Big Day Out 2008 Thread

[Vulture_72]

That article in the Herald Sun was terrible. They make a big fuss about 2 people having to go to hospital. 2 out of 45,000. They didn't even mention the music and how good some of the artists were. That said there were some problems with the venue but i dont really know what options they had. If Princess Park and the Showgrounds are unable to be used then were else can you have it? Some grass would have been nice rather then gravel but the water restrictions make it tough.

 

[Deestroy]

The Herald Sun article was sensationalist rubbish.

While they did tell the people to get off the marquee and said that the band wouldn’t keep going until they did… they did not ‘rush the band offstage’ as the article states.

They waited until Rage went off for the break before their encore, there wasn’t really any delay to the music and it was more than an hour after these people got on the marquee. Hardly ‘rushing’ now is it.

The people sitting on the marquee weren’t the real problem anyway, the guys swinging around in the tree were in a far more dangerous position. Pretty sure a couple fell out as all the branches were snapped off by the end.

And 2 people hurt? I would say that’s a pretty low number all things considered.

The venue itself was very average, no seating, little shade and a total dustbowl.

Still, great day.

 

[Vulture_72]

The Herald Sun article was sensationalist rubbish.

While they did tell the people to get off the marquee and said that the band wouldn’t keep going until they did… they did not ‘rush the band offstage’ as the article states.

They waited until Rage went off for the break before their encore, there wasn’t really any delay to the music and it was more than an hour after these people got on the marquee. Hardly ‘rushing’ now is it.

The people sitting on the marquee weren’t the real problem anyway, the guys swinging around in the tree were in a far more dangerous position. Pretty sure a couple fell out as all the branches were snapped off by the end.

And 2 people hurt? I would say that’s a pretty low number all things considered.

The venue itself was very average, no seating, little shade and a total dustbowl.

Still, great day.

100% correct. If only you were a Herald Sun jorno.

In regards to the tree, people were always going to climb it as it was to close to the stage. The article in the Age gave a much better review of the entire day.

 

[nicko99]

i thought it was at the showgrounds where was it this year??

dont think they could of used princess park due the carlton playing cricket there at the moment

 

[Vulture_72]

i thought it was at the showgrounds where was it this year??

dont think they could of used princess park due the carlton playing cricket there at the moment

It was at Flemington Racecourse. When it was at Princes Park it wasn't at the actual football ground but at the south end of the park.

 

[nicko99]

i played cricket there last week. theres like a massive open field but they do play cricket at the section that your talking bout

 

[Vulture_72]

i played cricket there last week. theres like a massive open field but they do play cricket at the section that your talking bout

I think the Parkville residents complaining about the noise and crowds had more to do with BDO being moved to the racecourse then some cricket club not being able to play on there ground.

 

[Mr Sensitive]

the blokes that climbed the trees certainly paid for the privilege when they were pelted with hundreds of bottles for 10 minutes. Very amusing stuff and made listening to Bjork bearable, at least for a little while.

 

[SwampCreature]

Just my own little post mortem; as i lay here having just woken up, hungover, sunburnt and with disgustingly dirty feet;
Rage were awesome, as you would dexpect, we were right down the front amoungst the leaping idiots, mind you, the price we paid was not leaving the pit from 2 o'clock, so i'm aching all over form all the movement. Bjork was just a poorly timed bad idea (I couldn't help but laugh went she pleaded with crowd to 'dance with me' and was greeted with loud reply's of 'No!'. Gold.) and i also think Arcade Fire dissapointed a little. Silverchair were sick, I think Grinspoon were a lot better then people are going on about, and the Juggernaughts would have worked better at night or in the doof doof tent.
The main issue of the day however was the surface, and to a lesser extent the layout. I agree with a lot of things said here, and spoke to many with gripes about having massive treks around to get to other stages.
It shit me that the place was a dustbowl and that you couldnt sit down anywhere without getting crap all over you, (mind you, who leaves a bdo 'clean') and while i understand it has to do with water restrictions, the couldnt just spray the front with a hose at the start of the day? Just enough to settle the dust? This of course probably would have led to just mud, but i think i'd rather muddy trackies then the amount of dirt i ate just from breathing it in.
All in all, a good day.

