Big Day Out 2010 - Thumbnail Reviews

A quick rundown of the acts I saw yesterday (though I observe with interest that The Herald saw quite a few different acts and therefore has a different perspective).
More in-depth reviews/discussions follow in later blogs.

Bandicoot, 10.30am - 3-piece noisy outfit (feat. Don McGlashan's daughter on vocals.
A little too noisy for the time of day - courageous!

11am, Pop Strangers - BNet Winners (BFM is an alternative indie Ak Radio Station), young, self-conscious, perhaps too much into minory chords, but solid.

11am, Cairo Knife Fight - one guy on guitar and vocals, one on drums and loops, both on F-word duties (more of which later) - cosmic, spacy sound, spoilt by their intros.

11.30, Deja Voodoo - a dull, thudding "rock" band (I never thought of rock music as meaning music of a stolid, grey, immovable nature, but I guess definitions change).

12.15, The Checks - 3rd time I've seen them. They appeared to be a little lost on the stadium stage. The vocalist has a tremendous energy, and a wicked shirt.

12.30, The Temper Trap - Came across these guys in Real Groovy (their CD) - CD a little samey and disappointing, but live their sound resonated wonderfully and the vocalist was very impressive. Had us all bopping.

1.15, Passion Pit - as one might ascertain, very similar to The Temper Trap - cousins? A little more upbeat - catchy, rich songs.

1.45, Mastodon - well, what would one expect from the name? Slow, lumbering, ROCK.

2.30, Midnight Youth - A highlight. A delight. Ak produce. Unashamed, powerful, energetic and catchy rock music. Took Elemeno P's role at BDO this year, I s'pose.

3.30, The Horrors - another discovery. A cross between Pulp and The Velvet Underground. Dark, menacing, bizarre sounds - great frontman.

4.15, Ladyhawke - local produce (from down the line) - the venue was packed for this performance. Competent, semi-catchy tunes (the audience clearly knew them!)- pedestrian.

5pm, The Veils - where are they from? I loved this set - at turns dark, emotional (yay!), innovative and gripping. I reckon this is a band to watch!

5.45, The Decemberists - part Zep, part Tull, part REM, earnest, quirky and very musical (shades of Magic Numbers) - but a man's gotta eat some time, so it was off to Hell's pizzas (Greed and Lust never tasted so good!!), then find semi-permanent seats back in the Stadium.

6pm, Dizzee Rascal - cheeky, cheerful (high f-word quota), energetic - the thing is, most of my East End students were like this in London - imagine trying to teach this guy Music! {"Dizzee, please stop swearing, and SIT DOWN!")

7pm, Lily Allen - a lovely pink outfit, a great, versatile backing band, some very rude songs (f-words off the scale, especially with one "sing-along"),smoking on stage, a genuine feminist element (lacking in Ladyhawke), a great cover of Womaniser (originally Britney Spears?).

8pm, The Mars Volta - a prog rock band. Earnest, impassioned, hampered by a poor sound tech, and, if you didn't know what the songs, you could only gawp from amazement at the technical skills, or boredom. Not much 4/4 tho (more of which later).

9.10pm, Muse - the group we ALL seemed to be waiting for. I KNEW they were going to start with Uprising! They came, they saw, they conquered, they finished with explosions! Blew us all away (a fuller review to be published later)!

THE END.