BIG DAY OUT 2000
Gold Coast
23 January 2000
by Chay (webmaster)

What a fucking amazing festival! This was only the second Big Day Out for me, and about the fourth large festival I think. And I'd say it was the best one I've ever been to! With a line-up with the likes of RHCP, NIN, Chemical Bros, and Foo Fighters how could you go wrong???

We (we being Daniel, Nathan, Natalie, Tegan, Caroline, Sarah, and Ian) all decided we wanted to be there early this time so that we didn't miss anybody (I think we missed Jebediah and somebody else last year because we got there late). Anyway, because we got there early there wasn't any line-up at the gate so we were able to walk straight in. Then we had a bit of a wander around. We found a huge big blown up ball near umm whatever its called - some tiny little stage where people were later on dancing and being weird hehehe. So we took the big ball down to the main stage area where I sat on it while we waited for Gerling. Sitting on it turned out to be a bad idea because it was half-flat by the time Gerling started, when we kicked the ball up into the crowd. But not to worry, some other girls had copied our wonderful idea and found another ball (not flat) to throw into the mosh.

I don't know what was wrong with Gerling, they just didn't seem as good as when I first saw them. My friends didn't like them much at all, but I still think they rock :). It must be hard being the first act of the day, when everybody is not psyched up yet.. Anyway, I didn't stick around for all of Gerling's set because I wanted to catch a bit of the Daisy Cutters.

The Daisy Cutters were really good I reckon! I didn't recognise any of their songs (the only one I know is 'Kiss Me Stupid' from triple j). Unfortunately I didn't hear them play 'Kiss Me Stupid' either - oh well - the rest of their songs were great. It was at Daisy Cutters where some of my friends spotted me. Far out they looked like freaks! LOL. Toby & Clancy were covered in black stuff and generally looking very much like they were looking forward to Nine Inch Nails!

Clancy managed to get himself a pink arm band too! Stupid people at the front gate buggered up. LOL. He didn't even have to *try* to scam one, and didn't requite photo ID either! LOL. Anyway, he was kind enough to lineup and buy me a stollie's which cost a bloody fortune! Because I'm not 18 yet, I'd never got alcohol at a concert before so I didn't know it was going to cost $7 for one little can of stollies LOL. Too bad if you were planning to get drunk all day!! It'd cost plenty more than the ticket to get in!

Back to the mainstage for Magic Dirt, just in time to hear them play one of my fave MD songs - 'Rabbit With Fangs'. Magic Dirt were really good too! I got right into the mosh pit for these guys and had a great time - probably a bit of crowd surfing too.

Next up on the main stage were Atari Teenage Riot. I must admit that the only stuff of theirs I've heard is what minimal amount had been played on triple j, as well as 'Revolution Action' which is on the BDO Y2K CD, so I didn't quite know what to expect. I thought they were pretty good though, despite being complete fucked off their heads on drugs! Well at least the lead singer was! His eyes looked really freaky! Anyway, he still managed to get the crowd going really well after the crowd was quite pathetic in their responses to him. He talked to the crowd for a minute and pretty quickly got them all psyched up yelling for 'Revolution Action'!! Anyway, the drug-fucked singer decided he wanted to come for a bit of a swim in the mosh pit so he climbed on in and had a bit of a crowd surf before falling down RIGHT ON TOP OF ME!!! LOL. What a way to meet a celebrity! hahaha. I couldn't move because he was on top of me, and he couldn't move because he was passed out I think! LOL. Anyway the crowd helped us both out and then security helped pull him out of the mosh pit and dragged him off to first aid or something.

Time for Frenzal Rhomb - what?!?!?!? Could it be true??? No Frenzal Rhomb!!??! Indeed it was! The Testeagles got up on stage in place of Frenzal and told us all that Frenzal had alochol poisoning so they wouldn't be playing! I must say I'm very disappointed in Frenzal! Since when are the ones to get sick and not go to their shows!?!?

Anyway, Testeagles got the crowd going alright, even though we all knew we wanted to see Frenzal, not them. There were a few 'Frenzal' chants going through the mosh pit, but it was pointless because Frenzal obviously weren't coming and there's nothing anybody could do to change that... I heard 'Underdog' and I think 'Clone' and perhaps 'Turn That Shit Up' as well, before leaving to go see Something For Kate.

Something For Kate were definately the best band of the day up to this point. They played an absolutely amazing set, which unfortunatley I didn't catch the start of. I heard them play just over half a dozen songs, inlcuding 'Hallways' and 'Whatever you want' and I think 'Electricity' (earlier on) and they finished with 'Captain'. I wish people would stop trying to mosh to songs that are just not meant to be moshed to though! Ah well. I got a few photos of the beautiful Steph and also of Paul and Clint as well I think, which should be up on this website eventually!

