Archive for the 'Music' Category

As my write up of the first concert was so average, and because the second concert was identical I decided I would do a much better write up of this one, just to be nice (or maybe mean) to all those who missed out.

I will start by saying the second concert was even better than the first, and that I am beyond impressed with the Foo Fighters right now. I can’t wait for another tour to see how, and if, they can top this one. It was amazing.

Tuesday started off with me trying to write an essay. As boredom and excitement took over, so did the urge to shot people and stuff like that; so I started watching NK play GTA:IV.

Hours passed and before I knew it Beer Tuesday had come and gone and we were on the way to the concert.

The two opening acts were Kaki King, and The Sky Bombers.
Only caught a small bit of Kaki, but in what we saw we could tell she was an amazing guitar player, we were then pretty gutted that we had missed most of her set (both nights).
The Sky Bombers on the other hand were full of energy, but, it didn’t seem a lot else. Sure, this is probably harsh as I am comparing them to the Foo Fighters, but I didn’t really rate them at all. The second night was a little better, as I had heard all their songs by now and got caught in the tunes a little bit more. I must say however, when you introduce a song saying “This song is about my mum, it’s called She’s always complaining” you maybe should reconsider things.
Who knows?

The break between the Bombers and the Foos was pretty short, so before we knew it (well, the rest of the crowd, we had a pretty good idea based on the previous night) Chris, Nate, Taylor and Dave were out on stage. As per the previous night for the first two songs they were also joined by Drew Hester, Jessy Greene, Pat Smear and Rami Jaffee (who all made many other appearances during the show).
The set list for the two nights was the same, with the only changes coming in the encore, where in the second night they added three additional songs (DOA, No Way Back, and Generator).

From the moment they hit the stage the crowd went mental. A constant cheer as the band stood around and Dave ran out the runway and out on the sides of the stage, saluting the crowd and getting everyone pumped up.

They then cut right into Let it Die, which was followed without a break by The Pretender, they then continued to play right into Times Like These and then Breakout. A powerful intro indeed. They crowd, as New Zealand does for the Foo Fighters was going nuts the whole time. Cheering loudly, singing proudly (yeah, I don’t think that actually works either, it’s OK thought).

After the first 4 songs the band stopped for a moment for Dave to have a few words. Talk about how good the last night was, and how much better this one would be. He came out with the idea that modern bands with their make-up and crying and junk, play for an hour and fifteen minutes, and that it is pathetic. As such he announced they would play at least two hours, but as the cheer died down from that he suggested that they will just play until the audience tells them to leave. This idea was met with an even bigger cheer.

They then jumped into another series of songs (I forget exact order here) which included Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make-up Is Running); Learn to Fly; Staked Actors; and This is a Call.
Two of these songs had extended interludes.

During This is a Call Dave went on a rampage, running too all corners of the stage, melting some faces with his mad guitar skills (I couldn’t help myself there, sorry). While Staked Actors began with a guitar duel (bad choice of word) between Dave and Chris, and paused in the middle for an extended drum solo. It seemed during this solo that the rest of the band were taking a little break, as they all left the stage and weren’t to be seen.

The next portion of the set was where things really got awesome (well, it was equally as awesome as the rest of it, but the whole show was at such a new level of awesomeness it was hard to decide where on the awesome scale any one song or segment belonged).
Can everyone say acoustic?

Yes, Dave, followed shortly by the rest of the band walked to the end of the central runway where they were met with a second circular stage that had descended from the ceiling. The stage was preset with drums, pianos, percussion segment and microphones. It was essentially a small take on the Skin and Bones set.
Amazing was about to happen.

Starting with Skin and Bones the pace of the whole concert changed (moderately). They then played (in some order) My Hero; Cold Day in the Sun; But, Honestly; and Marigold. The big band also got introduced which tonight allowed for a sweet violin romp with Jessy, and, of course, the obligatory triangle solo with Drew Hester (who later we are sure was hitting on Jessy)

There was of course more chatting from Dave here, including a portion where he told us to “shut the fuck up”, and questioned how they were meant to play music with the crowd that loud. There was also banter back and forth with Taylor before Cold Day in the Sun.