 

[nicko99]

why isnt it at the showgrounds no more?

 

[-VC-]

the blokes that climbed the trees certainly paid for the privilege when they were pelted with hundreds of bottles for 10 minutes. Very amusing stuff and made listening to Bjork bearable, at least for a little while.

And a flare!

 

[jimmy.h]

reading comments on the herald sun website a lot of people that attended have been saying how poorly it was organised with the layout, and not enough security.....

"This BDO was one of the most unorganised c**p in years. It was an embarrassment for Melbourne. Crowds standing on gravel and not even being able to see the bands. The organisers need to use there brains. No wonder crowds went wild they were just so p****d off."

"This was the worst organized BDO ever! I have been to 6 BDO's and everything other than the acts was a sham. It was a poor location with not enough though going into the layout and facilities. To go anywhere and see anything required standing in a queue for over 30 minutes. When the organisers realise that you need to place the main stages at the bottom of a small hill so that all can see"

"please return it to princess park where you can sit on the grass and actually see the band from up the back!"

"Big Day Out is going downhill rapidly with the crowd that they attract. It attracts thousands of bogans who are not aware of 90% of the bands and are just there to drink. It's these people who ruin the day for everyone else and they have no idea how much the public can not stand them."


for those that went or have been would you agree?

The venue was shit. Crowd wasn't bad though.

They had the obvious problem of no stands to see the mainstages so without any hills visibility was pretty poor from the back. There was also heaps of dust, very little shade or grass. The layout wasn't great but it was manageable.

And there was the usual issue with timetabling, sound quality etc but these aren't exclusive to Melbourne.

 

[Pigdog]

The Herald Sun article was sensationalist rubbish.

While they did tell the people to get off the marquee and said that the band wouldn’t keep going until they did… they did not ‘rush the band offstage’ as the article states.

They waited until Rage went off for the break before their encore, there wasn’t really any delay to the music and it was more than an hour after these people got on the marquee. Hardly ‘rushing’ now is it.

The people sitting on the marquee weren’t the real problem anyway, the guys swinging around in the tree were in a far more dangerous position. Pretty sure a couple fell out as all the branches were snapped off by the end.

And 2 people hurt? I would say that’s a pretty low number all things considered.

The venue itself was very average, no seating, little shade and a total dustbowl.

Still, great day.

Pretty much agree with all of this.

The lack of toilet facilities was a joke especially near the boiler room. Blokes were pissing on the fence on the racecourse side rather than taking the trek across the venue to the nearest toilets.

The fact that they shut the gate in front of the boiler room while Dizzee Rascal was on was a farce. FFS the bloke is popular so people we want to watch/ listen to him.

If Rage hadn't played such as awesome set I would have walked away disappointed, not they I hadn't seen some very good acts, just that the organisers had managed to stuff up what should have been a 'no brainer' great day.

How hard is it really. You have good weather, great bands and they still manage to **** it up.

 

[Shmoses]

Anyone have trouble getting into the Boiler Room for Dizzee? He was my favourite act there besides Rage, and I let my mates convince me to watch a bit of the Midnight Juggernaughts until Dizzee started, and by then we couldnt even get in. I was devastated.

I also tried to get into the Boiler Room for Dizzee, and yes, it was impossible. Apparently they had one door half open. My friend went there and said the room was fairly empty, but then they opened all the doors. I have no idea why they would have done that.

I am the friend mentioned in Vic Crow's post, scarecrow, you should have persisted mate. I stood there getting crushed for about 3 or 4 minutes with the line not moving at all and then all of a sudden they opened the other gates up and I was in the boiler room within 30 seconds, and there was heaps of space in there (and lots of joints being smoked). You should have stuck with it, his set was the highlight of my day (aside from Rage obviously).

reading comments on the herald sun website a lot of people that attended have been saying how poorly it was organised with the layout, and not enough security.....