Over to the essential stage for a bit of 28 Days action. These guys rock. I've seen them once before at the Greenhouse Tavern in Coffs Harbour where they supported Bodyjar. They were great then, but I think they were even better today. I didn't catch all of their set, but I did catch a few songs, including their new single, 'Sucker' (?). Then somebody found $2 stuck to my back and were kind enough to give it to me hehe cool!

On the way over to the Boiler Room I caught a bit of Beth Orton who seemed to be going well. I can't say I've heard that much of her stuff, but I love 'Stolen Car'. Anyway, I was their for the first two or three songs of her set, and I must say the first song, whatever it was called, didn't really grab me, but the next one sounded great, but I wanted to see Josh Abrahams now so off I went.

I walked into the Boiler Room where Josh Abrahms & Amiel were singing 'Headroom' - a slightly remixed version which sounded great! After that, Amiel left the stage and left Josh to mix up some beats which were very cool to dance to. The boiler room is great to get away from the crowds (the kind security guards kept giving us water too which was great!! Better than lineing up to use one of the damn taps!!).

Anyway I had to leave the boiler room early and head back to the main stage because I knew my friends would never forgive me if I didn't see any of Blink 182. LOL. They seemed to put on a pretty good show. Funny guys. It was sooo mean what they did to somebody though! Somehow somebodies camera got chucked up on stage, so they told everybody that they'd found it and were going to put it in lost property or whatever to be claimed later on because it probably has some important memories of the day on it, and then smashed the camera into the ground and it shattered everywhere! Fuck I'd be pissed if that was my camera!!! LOL. Anyway, they played a heap of songs including 'Dumpweed', 'What's my age again', 'Pathetic', and finished off with 'Dammit'.

Still at the mainstage now for a bit of Jebediah (I'm pretty sure they were next anyway). Jebediah are always great. I dunno why but I can't remember that much of them. I know they played 'Lino' (one of my faves), 'Harpoon', 'Teflon', 'Animal' and the all time favourite - 'Leaving Home', as well as plenty of others that I can't remember!

I'm not refering to any one mosh pit, but at the main stage, all day, I couldn't believe how many chicks were flashing their tits around! LOL. (Not complaining either!!! hehehe). There was more of the top taking off, and getting groped than any of the festivals I've been to in the past I think!

Anyway, over to the Green Stage for Shihad. These guys rocked!! I didn't get much of a chance to see them at Livid, so I'm glad I made an effort to see them today! I still haven't got around to buying their CD yet, but I still knew most of the songs, so it was great! They had a good mosh going too! I had to quickly crowd surf out though when I almost lost my hat and watch. I actually managed to survive the whole day without loosing anything! Even though, in the Jebediah (I think) mosh pit somebody grabbed my hat off my head and through it, after a quick dash through the mosh pit I managed to reach the person who had just picked it up, just before they through it! LOL. (Can't lose my triple j hat!!! :)))

Over to the Boiler room again for a bit of Primal Scream... I must admit, Primal Scream are another band who I don't know enough songs of, but they sounded great anyway.

A bit of a break as I got some food, looked for friends, then watched Spiderbait from a distance... Spiderbait seem to be at every single festival that's ever on!! Another quick complaint - the damn speakers on the Kamikaze ride were louder than the fuckin main stage!! I mean we were closer to the main stage, then the ride, but we could still hear the bass of the of other speakers. arrgg.. Why the hell can't they ever have the main stage loud enough at festivals!?!? They must have turned up the volume for Foo Fighters and NIN and RHCP though I reckon... Chemical Brothers were the only band who I think were just about perfect volume... maybe they could have been a tiny bit louder, but at least they weren't too soft like the bands on the main stage...

Oops I forgot, Grinspoon were on before Spiderbait - I think I saw all of Grinspoon's set - those guys always rock!! They started off playing 'Ready 1' I think. Followed by a heap of other songs, including 'More Than You Are', 'Champion', and 'Black Friday' (for which Phil or somebody took a before and after photo hehehe). Grinspoon were definately another highlite of the day!

Okay, next up were the band I'd been waiting for! FOO FIGHTERS! Woohoo! I can't remember much of their setlist but I think they opened with 'Stacked Actors'. I can also remember them playing 'Monkey Wrench', 'My Hero', and 'Learn to fly'. Foo Fighters were unbelievable! One of the most amazing live bands I've ever seen! The mosh pit was bareable once I found a nice spot about 2 people from the front too :). Far out it gets exhausting after a couple of hours in the mosh pit though!

