It's a first step

So you gotta start somewhere right? Big Day Out 2010 was my first attempt at reviewing live gigs and I didn't even take any notes on the day. Can't remember what possessed me specifically to follow through with the idea, perhaps I'd simply had enough of the 9-5 routine and wanted an outlet, or maybe I was just slacking off at work and wanted to do something else. Either way, I was pretty happy with out it turned out. For obvious reasons it's hard to encapsulate an entires day of music in a page or there abouts, a lot of information will be overlooked and a lot of bands snubbed. Also, I tried to stick to my observations and didn't want to delve into what I thought the majority thought of the a particular. Anyway.. for those of you that were at the Perth Big Day Out 2010, hopefully this will bring back some memories.

Big Day Out – Perth Jan 31^st 2010

Australia’s biggest music festival of the year finally hit the WA capital on the last sun-drenched day of January. In what is one of summer's most anticipated events, the Big Day Out showed that although it is able to pull in some of the biggest artists around the world, bigger isn’t always necessarily better. Festivals in Perth have seen a growing trend in crowd capacity in recent years and the 2010 festival proved no different. Sydney quintet Bluejuice started off the day in fine style gearing the crowd up in matching jumpsuits and tearing their way through their short catalogue of tracks punctuated by engaging showmanship from front-men Jake Stone and Stavros Yiannoukas. Although the crowd appeared enamoured with the delicate vocals and dainty stage presence of folk-indie songstress Lisa Mitchell, there is still some growth left in her live act for the talented musician. It was difficult to appreciate renowned acts such as The Temper Trap, Girl Talk and Passion Pit with swarms of flailing limbs vying for space in the undersized venues; however it is possibly this cacophonic mass of people that not only displayed the popularity of these artists but also the quality of performance. The charismatic Dizzee Rascal soldiered on through some apparent technical problems early on, sparking the crowd into frenzy with hits such as “Jus’ a Rascal”, “Dance Wiv Me” and “Bonkers”. On the Green Stage, Rise Against had fans at their trashing best with the punk band’s politically motivated anthems. The Mars Volta was arguably one of the technically finest bands of the day albeit not the most crowd engaging. The combined musicianship of the band produced a sound wholly unique that demanded the attention of even those unappreciative of the genre. Although Powderfinger don’t have the heart pounding shows of other big name bands, Bernard Fanning is a solid front man and lifts the band above its “safe” rock productions. They are lyrically one of the strongest bands in the Australian music scene and this was evident with even patient Muse fans belting out hits like “These Days”, “My Happiness” and “(Baby I’ve Got You) On My Mind”. A rapturous welcome greeted UK alt-rockers Muse who promptly returned the gesture with a spasm of heavy bass lines, thunderous drum work and insane guitar riffs. Their much hyped live shows usually involve a sonic and visual assault on the senses however it seemed the dynamic visual component , for which Muse are so highly regarded, was lacking.