The previous night this banter had included a joke which wasn’t really heard, but mentioned something about all the convicts from England actually coming to New Zealand (Taylor), and a rebuttal saying that actually, it was all the hot women, (Dave) as there was a big group right in the front. Tonight; however, Dave warned that no jokes should be told, and teased the crowd with not knowing what they were talking about.
Once these songs were done the band left once again and Dave had another talk with the audience. This time Dave spoke about the Beaconsfield Miners, and how much that story had changed his view on their music. He also explained that it was because of a drunken promise to one of the miners that the song actually made the album.
Clearly this song was then played. Dave re-introduced Kaki King, who he rates as the greatest guitar player ever; and quite a looker (potentially).

After this Dave went right into Everlong, which as expected drew amazing roars from the crowd. Dave played along until the end of the song when he raced back to the main stage, and right up beside Taylor on the drums. However, as Dave tried to get back on the stage his foot was caught in a wire and he fell straight down on his face.
(From where I was it looked like he broke his ankle at first as his shoe came off slightly, allowing for a weird bend)
Dave recovered like a pro and after throwing his guitar up over his shoulder (neck snapped off when it hit the ground) carried on singing. The pro roadies rushed out and got him a new guitar without missing a beat and the song finished as well as it ever has. Dave then quipped that it was perfect that it (the fall) happened now at the end of the tour (end of this leg, they play again at the end of this month and Germany).

They then rushed into Monkey Wrench, which as expected also went off. Then to finish the main part of the set they played All my Life, which included the backing screens turning red, recreating the awesomeness of the video (and the infamous (??) photo of their silhouettes’ on a red back ground where it looks like one guy doesn’t have a head).

The crowd roar was insatiable with the band off the stage, and as per the previous night (and most concerts on this tour I am told) the video screens soon came back on with Dave showing the set list and holding up a finger stating one more song. The crowd went off again. Taylor then came on screen and also indicated one more song, but after holding a hand to his ear changed this to two more songs. Dave concurred, but then Taylor came back and like he wanted it kept a secret held up three fingers. Good times to come.

The band came back on stage and after Dave explained he often likes opening an encore with a softer song they played Big Me with Jessy coming back in to help with the vocals. This was followed with Long Road to Ruin, which also went off.
Actually, Long Road to Ruin was quite unique this night, as it was Chris’ birthday.

Halfway through the song a random guy ran out onto stage and was just standing around behind Dave. This caused the band to stop and Dave explain to the guy that he can’t just run up there while they are playing. Unless…
Yeah, he was a male stripper and proceeded to get some clothes off and dance around for Chris. Highly amusing. We then sang happy Birthday and Dave asked the crowd what they wanted next.

A small section at the front was chanting for DOA, and Dave obliged by playing it. They then went straight into No Way Back, which had a huge amount of audience singing involved. Finally they added Generator for good measure.

Those of you counting could note that is 5 songs in the 3 song encore; and as all good things must come to an end Dave thanked the crowd once more, created a cheer for the roadies, and then finished everything up with Best of You.

So, we left and on our walk home realised that as good as the first night was, they topped it in the second. More songs will do that I guess. It was also interesting to note that all the little speeches and anecdotes changed between the two shows, even ones that were essentially the same (Beaconsfield miners story) – then again, this shouldn’t have come as a surprise, they are pros after all.

All up this has been the greatest 5 day period of my life, topped off by two of the best concerts I may ever see. The random couple who I spoke to this morning (because I had a Foos shirt on) summed it up nicely when they said “Nothing else is ever going to be the same. How are we going to get a concert better than that? I might have to give up on going to them if they are all going to be huge disappointments when compared to the Foo Fighters.”

(It should be noted I wrote all of this, while I have an essay due in two days that I have yet to start or even really have a good look at – Foo Fighters > Passing University)

- GG

So this day had high expectations coming in. The Foo Fighters are one of my favourite bands, and arguably one of the greatest bands of all time (or at least our generation). They also put on awesome live shows (as I have seen them several times already), so I was expecting an great night.

The day started pretty early, woken up at 6.30 by SA having a show. I then proceeded to get up once SDC and NK had gone to work, and sat around watching some cartoons while surfing the net. Before I knew it, 11.30 had come around and I hopped the bus to town to meet up with SDC for lunch. Little did I know my cousin was meeting us there as well with his army buddies.