Next up were NINE INCH NAILS so straight over to the next stage for these guys, still no rest for me :). I got a pretty good spot really close to the front pretty easily which was good! NIN opened with "bow down to the one you serve, you're going to get what you deserve" (Head Like A Hole). Umm then they played a heap of other songs including 'The Wretched', and about two other songs off 'the fragile' and a fair few older songs which I didn't know a couple of, and they played one of my highlites - 'Starfuckers Inc.'! Everybody was chanting for 'Closer' so they soon played that and everybody was happy :). I was disappointed that I don't think they played 'We're in this together' because that's one of my fave songs and I was sure they would have played it live! Everybody including myself was disapointed they didn't play 'Perfect Drug' too... Oh well. Trent and the band were amazing - a very powerful set! The lighting effects were great too! Trent and a couple of the other guys kept on stumbling around everywhere too - I think they were a bit messed up on drugs, but this didn't affect their performance too much! The security guards would have had fun during this set, cleaning up the smashed keyboard, picking up all the speakers and stuff that guys kept knocking over, and helped Trent up and down from the stage as he kept wanted to go into the mosh pit, or at least right up to it... I feel sorry for the short girl in front of me who wouldn't have been able to see much at all! Lifted her up onto my shoulders for a minute or two but I'm glad she had to go down coz she was getting heavier than i thought LOL. The crowd surfers had eased off a bit in Nine Inch Nails though which was a great relief!!

I think I needed a quick drink now after 3 hours of heavy non-stop moshing!! LOL. I was nearly ready to die. Anyway, I didn't rest long - RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS were on!! I made my way from way over where the food was, right down to the front of the mosh pit, and then realised it was nearly time to start going over to the boiler room so I then started getting back out of the mosh pit LOL. It took about half an hour to bash my way to the front, and then back out again! It was the hugest crowd I've ever seen! Normally its only packed (to the point where u can't even squeeze between two people to get closer) right at the front, but this was packed heaps far back, taking up just about the entire grass area! RHCP played a good mix of old and new. They started off with 'Around the world' (I think), and then played "give it away now..." and then 'Scar Tissue', followed by a couple of older songs that I didn't recognise all of. They seemed to be in good form though, putting on an amazing show! Pitty I couldn't stay for all of it :)

CHEMICAL BROTHERS were on in the Boiler room from 9.45 pm. I just had enough time to get out of the RHCP mosh, and grab a slushy thing and start making my way into the boiler room. I'm soooo glad I got their earlier than the other 30,000 people who rocked up to the boiler room after Chilli Peppers. Because I quickly managed to squeeze my way down and find a nice position in the centre/middle, near the front, but not right at the front... Chemical Brothers were probably the best act of the day I think (although NIN would come very close so its very hard to decide!!). The thing I love about the boiler room is that people give each other enough space to dance around in (not a lot of space, but enough so you can move at least)... They opened with their big hi 'Hey Boy, Hey Girl' followed on by their older big hit 'Block Rockin Beats'. They also played a heap of both new and old stuff all mixed in together and stuff - the only other two distinct songs I remember hearing were 'Music Response', and 'Out of control' (one of my personal faves!!). Far out my neck is sore from dancing to Chemical Brothers though!! LOL. I nearly died from lack of water - I could see thousands of people outside getting drenched by the rain that had just come over, and here I was dieing from lack of water inside the big top LOL.

Anyway, after the Chemical Brothers was when the day took a sudden turn for the worst! LOL. I got freezing cold as I headed back to our arranged meeting spot where I was supposed to meet up with my friends so we could go home. I start shivering really bad and just wish it could be hot again! Anyway, the bad thing was - the fucked up security guards had closed off the rest of the grounds (where our meeting spot was!!!) - I can understand that they didn't want thousands of people running over the wet grass and fucking the whole place up, but there were no more bands on the mainstage so I doubt there would have been that many people on the grounds anyway! It just was a real bugger to me and anybody else planning to meet people back in there!!

So I walked outside the gate and waited freezing my arse off in the rain for about 15-20 minutes until one of my friends found me. Then we waited for one of the buses to take us away. We eventually all squeezed on together (my friend being the last on the bus - that would have been horrible if he didn't make it onto the same bus!! LOL). So then off to Maccas for a quick snack and then home for a shower and some rest! Far out my clothes stank like shit!!! LOL. My white socks are brown, and you can't go within a metre of any of my clothes now without suffocating! Yuck!!

So that's my day as I remember it! I probably left out a lot of things, and made a lot of mistakes, but oh well, let me know if you find any and maybe I'll be bothered to fix em up :)

* Pictures taken by Chay Neal