"This BDO was one of the most unorganised c**p in years. It was an embarrassment for Melbourne. Crowds standing on gravel and not even being able to see the bands. The organisers need to use there brains. No wonder crowds went wild they were just so p****d off."

"This was the worst organized BDO ever! I have been to 6 BDO's and everything other than the acts was a sham. It was a poor location with not enough though going into the layout and facilities. To go anywhere and see anything required standing in a queue for over 30 minutes. When the organisers realise that you need to place the main stages at the bottom of a small hill so that all can see"

"please return it to princess park where you can sit on the grass and actually see the band from up the back!"

"Big Day Out is going downhill rapidly with the crowd that they attract. It attracts thousands of bogans who are not aware of 90% of the bands and are just there to drink. It's these people who ruin the day for everyone else and they have no idea how much the public can not stand them."

for those that went or have been would you agree?

I don't think these comments are completely misguided to be honest, they're a bit over the top but most of the complaints are valid. I really didn't think the layout was that bad, it had to be that spaced out to avoid sound crossover, but it was badly arranged. Having the main stages on the grass would have been a much better idea, you would have largely avoided the dust which was seriously endemic. I have a very healthy respiratory system but was struggling hard all day today to breathe beyond shallow and only can now because I coughed up enough dirt. And I didn't even go in the D Barrier. Even some mats would have made a difference. Also it felt like the band were below the fans on the main stage until you got far enough back. Also the efforts at getting everyone back onto the trains was abysmal. It needs a bigger station than Flemington Racecourse can offer.

The Herald Sun article was sensationalist rubbish.

While they did tell the people to get off the marquee and said that the band wouldn’t keep going until they did… they did not ‘rush the band offstage’ as the article states.

They waited until Rage went off for the break before their encore, there wasn’t really any delay to the music and it was more than an hour after these people got on the marquee. Hardly ‘rushing’ now is it.

The people sitting on the marquee weren’t the real problem anyway, the guys swinging around in the tree were in a far more dangerous position. Pretty sure a couple fell out as all the branches were snapped off by the end.

And 2 people hurt? I would say that’s a pretty low number all things considered.

The venue itself was very average, no seating, little shade and a total dustbowl.

Still, great day.

You're right, the article was very sensationalist, it was nowhere near the emergency they made out. I was situated directly behind that tree that you mentioned too, and those idiots broke off at least three branches. At one point a guy was using one for support and it just snapped off and he fell straight to the ground like a depth charge.

Still, I had an amazing day. Saw Josh Pyke, Kate Nash, Midnight Juggernaughts, Dizzee Rascal, Hilltop Hoods, Spoon, Grinspoon, Augie March, Arcade Fire, Silverchair, Bjork and Rage Against the Machine. Rage were obviously the best experience of my entire life, but Dizzee Rascal was amazing as well and I'm going to see his sideshow tonight based entirely on the strength of his performance yesterday. The highlight of his set was undoubtedly Fix Up, Look Sharp, with him getting the crowd to chant 'OOOIII' before it and then doing the 'AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI' chant over the outro. Stand Up Tall and Flex were both great as well.
Rage were unbelievably amazing, and their set was perfectly measured too, every time they could see that things were getting too intense in the crowd they'd thrown in a lesser known song from Evil Empire to calm things down a little. When they opened with Testify the whole crowd just went insane and then they went up again for for Bulls On Parade. People of the Sun was incredible as well. During their encore they did Freedom and segued it into the last verse and outro of Township Rebellion which was pretty special for me. And obviously they closed with Killing In The Name and the entire crowd (probably about 30k by that point) went absolutely ridiculously off. I could feel the ground shaking, it was amazing. One of the highlights from their set was 'ALL OF WHICH ARE AMERICAN DREAMS' from Know Your Enemy, and obviously '**** YOU I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME' from Killing in the Name. The whole crowd screamed 'MOTHER****ER' as one and it was awesome in every sense of the word. Also the band did an extended breakdown in Sleep Now In The Fire where Zach added some more lyrics, that was awesome, and they did an extended rant in the breakdown of Wake Up (at the point with the 'through counter intelligence it should be possible to pinpoint potential troublemakers and neutralise them' lines) where he called John Howard a slimey boot licker and angrily ranted about the war on Iraq and the effect of globalisation on small nation's economies and ended up by saying 'we need to wake up' and then went back into the outro 'WAAAAAAAKE UUUUUUUUUUP' and it was absolutely MIND BLOWINGLY AMAZING. Seriously I would say that was the absolute highlight of the set, that was just incredible and it really drove home to me how lucky I am to be able to see them how much their music and politics helped to shape me into the person I am. Rage seriously defined my teenage years, and I was devastated beyond words when they broke up without me ever getting to see them. Having them reform then come to Melbourne (twice!!!) is an absolute dream come true, and they'll be memories I'll never forget.

