BDO

I'm pretty sure I lied to all my Australian Friends. I could have sworn that I've been to a music festival before - and I have! I've been to Northgate Music Festival...in College Station, TX. It books TX or local bands trying to make it on the scene to play a variety of different venues over 3 day/nights. However, I learned that it doesn't compare to the likes of Lollapalooza, Lilthfair, Warped Tour, and the like...but Big Day Out (BDO) does!

I can't say I knew much of the music - maybe 2 songs each band played, if I was lucky. But, every band played GOOD music...so an excellent day was had by all! Unfortunately, it was HOOOT. The best way I can explain this...I drank 4 bottles of water, 1 bottle of coke, and 3 slushies throughout the 10 hours I was at BDO and only used the toilet once - not to mention the misters we walked under or water we poured over our heads to keep cool...As you can see to the left, the girls (Claire, Jess, and Ash) and I made shirts just for BDO 09. It was fun to see different costumes (Dino Flintstone), outfits (twinkies in black shorts and green leafy wrap around tattoos on the left thigh), or matching shirts (Australian Flag shirts, Bintang Bali Beer shirts, etc.). The best was the group of 10 guys who dressed up as Where's Wally? (think Where's Waldo then be Australian).

When we got super tired, we headed up to the grandstand at the main stage to have a bit of a rest. Since I was running around with my friend from Bateman's Bay, I got to meet so many people from their hometown. At right, top row - Justin, two guys I don't remember their names; bottom row - Claire, Me, Elle.

In full festival spirit, I searched out a corny dog...only in Oz they call them Dagwood Dogs. AND they do the neatest trick...instead of putting out pump bottles of ketchup, they will dip your dog in a vat of ketchup (err...tomato sauce) covering it with yummy sauce all the way around. No need to pump, dip, or mess!

OK, on to the bands...the whole point of the day. I got to see Neil Young (I wish I could have been more excited about him but it was 9:40 pm when he went on and I was thinking more about a cold bath and my bed than the fact that I didn't like him leading with his rock set and would have preferred he played more folk songs). I caught a couple songs by The Ting Tings including their big song (That's Not My Name...or whatever the real title is). The Greats and Birds of Tokyo were amazing as well. But the BESTEST band of the day was by far - The Living End! The music was fun, got me dancing a bit, and I knew a two songs. Plus, the band itself puts on a great live show...including the upright bass player (Em - I could only imagine how much you would have loved to see them) standing on his instrument to play and then jump off...see right.

It definitely was worth taking a day off work to have this BIG DAY OUT!