So I arrive and the boys had just finished ordering their meals and had a round of beers on the table, I quickly got my own beer and ordered a dozen buffalo wings (Degree is an awesome place, and these wings are amazing – I had been crazing them since I left Auckland). So drinking took place, and then SDC arrived and got his own beer and ordered food. Drinking and eating occurred and SDC headed back to work (three beers down at lunch – nice). I, being a student who had decided to take several days off, hung around and continued to drink many more pints with the army boys.

This was a highly positive idea on my behalf, as these army guys were good freaking quality. I have never had so many laughs about weird conversations and events at lunchtime before. Just for a taster, one of the guys explained to us that when he was younger (at primary school) he beat off to Officer Callahan from Police Academy. Police Academy the Animated show that is. The reason that is worth noting is because this guy was quite loud – and it was 1pm in a public place. Yeah, it was heading to be that kind of day…

Continued drinking till about 5, then came back home and before long we were down at the concert. Originally I had been a little disappointed because I was seated, but once I found my seats (stage right, not to far back in either direction) I realised that the view was awesome, and that I was not going to be disappointed.

The concert started with Let it Die, followed up by The Pretender, and then still without saying a word they went into Times Like These and Breakout. After that point I kind of forget the order the songs were played, but the set list looked something like this

· Best Of You

· Cold Day In The Sun

· The Pretender

· Let It Die

· Long Road To Ruin

· Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make-Up Is Running)

· But, Honestly

· Times like these

· Breakout

· Staked actors

· Monkey wrench

· Everlong

· Breakout

· Big Me

· All my life

· Ballard for the Beaconfield Miners

· Marigold

· This is a call

· Learn to fly

· My hero

· Long road to ruin

· Skin and Bones

Clearly an awesome set.

But not only was it sweet music, there was a good portion in the middle where a second stage came down from the roof and they played a bunch of acoustic songs, similar to Skin and Bone (the DvD). This was extra awesome because it also allowed for Dave to do a whole bunch of talking, which is always entertaining.

So, they played for a few hours, and it was the best few hours of my short little life. Afterwards I just could not stop smiling.

I am very excited about seeing them again tonight.

The only bad thing I have to say is about Vector. As everyone has said time and time again, the sound in Vector is not really great. It was noticeable again last night. Not very bad, but there were bits of the show I felt that Vector was letting them down.

Oh well, I was seeing the Foos twice in two days, I am probably not going to complain.

- GG

This morning I was listening to The Killers song When you were young from the Sam’s town album (which is fantastic). In this song there is a section; (and I actually looked it up to make sure I was hearing it correctly)

“He doesn’t look a thing like Jesus
But he talks like a gentleman
Like you imagined when you were young” – The Killers

Anyway, this got me thinking about Beer Tuesday’s own Silver Sovereign (and I wasn’t even masturbating at the time). About how he is the opposite of this lyric, because he looks a lot like Jesus, but doesn’t particularly talk much like a gentlemen (in the traditional sense of the word, I haven’t seen any behaviour which suggests that he is anything but a gentleman, he just doesn’t talk much like you would imagine a traditional gentleman to talk, or like a wanker if you wish for a shorter description).

This got me thinking about how strange the lyric is. The song is clearly about a girl who is growing up and meeting a man, but not one who resembles the one she imagined when she was young. The part of the song quoted above seems to suggest that the man she has found is a gentleman, and doesn’t look like Jesus, which were the key characteristics of the kind of man she imagined herself with when she was young.

This raises the question for me what is so great about Jesus anyway? And what kind of girl imagines her perfect guy looking like Jesus? Think about it, aside from the magic tricks, and the water to wine thing, Jesus looks like a filthy bogan, permanently dressed like he is going to a toga party, I know chicks dig scars, but I cannot imagine the amount of scars on his forehead is particularly attractive, and I am sure the holes in his hands are just creepy. So again I am not sure of the kind of girl who dreams about slamming Jesus, but there is probably something wrong with her.

