GA Ozblog 5 - Andy 1.2.10

Date added: 01.02.2010

Big Day Out Lineup 2010


Aliens on the Gold Coast....


Arrived at the Big Day Out Gold Coast after-party to find Peaches looking pretty tidy around the tennis court. Our MC MAD was making up one of the doubles partners at the other end. The vodka-tennis was welcome. BDO aftershows are pretty tough on letting people other than the bands in, so you're always in danger of ending up talking about monitors or guitar strings.

Proof that it's getting tight in the music industry came when the free bar switched to a paying bar and the party was over in minutes.

Down to Sydney and on the itinerary there were a couple of days off. Not so. Day one was press. Day two was radio. But there were some upsides. Firstly, our new label over here are brilliant and took care of everything. Secondly, everyone seems to love the new music and agrees with us that it's the best album so far. We did the full album-analysis type shows, and the loads-of-people-in-a-studio-shouting kind of shows. Best of the shouty type was Apple Armada, a game in which we had to guess whether things like 'Santiago' was an apple variety or the name of a ship in the Spanish Armada. Radio gold.

We had an evening promo meet-n-greet party on the roof of an old warehouse in the suburbs and then off to see a Passion Pit gig. Brilliant band. Had a chat with Michael, lead singer, who was saying how much he wanted to sing on the tracks we sent him during work on Black Light. Especially the tune that went on to become Cards To Your Heart with Nick Littlemore. Somehow the collaboration had got lost in translation. Next time.

Most evenings in Sydney ended up at the Ivy, a Miami-style pool bar opposite the hotel and open late. But post Passion Pit we went to a place called World Bar, memorable for some good tunes from the resident and for selling shots in teapots. There were some impressive moves being thrown at the Salsa night down the road too. If you want the keys to the town, learn to tango.

We squeezed in an award ceremony. Rolling Stone magazine had a soiree to make the most of all the bands who were in town for Big Day Out. It was a mix of glamorous tv presenters and bearded metal men. Chaos later when the party moved to a bar called King Pong. In the middle of a packed room in which every one was carrying drinks was a table tennis table with totally committed players diving left and right.

Gig day came around and it was hot. It was 36 degrees in the town centre, and probably 3 or 4 degrees above that at the festival site. The whole massive area was concreted over and you could fry eggs on any piece of it. The ambulance men were busy. Jamie (tour manager) had got himself a hat.



This time the Boiler Room, the area of the festival we are headlining, was not in a tent but in a building so large it had a big wheel inside it and massive lorries drove backwards and forwards. 30,000 people would be in there later.

The Boiler Room Sydney GA offstage...


Boiler Room Sydney GA onstage...


During the pre-gig waiting period Dorian and I somehow ended up spending a couple of hours looking after the kids, aged 4 and 2, of the singer from an ozzy rock band while he did his thing. There was table tennis and pool, but whichever we chose the basic game for them remained the same. Try and throw the balls under the toilet block.

The heat was intense. 100% humidity apparently, though I'm never sure how that works without the air turning to water.

Lots of interviews, the good thing about that being the golf carts we used to get about from one to the other.

The noise as we went on stage was amazing. The place was packed from front to back. There'd been some doubt as to whether Becky's reflective costume was working, but when she came onstage it was clear we had no problems on that front.



It was a busy night for Tim, Hatty and Tec (the crew boys) as bits of equipment here and there gave way under the extreme temperatures. Hat off to them that noone else seemed to notice.

For the first time, Sydney was hosting 2 Big Day Outs. Before the 2nd gig on saturday night there was a mini monsoon that made all the difference to the temperature. It was the 100th edition of the Festival. The atmosphere was electric. It was the gig of the tour so far. The sides of the stage were packed with the great and good checking it out. It seemed that word on Black Light was spreading.




Spirits were high afterwards. Being the last band on means that we always go from on stage mayhem to a completely deserted dressing room area, so we got out of there sharpish and went into town where a BDO after party was being laid on. But we had friends in town and it was Triple A pass only again, so we moved on after a while and the evening took a couple of surprising turns. In a lift up to a nearby bar, we gave it a go and pressed the 'P' button. The doors opened and the bouncer wasn't keen. But with a bit of persuasion we found ourselves in the penthouse of the man who owns most of Sydney. He gave us the keys to another penthouse down the road. All of a sudden we had more penthouses than we knew what to do with.

And so it went on. The next night a friend with a penthouse overlooking Bondi Beach brought in some bar staff and some speakers and threw open the doors. The result was the best party of the tour to date, except for the girl who dropped her handbag over the balcony on to a bit of inaccessible rooftop.

