NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - In the lead-up to this year's Big Day Out festival, safety and security measures attracted almost as much attention as the artists themselves, following the tragic death of
Jessica Michalik last year.�But the Sydney leg of the event on Saturday (Jan. 26), before a 52,000-strong crowd at the Showgrounds, was focused on a celebration of life and music.
The festival was opened by Gabby Dever, a friend of Michalik's who sang two poignant songs before the day delivered a barrage of the heavy stuff. Amen had the earliest slot of any of the international acts, but gleefully lived out their position as the modern era's Sex Pistols or Dead Boys, with a serious line in onstage carnage.
The Melbourne band soon to be no longer known as Shihad in light of the Sept. 11 attacks on America kept the big rock coming with a blistering set of momentum-packed riffs helmed by the singer and guitarist, the aptly named Jon Toogood. All this riff-a-rama came to a head with System of a Down's wildly received performance. They're metal all right, but not as we know or once knew it.
Garbage |
From there on the bill grew diversified.
Garbage's Shirley Manson - with cropped blonde hair, white top, and already pale skin - was a magnet for the hot Australian sun of the day, and an undeniable feline focal point on the stage. The band's crafted pop leapt into a whole new life through the massive sound system with perfect melodies and guitars that had a surprising grunt. Even at this point in the band's career, the set list ran like a greatest hits package. No small feat.
Silverchair, who took its earliest tips from the very sound that Garbage's Butch Vig pioneered on Nirvana's Nevermind, was up next with a set that opened up slowly. It wasn't until the band kicked into "Pure Massacre" and the new single, "The Greatest View," that the crowd moved as one.
Away from the main arena, the wonderful hip-hop of Jurassic 5 almost won them the only encore of the day. On the adjacent stage, the White Stripes' Jack White began doing James Brown-type knee drops before perennially ponytailed sister Meg even kicked in on Mo Tucker-like drums. From Jack playing a driving version of Son House's "Death Letter" flat on his back to dueting with Meg on Loretta Lynn's "Rated X," it was as if modern musical history had never happened. Absolutely spellbinding.
Crystal Method |
Fast forward a few decades to the '70s drum sound of the
Crystal Method's electronic cosmos. The duo's phat block beats made sure that each of the 8,000 to 10,000 who were packed into the Boiler Room got their water bottle's worth. Back to the main arena, and
New Order showed that age has not wearied. "Let's see if Sydney rocks!" announced Bernard Sumner in a strange intro to
Joy Division's brooding classic, "Love Will Tear Us Apart." There was something celebratory around the band's every move. Bassist
Peter Hook was the commanding jester, leading a merge of their early electronic with arena specific rock. Hey, Sumner even tore off a few power chords.
The Prodigy, the day's headliners, hammered out a rockin' sound all their own too. Although original guitarist Jim Davies was in its ranks, it was the landscape shaking wallop of Liam Howlett's aural genius that provided the group's thrusting power. The irony is that for something so up-to-the-minute, there remains a unique sense of the primal about what the Prodigy do.
