Big Day Out 2012

So, who remembered to put on sunscreen? Oh, that's right, NOBODY. And who got sunburnt to hell? Oh yeah, EVERYBODY. Well, actually, it wasn't so much that Big Day Out punters forgot to use sunscreen, it was more the fact that we were told it was going to piss down all day. Indeed, as Abbe May's powerful set of guitar-led indie-rock closed, the heavens opened and it seemed that BDO 2012 was going to be a mud-bath of Glastonburic proportions. But then something amazing happened (in the context of what has been the most rainy Sydney summer ever). As Best Coast brought their angsty-yet-perky, reverby indie to the table, the sun came out. As if on cue. For most of the afternoon, it remained H to the O to the motherflipping T. Like, seriously boiling. Lobster skin was order of the day, especially because there seems to be some kind of unwritten rule that the majority of the crowd must remain shirtless throughout. It makes sense though, I mean, how else would we be able to see their Southern Cross tattoos?

What's that? Oh yeah, the music.... Well, the aforementioned Best Coast were an early highlight, as were Sydney punkers, Chicks Who Love Guns. Triple J Unearthed winners Underlights displayed a sound that is clearly influenced by late 90s English indie. It was a shame that they suffered terrible sound (the bass was too prominent, everything else sounded like a muddy mess) because there were signs of promise there.

Boy & Bear brought a sense of serenity to the madness with their lovely set, which peaked when they covered Crowded House. Elsewhere, Battles and OFWGKTA were excellent and The Vaccines proved why they have received so much hype of late. Kimbra has been omnipresent this summer and she put in the strongest performance that we have seen from her so far. Vocally MASSIVE and exuding confidence in abundance, this woman is an absolute megastar in the making.

At the same time that My Chemical Romance were looking bored and old, Mariachi El Bronx doffed their sombreros to a huge crowd elsewhere in the concrete jungle of a site. Later, Kasabian did what Kasabian do while the day's highlight was going on in front of a criminally small crowd at one of the smaller stages. Kitty Daisy & Lewis (above) are simply wonderful. We have said enough words about how much we love them before, but, suffice to say, anyone at BDO who didn't pop along to see at least a couple of songs from this delightful trio of London siblings deserves to have their entire record collection smashed into tiny pieces. Whatever else you were doing, shame on you for not joining the couple of hundred people who were dancing like crazy to their amazing set (during which legendary Jamaican trumpet player Eddie Tan Tan Thornton made a typically impish appearance).

After this, we cut a dash to see the back-end of Foster The People's set and discovered where everybody was during Kitty Daisy & Lewis. Holy smoke, they were playing to a gargantuan crowd. Yeah, yeah, Pumped Up Kicks has been played to death but its appearance and subsequent mass sing-along was the feel-good moment of the festival in the early evening sunshine. Back in the arena were Soundgarden but, let's be honest, who really cares? After all, it's not 1994 any more. That said, Black Hole Sun did make us chuckle, as it brought back memories of how we used to sing it as Back Hole Mum as teenagers.

And then it was time for the main event. Kanye West announced his appearance by being hoisted way into the air on a cherry picker as puffs of smoke billowed below him (you can just about make him out in the blurry iPhone photo below) and the strains of Dark Fantasy kicked in. It was quite the spectacle and was greeted with an audible sense of awe from the massed throngs. This was followed by a fantastic version of Power. As starts go, this was as strong as anything we've seen, but his self-indulgence soon got kinda tiresome and his set list offered some seriously dull moments.

Post Kanye, Noel Gallagher & His Angry Birds (or whatever they're called) certainly knew how to keep the crowd happy, with a spattering of Oasis songs, including the underrated Talk Tonight in amongst his new stuff.

And, after Gallagher had done his thing, it was time for the shirtless masses to go home and apply some aloe vera to their bright red skin. All in all, it was a fairly unremarkable Big Day Out. Still, considering some of the headlines previous years have made, that's no bad thing.

Review by a sunburnt Bobby Townsend.

The Vaccines interview

Bobbysix.com chats to The Vaccines about the Big Day Out tour in Australia:

“I'm terrified. I think it's going to be carnage,” The Vaccines drummer Pete Robertson says somewhat impishly. His band is in Australia for the Big Day Out tour in the knowledge that the festival has quite the reputation for bands getting together and letting loose. “I have heard that there is a lot of partying at Big Day Out,” he nods. “Everyone stays in the same hotel and everyone gets on and has a good time. Considering it's straight after Christmas as well, I don't think we're going to get much rest. It's going to be good.”

While they are still a relatively new band, their non-stop schedule means that The Vaccines are already well versed in combining travelling with partying. Their first time collectively in Australia was for the Splendour festival a few months ago and that proved to be a crazy experience. “I've got memories of not remembering a lot,” the drummer laughs. “It was pretty hectic and we had a little too much fun. Our summer was generally pretty insane and that was the most insane leg of it. We flew from England to Japan on the Wednesday and on the Friday we touched down in Brisbane, then went to Sydney for two days, then to Melbourne for two days. Then we flew to Chicago and then we did coast-to-coast in The States, all within about two weeks. It was fun.”

The reception they received on their first visit to Sydney – not least at their sideshow at a packed Metro Theatre – is something that has long since stayed with the band. “It was amazing. It was one of those moments. As individuals we'd been working hard in other bands and then collectively when we first got together a couple of years ago to make music that we thought could connect with people. When your music travels further than you ever have before, it's a rewarding experience.”

They'll be sideshows again this time round, as the quartet is set to support label-mates Kasabian. With The Vaccines having played countless live gigs in 2011, you can expect their turn in Aus to be something really special. Robertson is especially looking forward to playing to some big festival crowds. “We had an amazing festival season in our summer. We played just short of 50 of them, all over the world. So I think we're reasonably well schooled in it and I'm looking forward to getting back into it.”

Playing in front of audiences is what The Vaccines are all about and their sound lends itself to being played live, as that was how it was originally put together. “We wrote the record [debut album, What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?] as a live band. We didn't have any recording facilities, so we used our resources the best we could, which was basically two guitars, a bass and a drum kit. We designed the music to be played live. Well, actually we recorded a live album, essentially.”

When The Vaccines first started out, they did so with no masterplan. Rather they simply enjoyed being in a band and all that entailed. One wonders whether a plan has since developed as they have continued to gain success. “The masterplan is very vague,” Robertson suggests. “We're all good players and Justin [Young, lead singer] is a great songwriter. We just felt that, between, us we could make some meaningful music. I think we're doing that and I think we can make more meaningful music. There's room to develop. That's ultimately it. To be the best we can.”

Interview by Bobby Townsend. It first appeared in Sydney's Drum Media.