Then it was back to the Horden Pavilion. A legendary venue in Sydney and the first place we ever played here. It's a big room and a tribute to Sydney music fans that after buying 110,000 tickets for the Big Day Out festival they filled up the Horden to watch us again. It was good night. More and more people singing along to the new songs.


HORDEN

Here's a view from the other side.



Amazingly, behind all this lazer madness is this man...


RYAN

Horden Pavilion crowd


In Melbourne we were back on familiar ground. We always stay in the same hotel on the same street, but it happens to be one of the best streets in Australia. You can find everything you can think of on Chapel Street.

Walking out to do another round of radio promotion, I found George (guitarist) standing next to Serena Williams. Later that night we were followed into a restaurant by Martina Navratilova. Didn't know we were so popular in tennis circles.

By this stage, great reviews for the gig and album were coming in from around Australia and the Melbourne interviewers were keen too, making the promo pretty painless. The exception was a girl at the festival who did an interview asking for backstage secrets - the biggest party, craziest thing, maddest night, blah blah. On and on it went. Tedious. I think she tried the same thing with Dizzee and he wasn't too happy about it.

Melbourne Big Day Out was down at a racetrack just out of town. I did a quick tour of it on an electric scooter and found out that they go much faster than you might think.

The Boiler Room here was back in a tent. Once again the stage was busy with other bands from the festival, and Sasha spent most of the gig going for it, standing on stage behind the drums. The crowd was amazing. From the first note it was a big one.

Ground control to major tom.....


Melbourne Big Day Out continued....


Another day in Melbourne, and another gig - this time our own show at the Palace Theatre. This gave us a bit of soundcheck time (you don't get any at festivals) and allowed us to make the final couple of tweaks to the set. The blend of old and new songs and the new sound is really working. The theatre is a classic venue. Sam, 'the scientist', spent the afternoon fixing the PA system and had it sounding family sized.



MELBOURNE

And from backstage.....


After the gig, we'd fixed up an aftershow at the Match Bar. Word had got out and the placed was packed. I was DJing, there were chaotic scenes, and the police circled but left us alone. In the middle of all the noise, the 'can I have a photo' requests, the drinks spilling over my tunes, the cheering and the dancing, a girl came over, gave me a drink and said 'Your music has given me ten years of happiness'.

Nice.

It was close to dawn when things wound down, and a couple of hours before it was time to leave for the airport. Waiting to leave in the lobby, it looked like a cast of characters from The Road. Jamie had to get the yellow jacket on to restore order.



Arrived in Adelaide feeling a little shaky. Went off with Martin (drums), MAD and Dorian to play some pool and take it easy.

MAD, Martin and Dorian


We found a nice table in the back corner of a local Irish bar. All of sudden, the Bonkers tune came on at full tilt, along with some mobile disco lights and the place filled with heels and handbags. We'd picked Paddy O'Brian's Famous Ladies Night. $2 a vodka for the girls.

We tried the local nightspot instead. The only thing of note in there was an art exhibition by Bill Clinton's Climate Change Advisor's goddaughter. Unexpected.

Spent most of the next day going through recordings and videos of the gigs. Extracts to follow. Went down to The Adelaide Big Day Out site a couple of hours before showtime. It was a working livestock market and so bands hung around signs that said 'No Tethering of Sheep' or 'Cattle Only 9.30-5.30'.

Despite his flowing serving action, I held my own on the table tennis table against Strobe, Dizzee's right hand MC.

Becky went through her daily transformation from english rose to winged keeper of the stage.



Great gig again. The shows is locked in now.

Once again there was a BDO after party at an old hotel in town. Much better this time though in that it was open to anyone. A nice outdoor terrace and some great tunes, in a 'Love Is In The Air' kind of way. The Simian Mobile Disco boys proved that once bitten twice shy doesn't apply when it comes to hash cookies.

Next morning, there was another difficult day for the Qantas hostesses when the Adelaide to Perth flight was entirely taken over by Big Day Out bands. It's not everyday a cactus comes walking down the isle.



The captain came on the PA system to request that the cactus kept his seat belt fastened. Instead, the cactus got on the PA himself and finished a long and rambling speech.... "it's 2012 already a new millennium it's winter in Europe there's no better time to get naked"

Lily Allen was next to me on the plane and she was telling me about her tour manager who'd been rushed in for emergency surgery after his headphones got stuck in his ears.

Normally when the festival plane arrives at the airport, there are a few people who have sneaked through security and stand there waiting to get things signed, have photos taken etc. So far, they've all been for the oz bands and a couple for Muse. But in Perth it was our turn, and we had a welcoming group each with a large colour photo to sign.

In Perth now. One to go, but there'll no time for blogging between the gig and the flight home. Look out for the live recordings over the next few days. For now, it's thank you and goodnight.

Andy Cato