 

[IDGAF]

[youtube]BSsMGNwYDdg[/youtube]

a mix of rock and dance music... probably not right for the boiler room, and should've been on the green or essential stages...

agreed .. but brilliant all the same

 

[IDGAF]

one word boys ....MAMMAL

who caught them ?

other than RATM ... easily the stand out ... 24 hours later and i still have a chub over them .

best young talent i have seen in years ... singer is a star

Think COG with twice the energy and twice the punch .. singer delivery is sensational ... band as tight as f..k .

Watch this band ... will be huge

 

[7zark7]

UNKLE were easily my favourite.

 

[didaka]

I am the friend mentioned in Vic Crow's post, scarecrow, you should have persisted mate. I stood there getting crushed for about 3 or 4 minutes with the line not moving at all and then all of a sudden they opened the other gates up and I was in the boiler room within 30 seconds, and there was heaps of space in there (and lots of joints being smoked). You should have stuck with it, his set was the highlight of my day (aside from Rage obviously).I don't think these comments are completely misguided to be honest, they're a bit over the top but most of the complaints are valid. I really didn't think the layout was that bad, it had to be that spaced out to avoid sound crossover, but it was badly arranged. Having the main stages on the grass would have been a much better idea, you would have largely avoided the dust which was seriously endemic. I have a very healthy respiratory system but was struggling hard all day today to breathe beyond shallow and only can now because I coughed up enough dirt. And I didn't even go in the D Barrier. Even some mats would have made a difference. Also it felt like the band were below the fans on the main stage until you got far enough back. Also the efforts at getting everyone back onto the trains was abysmal. It needs a bigger station than Flemington Racecourse can offer.You're right, the article was very sensationalist, it was nowhere near the emergency they made out. I was situated directly behind that tree that you mentioned too, and those idiots broke off at least three branches. At one point a guy was using one for support and it just snapped off and he fell straight to the ground like a depth charge.

