Review: Big Day Out 2007

Voom
I arrived as Voom were finishing up on the stage, with their final few songs. They looked comfortable playing on what would be a huge stage for them and the crowd responded well. There songs were soft but loud in the right places and have an undeniable hooky sense that sets them apart.

Die! Die! Die!
SCREECH! – DDD were on. Showcasing a barrage of new tunes + a mix of some of the old. DDD took to the stage in their usual frantic manor, with Andrew crossing the stage like a brain damaged polar bear (y know what I mean eh? AK Zoo?) Mickey’s drums were as usual, fascinating to watch and simplistically brutal, and with addition of a new bass player their mammoth sound was fully enhanced on this monster PA. Andrew showed what a few years of solid touring can do for a band: Tightness, relaxed on stage, melody’s?? Yes there are some true pop moments shining though the squalor, which kind of hints t the bands future direction.

Trivium
Looked at my watch. No. Its not 1980 and I’m not in San Francisco and I’m not at a Metalicca Concert, Full rotating moshes, flying Vs and double kick action in a sound like Iron Maiden tripping over Pantera after a Metalicca Area gig. Pretty fuckin fun to watch and the punters were loving it (those mosh circles were straight from Atlanta!)

Hot Chip
Hot Chip seeped into their set starting with a tribal percussion intro followed buy various generic 80s sound. Not that that is a bad thing at all. It was a strange spectacle to see this band in the boiler room, all 5 + of them with the main vocalist shoved off to the right it was hard to make out who was in charge here, but I guess that’s what they’re are about. Their music, and making people dance. And dance they did! Hot Chip have this ability to play rather rehashed dance sounds and put them into a wonderful arrangement and top them off with unthought-of of vocals, both in lyrical content and melody.

The Presets
Sound of the day goes to…. Sizzle! Dual Ms 20s humming their little transistors off backed with drum and bass (sorry bass and drums) programming and re-enforced with superbly rhythmical live drums, Presets Rocked. They admitted to be a bit shocked to be playing out doors in the daytime, and they really are a late night, corner of the stage band, but today it fitted them perfectly. Kim’s orchestral like hand waving, conjuring up his ancient synth to hum with more oscillator ooze, seemed to have the day and the crowd under his control, even once signaling to the sky and dropping his hands down, with the chorus, and bringing in the sun. Now that’s music power!

Lily Allen
“Every time I see you Cry, It makes me smile….” She’s hot, and can sing really well and her cockney accent makes her burst with charm. I like Lily Allen. I’m not too sure about the trumpeters/saxophonists tho. She could probably get a way with something more programmed with out seeming like a she’s backed with a session band, but she is 21 and maybe this is what’s she’s been told to do.

The Rock n Roll Machine
Searing tight jeans, guitars around the knees, RNR Machine are a true NZ rock n roll staple who always deliver what they promise. They are hard hitting and full frontal and probably deserve to swap places with other bands on the more main stages.

Jakob
A sizeable crowd had gathered here to see Jakob. Almost the size of Napier combined! OK I could be exaggerating but Jakob will always be an interesting proposition in the out door area. Instrumental and sometimes very personal Jakob are about the mood, and today the mood was way good. They swirled and hammered and sometimes caressed the crowd, made up of Boiler room jumpers, hard-core metallers, and new day punks.

The Mint Chicks
And the band of the day goes to…. It had to be. These four lads from Auckland who, when they started out were amazing live, and shows good music promise, but there was always a handful of other ‘similar’ acts about. But now they are untouchable. Kody wriggled around the stage demonstrating excellent mic abuse (I think he killed 1? May be 2 mics?). The Mint Chicks are very hot right now and it shows. It’s their music first though. Their slick songwriting comes though and surpasses and surprises everyone in the crowd who by now are all dancing, or at least nodding along. Ruban controls his guitar like he’s holding an eel and has some interesting new overhand techniques (nod to guitar nerds here), and I’d have to mention the incredible rhythm sections, who a few years back were holding on with both hands to stay in control now dominate and hold the whole barrage together perfectly. Mint Chicks as a whole look like they were playing at one of their friends party’s, and what a party it was!

Tool
This is probably what most of the 44,000 people had come to see. Tool who sell here more per capita than any other country in the world, have a solid fan base and it shows. Signs of the devil were thrown back at the stage in perfect unison with the not so friendly time signatures. I unfortunately had a hard time hearing with the washing machine effect of being too far away from the main stage (I know I know, how lame, get closer) and it was a little hard to see. So I left!

We couldn't get around to see everything so if we've missed anything or you have a different take on any of this, login and comment below.

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