Doc

Ok, I know I stole Box’s title, for my Irrelevant Music Review, but everything in the title is true… aside from the word brief, nothing I write is ever brief, my writing is more verbose and just as fictional as the bible.

However before beginning I need to talk you through the scale. I have realised that I generally over use the word awesome, almost to the point that is annoys me, considering I consistently apply the word to situations where I am not actually in awe, only mildly interested and entertained (I don’t think others have noticed this overuse, but I am aware of it). Therefore I decided that it was a good idea to base the scale that I will be using for the music review upon the word Awesome. Unlike a standard 1-10 linear scale, were the distance between 3 and 4 the same as 7 and 8, this scale will be more logarithmic, and look more like this;

The scale will contain 6 points which will be detailed below.

Tremendously unawesome - Unfortunately, almost all music fits directly into this category (remembering of course this is a personal rating system). I would estimate that around 90% of music fits into this category. Example: Anything in the pop genre ie. anything by Justin Timberlake. You will not read a review on this site about music in this area because I am sure no Beer Tuesday members are into music this bad… unless you include those Linkin Park liking members, clearly Neon Knight is not one of them.

Not Awesome - Again I would estimate that the next 5% of music fits into this area. Not awesome is a category which will be reserved for bands/albums which are not bad to the point that it is amazing how much they suck, but still not good to the point where one would ever be in awe of the greatness. This is a tough category because there will be a lot of talent, however probably be reserved for albums which were on the sell out side or didn’t really give enough to be considered awesome. Example: Probably something by a good band which wasn’t up to standard ie. Shihad – Love is the new hate, or Audioslave – Out of Exile. (Important to note that these are not bad albums, just below par by their standards, not far from Awesome, however if awesome is considered an above average rating under this scale).

Awesome – This may be only 3 out of 6 points, however this is not a bad rating to receive, nor is it considered average (considering on a 6 point linear scale 3 out of 6 would actually be less than the half way point). To call something awesome is to say that it is very good, therefore awesome is a high rating to receive. Given that I have estimated that 95% of all music fits into the above levels of awesome, this points to the respectability of this rating. Example: The Killers – Sam’s Town

More than Awesome – Level 4 on the awesome scale is for those albums which are so good the description awesome does not quite do them justice. They are simply better than this, but not quite good enough to fit on the next level. As the name suggests these are more than awesome. Example: Kings of Leon – Aha Shake Heartbreak

Amazingly Awesomely Great – This is a very high ranking, reserved for albums which really pop with their awesomeness. This is a very hard level to reach, but when something does reach this level it is really something special. Example: Muse – Absolution

This level of awesome was pretty much as good as you can get, however it can be eclipsed only by an album which is deemed to be…

… Awesome – Level 6 will be left blank because by limited vocabulary is not expansive enough to accurately describe this level of awesome. Some may describe this level as Epic, however this level is actually an afterthought. No album which will ever be reviewed will directly end up in this level. An album will only reach this level after time and reflection, and eventually moving to that higher level of music. As an analogy, there are a lot of good basketball players, there are a lot of great ones, but very few reach a level above this were they become almost mythical in their ability, much like Michael Jordan. Example: Tool -Aenima.

To give you a rough idea of what the hell I have been talking about he is that graph again;

This was supposed to be a music review, so far I have only just discussed a rating system.

Kings of Leon -Because of the Times

I was a very big fan of each of the last two KoL albums. I would rate each of them above awesome, so I expected big things, and eagerly awaited this new album. I like the fact the Kings of Leon, are interesting, with a unique sound, and also have a vocalist with an interesting enough voice it is almost like having another instrument in the band.

To be honest upon my first listening to this album I was a little disappointed. It is still a unique and interesting album, but it felt a bit heavier and seemed to be a little more ‘middle of the road’ without really shooting for something completely unique (don’t get me wrong the sound is still very unique, this isn’t like a Nickelback album where they are trying to sound as average as possible, by trying to sound exactly like every half ass-ed pub band in the world, that is the type of music I hate).

After listening a couple more times I decided I liked it, but was still disappointed. I realised that a lot of the disappointment steamed from how great I thought the other albums were. After the other two great albums I had become used to the sound and it didn’t initially blow me away like the other albums. I think this album will grow on me, and I will like it more with time, but at this stage the highest rating I can give it is Awesome.