Still, I had an amazing day. Saw Josh Pyke, Kate Nash, Midnight Juggernaughts, Dizzee Rascal, Hilltop Hoods, Spoon, Grinspoon, Augie March, Arcade Fire, Silverchair, Bjork and Rage Against the Machine. Rage were obviously the best experience of my entire life, but Dizzee Rascal was amazing as well and I'm going to see his sideshow tonight based entirely on the strength of his performance yesterday. The highlight of his set was undoubtedly Fix Up, Look Sharp, with him getting the crowd to chant 'OOOIII' before it and then doing the 'AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI' chant over the outro. Stand Up Tall and Flex were both great as well.
Rage were unbelievably amazing, and their set was perfectly measured too, every time they could see that things were getting too intense in the crowd they'd thrown in a lesser known song from Evil Empire to calm things down a little. When they opened with Testify the whole crowd just went insane and then they went up again for for Bulls On Parade. People of the Sun was incredible as well. During their encore they did Freedom and segued it into the last verse and outro of Township Rebellion which was pretty special for me. And obviously they closed with Killing In The Name and the entire crowd (probably about 30k by that point) went absolutely ridiculously off. I could feel the ground shaking, it was amazing. One of the highlights from their set was 'ALL OF WHICH ARE AMERICAN DREAMS' from Know Your Enemy, and obviously '**** YOU I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME' from Killing in the Name. The whole crowd screamed 'MOTHER****ER' as one and it was awesome in every sense of the word. Also the band did an extended breakdown in Sleep Now In The Fire where Zach added some more lyrics, that was awesome, and they did an extended rant in the breakdown of Wake Up (at the point with the 'through counter intelligence it should be possible to pinpoint potential troublemakers and neutralise them' lines) where he called John Howard a slimey boot licker and angrily ranted about the war on Iraq and the effect of globalisation on small nation's economies and ended up by saying 'we need to wake up' and then went back into the outro 'WAAAAAAAKE UUUUUUUUUUP' and it was absolutely MIND BLOWINGLY AMAZING. Seriously I would say that was the absolute highlight of the set, that was just incredible and it really drove home to me how lucky I am to be able to see them how much their music and politics helped to shape me into the person I am. Rage seriously defined my teenage years, and I was devastated beyond words when they broke up without me ever getting to see them. Having them reform then come to Melbourne (twice!!!) is an absolute dream come true, and they'll be memories I'll never forget.

So so jealous

 

[skybeau]

Highlights:
Pnau - sensational.
Arcade Fire - magnificent...couldn't leave to watch Battles, they were that good...thankfully didn't miss out on Atlas.
Karnivool - very tight, played my two fave songs (Only Way and Roquefort with horns), and the cricket game at the back of the crowd was hilarious.
Seeing probably only 1000 people watching other acts while Rage was playing - hilarious.

Lowlights:
Cut Off Your Hands - sounded like a less interesting version of Faker.
Deciding to see Sarah Blasko THEN LCD Soundsystem - I love Sarah, but she would've been the perfect thing to calm down too, rather than calming down then trying to get into LCD.
The venue - shocker.

 

[Jizza9]

Great post Shmoses although you missed out not going in the D for Rage

Interesting you say it was dusty and there was no mats. In Sydney it was nice luscious grass, plus they had like plastic mats on top of it.

Sounds like Melbourne was pretty crappy, so glad I went to Sydney. No Bjork, No Dust

 

[Roos4eva]

As much as the venue sucked, at least there wasn't an influx of fluro wearing bogans like I was expecting.

 

[-VC-]

As much as the venue sucked, at least there wasn't an influx of fluro wearing bogans like I was expecting.

When entering I saw three douche bags dressed up as "Corey" (and I mean, they were actually intentionally looking like Corey) getting searched. Many a drug to be found. Sucked in to them for being crap people.

 

[Bourky23]

simply cannot wait for rage tomoro nite

 

[doppleganger]

Day ended up like this

Die Die Die - decent start to the day, double drums was quality.
British India - good set from the lads
Anti-Flag - not into em, but they put on a decent show
Faker - bit meh for mine, agree with an earlier poster who doesn't rate the new stuff.
Gyroscope - quality
Hoods - stuck at the entrance of the D for the entire set, was gutted!
Grinspoon - pass, boring
Arcade Fire - quality
Silverchair - surprised me, thought i would hate em, but enjoyed em
Bjork - must be one of the few people who thought she put on a good show, dont know much of her stuff, but her last couple of songs were great i thought.
Rage - brilliant, everything been said already

Great day

Spoon on Thurs, cant wait!

 

[Shmoses]

Great post Shmoses although you missed out not going in the D for Rage

Interesting you say it was dusty and there was no mats. In Sydney it was nice luscious grass, plus they had like plastic mats on top of it.

Sounds like Melbourne was pretty crappy, so glad I went to Sydney. No Bjork, No Dust

I wasn't all that interested in the D to be honest. Last year I missed heaps of bands I wanted to see and this year I decided to see everyone at all costs and would rather have seen a good band than sit through Grinspoon's boring ass set just to get a good spot for Rage.