Town and beyond. Jump on for the ride and we’ll keep ya charged. Keyboards and crowd control never sounded so good. Ya just gotta love ‘em.
Something For Kate do that melancholy poptart thing of theirs, sharp as cyanide and climbing that hierarchal rock rung each and every appearance. When it comes to rockshow though, it’s Grinspoon’s domain thru and thru.
Chunky brazen and charcoal burnt, they’re happy to be back on the road train. Frenzy whippin’ rock nuggets that peel and pummel you to pulp…newie Chemical Heart a little rockier in the live arena. Champion sparksetrs.
A few safety announcements (crowd surf and you’re out, kiddies!), and an almighty sidewards surge sets itself up as System Of A Down hammer into the house. Sick, slick, vicious slaps around the gills…"We’re on Drugs"…the cattle cry to the common people. Growling, snarling, electroid-popping chaos that incites to the last. Bloodied bliss!
A final battle outside of the VIP confines (beer in hand of course), a quick scoff of some wicked Tibetan chow, and an easy foray up front for 80s pop heroes Ratcat. With Simon Day and Nic Dalton up front, it’s the same old perfect distorto pop of old.
Overdriven guitar, Day’s yearning popesque vox, Dalton’d melodic, low slung bottom end. Sweet as. And no kiddies! Yay! Very cool retro reminiscing…all the hits…Don’t Go Now, Baby Baby…still as cool as ever, and every bit as tasty. Alex Lloyd takes a deserved number one position on the Js 100 countdown, much to the dismay of the kindergarten set, as Regurgitator quirk it up on centre stage with that electro leftfield pop mix. Jump. Jump. Thump. Kong Fu kings!
As the sun starts to struggle, Shirley Manson struts on and takes complete control from the outset, as Garbage unleash that surging, pummeling backbeat. If ya thought they’d lost their rock, then think again.
Androgony comes across a lot tougher, as its electricity splatters into the evening haze. Girls. Boys. Vinyl toys. Silence definitely aint golden on this occasion, and it’s a Garbage of old that works us into a stupor, as flashes of a previous Livid mosh frenzy go racing thru my noggin.
A dedication to Jessica Michalek who lost her life at last year’s BDO, and then it all gets slo mo. And it doesn’t really matter the speed, cos they have the style and today’s style is capital "G". Shirley Manson is awesome. Garbage are Amazing!Simple as that!
Not so simple though, is the fancy stage setup of silverchair. To a blaze of lights and smoke, the mucho anticipated chair make a grandiose entrance. Very rockstar, and maybe a tad wanky we reckon!
Daniel Johns in spangles and stripes. The mix completely fucked for the first part of the set…barely audible vocals and as muddy as hell…certainly doesn’t help matters as they take the slow road in. Melancholy, big and sparse, but we’re all hanging out for the rock! The mexican wave doing the rounds of the arena is a good indication of the lack of general interest so far!
As the vocals come to the party, it starts to get real. Real rock, with the tight as shit rock beast unfurling itself full core. Big-balled ballads. The Greatest View as rivetting as its first airing…but it’s the vintage chair that saves the day…Anthem…Freak…and that’s the chair we love.
With no fancy overheads, Manchester’s own electro-dance pioneers New Order kick right on in with Crystal. Hookie’s bass hangin’ way down low and driving the whole thing home, Sumner the perfect gentleman up front, no longer the brooding, intense recluse of yesteryear, but more the content voice of an endearing and enduring mystique.
Drilling, infectious moods and melodies that still send shivers down your spine, and tonight we’re treated to a greatest hits showcase of the past two decades. Regret’s wicked seduction, killer bass, soaring synth and catchy chorus, 60 Miles An Hour off the newie…equally killer cool electro pop.
A fair slab offa Get Ready keeps the newly-converted appeased, but it’s the likes of such classics as Bizarre Love Triangle, (fucking amazing) Temptation , Love Will tear Us Apart &Blue Monday that just blow it all away. Pumping dance to soaring synth pop, they have it all, and the kids go nuts! Twenty years on and still fucking awesome! Shit, I’m so excited I nearly shat myself!
The usual big lead in hails The Prodigy’s arrival, as Keith explodes onto stage and runs crazed like from side to side… and the massive crowd on the oval laps it all up. Steel punch rhythms scream into the black amidst bantering vocals, acidic beats and an electricity that buzzes to the very last. A powerful entity. Psychotic never sounded so good…And bed never felt so fine. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Theme word for the day-C#NT (all over the place..T’shirts, posters…)
Tshirt of the day- I wanna be Barbie, the slut gets everything!
Bad taste Tshirt of the day - Jesus is a c#nt.
Best chow - Tibetan
Best band- Dead heat between New Order, Shihad, Garbage & Shihad.
Biggest piss off - Too many people
Colour of the day –- Dead heat twixt red, yellow and orange.
Beer of choice- VB (no Heineken available!!)
Mark Fraser -redbackrock.com
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