Overall Rating: Awesome

Modest Mouse – We were dead before the ship even sank

When I purchased this album I really didn’t know anything about the band, but I brought it for 3 reasons. Firstly at this point in my life I have given up making decisions on my own, so need recommendations from people I trust with these kind of decisions, in this instance ESPN’s Bill Simmonds in a chat saying he was a fan of the album, not that I know him, but I generally trust his knowledge of these things. Secondly I was up late one night and caught the end of Letterman, they were performing, I really liked what I heard and saw. Thirdly I was making an order from Amazon for some books and stuff, and realised it was one of the recommended items (which is clearly based on other things I like). As I was already making an order and it is much cheaper to buy a CD from the USA (even after considering shipping costs and exchange rate), also I was getting a few things anyway to the additional shipping costs would not be too much, so I decided to pick it up and give it a go.

I liked it immediately. Some of the first things that struck me was the uniqueness of the sound, the changes in tempo, and the changes in sound, between different songs and also mid way through songs. There was a unique vocal sound, which was probably due to the vocal limitations of the singer, however it added a level of interest and made the album good to listen to.

Now I have owned it for a couple of weeks and listened to the album for the umpteenth time (which I think is a number somewhere around 16), I have grown to like it more and further appreciate the sound, and songs.

I was tempted to say that they sound like band x, but I really couldn’t pin point one band that they sound like, the more I listen to it the less any one band that stands out. I wouldn’t suggest that bands like Franz Ferdinand, and the Killers are influences of this band, but when listening to it there are aspects which appear similar, there are also many other bands that you hear when listening to the album which you can hear similarities to, however the smooth mixing of this eclectic range of sounds gives Modest Mouse and this album a very unique sound which is unlike that of other bands.

The album is very upbeat, and puts a spring into yours step, there is a wide range of sounds and instruments used. I must say that this is definitely more than just an awesome album and band. This is definitely above awesome. I wouldn’t quite put it into that fifth level of awesomeness yet (although it is definitely at the upper level of the forth category), but the album is very enjoyable, and one that I will listen to many times for a long time.

Overall Rating: Above Awesome

Stay tuned, because in the next couple of weeks with the release of the new Queens of the Stone Age album, Era Vulgaris, I am sure that there will be another review by someone at some point.

SDC away,

So as I end another drunken evening at home, I decide to chuck on the Muse DVD. So I sit and enjoy it! Then I decided to round off the evening with greatness and I put on DVD by Sexy by the Eagles of Death Metal… only this reminds me that I am unable to attend their concert on the 22nd of March.

There I am with my ticket all ready to go… only to be called on for an ‘away’ job that week, so I am out of town for the concert. I can only feel greatness when I consider this concerts potential, and to say that I am devastated to miss it, only begins to describe my feelings about missing this great event.

I just feel that I needed to put this out there,

As I have not been contributing all that much to our cause, I thought I would chime in with a concept that will likely only last one or two posts, but should at the very least ease my concern around the role I have so scarcely played in the emergence of our website.I bring you music reviews, likely of CD’s that have been purchased recently, or just opines of current chart toppers and the like. Sounds terrible, I know, but let me have this one. Please.

This week (assuming this will be a weekly segment) I would like to discuss the Killers’ “Sam’s Town”, Kasabian’s “Empire”, and Muse’s “Showbiz”. Yeah… BDO themed…

Currently I am listening to 10,000 Days (Rosetta Stoned right now…) but feel I should use the albums I discuss as inspiration so let me have this one, grab a coffee, and I’ll be back in 10-15…

Ok back… and for the record, how good is Rosetta Stoned?! When they played that at the BDO I was in awe of the fact. Never thought I would get to hear it live… well…

The Killers – Sam’s Town

I had been told by many sources that their first album would be a much better buy, but since I had quite the obsession with “When You Were Young” at the time, I decided to go with the newbie. On first listen it wasn’t fantastic but could tell it would be one of those ones that grows on you. And has it ever… Despite what others say, I believe this to be a great album. Granted, I overdid it with the singles to begin with but it’s quite nice when you get sick of these, as it gives you a chance to appreciate the rest of the album. The title single is great, and I love how these kinds of bands aren’t afraid to go beyond the typical rock instruments and jazz things up a little. Plenty of epic harmonies throughout, but the one downer is it does seem to be lacking in chill moments. I’m a big fan of the enter and exit-ludes, and the fillers are solid. Love Brandon Flowers’ voice too. Ya, ya. And since I am using a program that does not appear to allow graphics – 3.9 stars.

