Perth Music

Even though it was a hazy summer day in Perth, the weather was almost perfect to witness the fantastic international, national and local acts that made up the 2007 Big Day Out.

The traffic wasn’t as bad as past years but I made it to the Claremont Showgrounds just in time to see the last half of the Sick Puppies set. As was mentioned by lead singer Shimon Moore, playing the main stage at the Big Day Out was a dream for the band since they were 15. The crowd was quite large for one of the first acts of the day and the apparel on the crowd explained why. There were at least 100 people with home made Free Hugs shirts on showing the power that is You Tube.

Walking around, I next stumbled on AFRA & Incredible Beatbox Band playing in the Boiler Room. This crazy threesome from Tokyo was so full of energy that the crowd were jumping and clapping along to every Konichiwa shouted out. With only a short 10 minute set in the Boiler Room they pleasantly surprised and I’m sure stood out to everyone there.

Running over to the Converse Essential Stage I caught Streetlight finishing off their set. The local rockers were playing a loud and confident bunch off songs but I noticed more people interested in getting a free Polaroid photo if they were wearing Converse shoes than actually watching the band. Streetlight are still a young band full of potential so I’m sure they will have many more Big Day Out’s to fine tune the crowd interaction.

Getting back to the 2 main stages The Butterfly Effect were entertaining a growing crowd. And as annoying as the way lead singer Clint Boge holds the microphone, the band played Triple J favourites ‘A Slow Descent’, ‘One Second Of Insanity’, ‘The Cell’, ‘Phoenix’ and ‘Gone’ and the crowd loved it.

Thanks to having songs on multiple TV shows, Evermore played to a crowd that sang along to those songs but didn’t seem to know other songs that were played. Bands with guitar, drums and keyboards are the in-thing at the moment and hits including ‘Real Life’, ‘Running’, ‘Light Surrounding You’, ‘It’s Too Late’, ‘For One Day’ and new single ‘Unbreakable’ were all played.

At that stage the Converse Essential Stage had almost tripled in capacity as local boys Birds Of Tokyo played off every cheer. A fan base that has exploded in the last few months and a debut album due out in weeks have made a very happy band and that translates to the music. Ian Kenny and co smiled non-stopped through their set with single off kilter a definite crowd favourite.

Scribe played last year’s Big Day Out only in Sydney and in the Boiler Room. This year they scored the national tour and the main stage and the receptive crowd showed why. Starting their set with hit single ‘Not Many’, the Kiwi MC and his group The Deceptacons entertained everybody in attendance.

I left Scribe early to try and make it to The Sleepy Jackson who were playing at the Green Stage on the West side of the Showgrounds. Unfortunately the setup of this stage was horrible and it took at least 15 minutes just to get to a spot where the stage was visible. Another problem was the fact that The Sleepy Jackson are a much better band on CD than live. The lineup is at least a little more established but Luke Steele still has some work to do to get the live vibe of the band correct.

I don’t think I’ve heard the words My Chemical Romance in a sentence without the word emo added to the end. Even for people that don’t know what emo is, they associate it with this New Jersey band. The fact of the matter is that My Chemical Romance put on a pretty good stadium show and when they were on stage they rocked out. ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ was a crowd favourite and the volume of the crowd singing along signaled the big bands had started.

Next on the main stage was Eskimo Joe who must have been very proud in representing WA and very happy having their most successful year to date. I actually missed most of their set as I’ve seen the Joe probably 30 times in the past 10 years but the singing along to ‘Black Fingernails, Red Wine’ could be heard from a long way away.

Little Birdy were playing at the same time as Eskimo Joe so Katy Steele thought it would funny to introduce her band as Eskimo Joe and talk up a local rivalry. The setup on the Green Stage was terrible again so it was very difficult to get in and out but the crowd was dancing along to every song, new and old.

Next up in the Converse Essential Stage were The Vines and the crowd had swelled immensely. Even after all the difficulties the band has gone through over the past few years their live show has definitely improved. ‘Don’t Listen To the Radio’, ‘Winning Days’, ‘Get Free’ and ‘Outtathaway’ were all highlights and hopefully the band won’t collapse on itself as many critics have thought.

The John Butler Trio came onstage just at the right time as the sunburn and alcohol started to come into effect for many. The chilled out tunes were perfect for those that could find a spot to lie down and just enjoy the guitar skills of the Freo favourite. Latest single ‘Funky Tonight’ got everybody dancing at the end of the set and when John Butler brought his young daughter out on stage there was a mutual respect and appreciation between the man and the crowd.

Moving back to the Boiler Room I had the pleasure of experiencing The Streets’ hip-hop genius. Lyrically stunning, The Streets had the crowd in the palm of their hands and Mike Skinner knew it. Being a true geezer Skinner observed the fenced off drinking area in the Boiler Room and referenced those in it as convicts throughout their set. The highlight for me was ‘When You Wasn’t Famous’ with the crowd singing along throughout the song.

The Killers were next up on the main stage and the Las Vegas group had a huge ovation when they walked on. They opened with ‘Sam’s Town’ and played hits including ‘When You Were Young’, ‘Mr Brightside’, ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’ and ‘Somebody Told Me’. The Killers did play a solid set but for me there was something missing.

At this part of the day I needed food, drink, rest and shade so I missed most of Jet’s set but from what I did see they definitely played to please the crowd. Climbing on speakers and running around the stage lead singer Nic Cester was loving every moment being in front of the thousands of fans.

Next up was one of the best live shows I have seen in a long, long time. Muse impressed just about everybody that got to witness their show and they proved that they were definitely a stadium rock band. There were close up cameras on the microphone, drums, piano and around the stage to give great vision of Muse to those that couldn’t get as close as they wanted as well as inject some Space Invaders into their music. Drummer, Dom Howard made the mistake of calling Perth Adelaide but corrected himself after the next song. Highlights included ‘Starlight’, ‘Supermassive Black Hole’, ‘Time Is Running Out’, ‘Apocalypse Please’, ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ and ‘Plug In Baby’.

Unfortunately, so I didn’t get stuck in traffic for hours I didn’t get to see a great deal of Tool but from what I did see Maynard Keenan and co pleased every single metal fan that was present. Tool have the honour of being the first band at any Big Day Out allowed to have a 90 minute set time and the beauty of their songs show every reason for this. Even though part of the crowd were on their way out Tool proved that they are a world class band worthy of headlining the 2007 Big Day Out.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 6th, 2007 at 12:04 am and is filed under Gig Reviews, Big Day Out, Music Festivals, Touring, Gigs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.