Growing up is optional

Shihad was by far the highlight of the Big Day Out for me. I’ve wanted to see them live for years but have never had the means. They put on what was one of the best live shows I have ever seen. I watched from right in the heart of the mosh pit, 5 meters from the stage right in front of where Jon kept stage diving. At 31 years old I was probably the oldest person in there. As for the music, it was awesome; mostly rocking with one more mellow track thrown in. “Pacifier“, “The General Electric” and “My Mind’s Sedate” were the best. Like most bands at BDO they played pretty much the arrangements they do on the singles.

Since I’ve said they were the best, I’ll give them a rating of 10/10. All other reviews will be scored accordingly.

I’ve mentioned it several times, not to gloat, just because it is a cool experience. I got to the Big Day Out for the first time this year. This entry is more of my thoughts that an actual critical review. First off I’ll list the bands I saw and write about some general thoughts about the day. As I think over the next few days I’ll add links to the list.

Bands I saw

• 8 Foot Sativa
• The Bleeders
• Steriogram
• The Donnas
• The Music
• RJD2
• Fast Crew
• Powderfinger
• Scribe with P Money
• Freestylers
• Slipknot
• Shihad
• System of a Down
• The Streets
• Trinity Roots
• Beastie Boys
• DJ Carl Cox
• Chemical Brothers

She let me go to the Big Day Out on our 10th wedding anniversary.

Just as a funny aside: my (nearly 6yo) daughter asked how long the music was on for. Since she doesn’t really know how long 14 hours is I told her that it was as long as it would take to drive there from home and back again (Kapiti to Auckland, about 620km one way). My (nearly 3yo) son then said “But Grace can’t drive Daddy”.

I seem to be listenning to heaps of neopunk lately. (That’s my terminology, I don’t know if it’s a real word yet, but I do think that the American punk of today is quite different from Brit punk). Yellowcard is that latest in my list that also includes Greenday, Sum 41 and Good Charlotte. Anyway, if you like those bands, Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard is worth a listen.

I received an email today announcing the new Chemical Brothers’ website. I’m a big fan and want to point out while their website is terrible, it doesn’t make me like their music any less.

In conjunction with the release of their new album ‘Push The Button’ Tom & Ed launch their new web site:

It’s choc full of new areas, so as well as news, tour dates and the message board you can now download wallpaper and buddy icons, there is a mobile area for all your ringtunes, you can check out all your favourite tunes and videos and there will also be a fully fledged shop for all your Chems needs. The new site will be up from midday GMT on the 7th January so have a look round and let us know your thoughts via the feedback section

However, the site is an accessibility nightmare. I don’t know of any accessibility rules it doesn’t break. You can’t even get into the site without allowing pop-ups (and obviously Javascript to generate the pop-ups), so there goes half of their audience already. It then proceeds to resize your browser to around 800×600 minus scrollbars and toolbars, which it removes anyway. Oh yes, it’s all done in Flash too. Navigation is a nightmare. One positive is that they do label the link to their discography, which is a PDF, as a PDF so that you know what you are getting in to.

I for one will not be visiting their site again, but I’m looking forward to seeing them at the Big Day Out.

Donavon Frankenreiter was on the Sports Cafe the other night and found another two new fans.

His music is nice simple cruisy surf tunes. If you like Jack Johnson (who he used to hang with) you’ll probably like it.

Chemical Brothers, Beastie Boys and Shihad (aka Pacifier in the northern hemisphere). Do you need another reason to go? There are plenty, but those 3 are enough to get me there.

Also, happy birthday John. You are missed. The world was better with you.

My Red Cell are cool. What I’ve heard reminds me of old Flying Nun bands (sort of The Clean and The Verlaines) but a bit punk and they’re not kiwis. (album review – I haven’t heard it all)