Kasabian – Empire

Another album that seems to get better the more you listen to it. It is very catchy and allows one to get their groove on throughout (love “Stuntman”…). Again, nothing outstanding but very enjoyable and worth a listen. The title track is a good start to the album, and of course “Shoot the Runner” seems to be doing very well for itself, but things do thin out a little. Gets quite dancy at times, but for some reason I like it. Could be Jamie’s influence? Like the Killers, it was recommended that I listen to the first album um, first, but couldn’t see it so I went for Empire. I am intrigued to find their earlier work as a comparison but it’s not so urgent. 2.9 stars

Muse – Showbiz

A highly anticipated venture to Muse’s beginnings saw White Warrior make the purchase and copy for my benefit. Credit where it is due, cos this is another fine work a band who are doing very, very well in my books at the mo. Matt Bellamy’s vocals rival the best, although do invite the eunuch question. What a range… First impression was that it is very raw which tends to be the case with a lot of first albums, but further listening has mired this. Muse’s use of piano was (or more is) my main inspiration for wanting to learn. Big big fan. For a taste, check out “Muscle Museum”,” Sober” and “Showbiz” too… 3.9 stars.

To close, I would like to give another new upcoming band a mention – Guggenhymen. Now these guys have class. A local act who have been making a name for themselves of late. They seem to have influences from a variety of acts, a lot of which tend to mirror my top pics, so if you get a chance definitely check these guys out! Seriously. I hear the drummer has been doing some side work also so if I hear more I will be sure to let you know.

Thanks for taking the time to read. Hopefully this was not painful at all, although I’m having a few cramps from the Spag Bol last night so you will have to excuse me.

Box, awaaaaayy!!

Wow. What a fantastic day. Being a veteran of 6 previous BDO’s, I feel I have earned the right to provide a recap of a sensational day out – “Big” doesn’t even begin to encompass the true mammoth proportions of one of the most enjoyable days of my life.

Granted I have come away with a few new areas of pain that I could do without (including a 3^rd degree burn on my melon which caused much weeping form the region) but it was all worth it when you consider that my two favourite bands at this point in time headlined the day.

Before we get to them, I figured it be best to start this story as at Thursday evening – being the earliest moment that the majority of our attendees came together at the residence of Purple Punga.

The drive up from Hamilton was a good one with the only major delay being the service at Mercer McDonalds. I could’ve sworn it would not usually take that long to make burgers of such low quality but we were forced to wait for our servings of Micken McMeeses… Skippy was able to get in some solid flirting time with our attendant however, so all was not lost.

We arrived in GI around (some time? I really have no idea…) and found Punga and his Wellington boys enjoying a few brews. The Hamilton travellers soon joined in for a reasonably quiet night for us – but the lads who had been on it for a while continued into the wee small hours finally finshing with what I have been told was some kind of riot / orgy… Good times…

When morning came (along with a few of us I imagine) we got started with a few bottles of bubbles and cooked breakfast thanks to the fine hospitality of Punga. We were joined by the remainder of BDO attendees from the Auckland Chapter (some in not so great shape from the previous night) and eagerly awaited the arrival of our transport.

The taxis arrived right on time and the first load of passengers made our way to Mt Smart. We were forced to vacate the cab a short distance form the grounds as traffic was backed up by an accident (some Merc had hit a Police car) but arrived without too much need to line up.

(I wasn’t too sure how to approach describing the events of the BDO, as this could turn into a sizeable entry [mmm], so will try to focus on the highlight acts for myself and relative interesting subplots. Please excuse me if this gets boring / hard to follow.)

We caught a few smaller acts up at the top stages who were enjoyable, as we sat down with the first JD’s of the day (as it happened, this turned out to me my last… what a light weight…) but soon decided it was time to check out the main stage area. I can tell you, Ericsson is most impressive when packed full with 45,000 people, but is also kinda difficult to navigate. We made our way through the crowd (slowly…) to the back stand which is blocked off for the drinking folks. Made our way to a decent seat at just spent some time soaking in the atmosphere while watching a decent set by both Eskimo Joe and Trivium (who did a nice cover of Master of Puppets). BH, SS, and his better half then went off to catch the Rabble while SDC, GG, CC and I went back to the top stage area to grab a bite and sit in a less crowded area. While there we were most impressed with David Kilgour and the Heavy Eights, the led into the Vines who capped off a great set by throwing guitars and smashing drum kits. Most impressive… SDC and CC then went for a wander around the vicinity whilst GG and I enjoyed the alternative stylings of the Presets (made up of a drummer [who looked remarkably like my brother] and some guy working some funky keyboarding). We were soon joined by SS and his better half, and upon completing the Preset experience, took in another fine band – Kasabian (in the British Indie kinda mould).

Following this we went back to the earlier gathering point of BT members at the back stand, and found a drunken Punga enjoying Jet. Little did we know the enjoyment was about to be put on hold for has-been NZ hip hop “artist” Scribe. I respect that some people appreciated his work in the past but since then he seems to have disappeared (and by the looks of it spent most of his time at Maccas and buying backpacks to wear on stage [??!!]). Anyway, I don’t want to go into this too much as it is most upsetting and has been covered in this space already. But just so you know; it was an embarrassment.

Lucky for the masses however, the pain of Scribe would soon be eclipsed by the headlining acts – The Killers, Muse and Tool.

I am not a huge Killers fan, but from the reaction of the crowd they seemed to do a pretty good job. Unfortunately for those standing directly in front of the stage, the sound quality was less than optimal, meaning on the occasion that they did play a song to my knowledge (like the Miho inclusive Bones) I could not so much hear them.

We got into a decent position for the highly anticipated Muse who I had seen at a previous BDO but at the time had not appreciated their work. In the 2 years since then however I had come to be quite the fan, so seeing them again was amazing. Front man Matthew Bellamy is a fantastic guitarist and the crowd seemed to really appreciate the effort in pulling together a great mix of old (Plug It Baby, Time Is Running Out, Stockholm Syndrome, Hysteria) with a lot from the more recent Black Holes & Revelations (Knights of Cydonia, Starlight, Supermassive Black Hole, Map of the Problematic, Invincible, Take a Bow). Absolutely amazing I tell ya…

This led rather nicely to the headlining act and main reason for my (our?) attendance – Tool. Having seen them twice before and being absolutely amazed by the energy and emotion they bring to the stage, I was giddy like someone really, really giddy. The set started with an alternative rendition of Stinkfist that got the crowd amping, and played through The Pot, 46 & 2, Jambi, Schism, Rosetta Stoned (a song I never imagined would see live, and boy was it amazing), Sober (including a walk on segment for Serj Tankian from SoaD), Lateralis, Vicarious and Ænema. Maynard was more animated than I had seen him before, and proclaimed nearing the end of the set that he would be seeing us (I’m sure he meant specifically the BT boys) in November / December.

What a way to cap off a great Big Day Out. It surpassed all others for me at least, and I am certain many other folks would feel much the same. We made our way back out of the stadium and waited outside the gate for the rest of the clan. The sunburn was already starting to show and I knew my scalp was soon to weep. My legs ached, head pounded, back spasmed, and yet I could not escape the feeling of grandeur at what we had just witnessed…

Box

After South Park last night on C4, they played Eagles of Death Metal – I Want You So Hard which is a great song by itself, but the video was great too. Involves the band playing in some dingy bar, with Jack Black as the Bartender, Dave Grohl as a friendly patron (and I’m sure some of the others were famous too).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe6p-5tUh3M]

Then, straight after that, they played Demon Cleaner, by Kyuss which is an old time favourite of mine. The video isn’t bad, and it involves (possibly) Josh Homme (AKA Carlo Von Sexron) with a midget in a suit on a leash. (Kyuss is the band which started Josh’s career)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkN1bBVz9Fw]

I salute you C4.