Post by -Vi2- Arach on Jan 23, 2007 16:24:51 GMT 10
The Big Day Out
Hey lads, I initially wrote this up for the people on my wow guilds forums (Europeans), but I guess i should share it with you too hey =)
********
I thought I might do a little write up about my trip for the Big Day Out. What is the Big Day Out? It's a one-day-long music festival, that happens once a year. This one was my first, and I had a damn lot of fun! I brought my camera, but didn't take as many photos as I'd originally thought I would.
On 5am, Saturday the 20th 2007 I set off. My Sister, Ta ("tay"), had organised the majority of the trip, as she's like that, always organising outings and such. This was her 4th Big Day Out, so she was probably the best person to do so anyway. The BDO nearest to me was in the Gold Coast, near Brisbane, the capital of my state. This was about 6-8 hours drive south, with a few stops on the way for fuel and food. There was a couple cars of us heading down there.
Here's My sis pulling a crazy face for the camera, with her bf Dean in the background eatin' some food after our first pit-stop.
And out the window at that point, I cant exactly remember where we were, but I'm pretty sure this is a sugar-cane field, with fairly young cane growing.
Dean with a can of Redbull, he loves the stuff and made Chapelle-show references the whole trip "Cocaine in a can!" Out the window is the much drier side of the road opposite the cane field. Not enough water for everywhere =P
Traffic in both rural areas and in the city was pretty smooth and we had no real dramas. The hotel we were staying at was the same one my Sis had stayed last trip, so we actually found it in good time and only got lost for a few minutes here and there.
We arrived, and went up to our rooms on the 17th floor.
The view from our apartment. Might be pretty normal for you big-city people, but this was a feast for the eyes for me, I dont think I've ever stayed in a hotel room up so high.
And a feast for the eyes it was, as we noticed within a few minutes of being there that the hotel next to us had a pool on it's roof, and this roof was a few storeys below us. And ontop of this roof was also topless sunbathers. Those hotel-cleaners would have had to get out the Windex and wipe all the face-prints from the glass after that, I tell you. There was 3 women, and the 3rd didnt want to 'bare it all' for some reason. After a while one of them seemed as if she was looking up, and one of the boys with us waved. Wouldn't you know it, but she waved back, then jumped into the pool with the 3rd girl and promptly tore off her bikini for us =) Much thanks is in order I believe =D
Shortly after our arrival, drinks were on the menu, so Ta, Dean and myself went down to the nearest bottleshop (conveniently just a bit down the road). Carton in hand we returned to the room, and downed a few. The day wasn't over yet, so we grabbed towels and headed for the beach, (conveniently just a bit more down the road =P ). After a quick swim with a strong undercurrent we returned to the hotel, I had a go in the sauna which was nice. Some hot girl from Finland was in there too =D. Next door to the sauna was the 'Steam Room' and I'm thinking "What's the difference?" Well, about 25'C at _least_. I was with Dean at the time and while we were in there he accidentally splashed me with water, and I swear any hotter it would have scolded. After about a minute in there we couldn't take it anymore. My fingers were on fire and it hurt to open my eyes. We went outside and jumped in the pool. We expected it, but damn it was freezing after being in those hot rooms. We cooled down for a few more mins and headed back up to the room.
I dont remember much of the night, it involved a fair bit of drinking and talking. We went for a walk around the shops nearby. I do remember sitting in a gormet burger shop cradling an unopened carton of beers in my arms, fighting sleep. Those burgers take _forever_ to make I swear. I think I nodded off a few times before I was woken by my Sister, the burgers were made and we were heading back to the hotel again. (I figured it'd be smart to carry the beers, means if I get lost the boys would have it high on their priorities to find me... and the beer. Plus I'd have something to do/drink while they came for me. >=D )
I made sure to drink a lot of water before bed, to stave off any hangovers that'd threaten to spoil my BDO, and it worked. I awoke the next morning feeling pretty good and eager at what the day had to offer. This was it, my Big Day Out.
I may be pretty boring, but a lot of people were going dressed up with a particular theme for the day. The boys I was with had made very typical aussie/bogan singlets, and sewn collars in, probably hacked from much more expensive shirts. I'm not sure what they called this theme, I can only imagine some kind of trendy or sophisticated bogan look.=P
The boys in their collared-singlets with ties. Deans hair isnt done up at this point, but he intended to spike it up in the middle, as his haircut is like a small mohawk. You'll see it in a later movie.
And we were off! The majority of the trip was a package deal with some group that got us two nights at the hotel, bus rides to and from the BDO, and of course tickets. The special thing about this was that this package is available before tickets actually come on sale, so we get a foot in the door before most other people, so to speak. So we left our hotel on the bus at something like 9 or 10am. Got to the grounds in good time, and also saw an idiot in a convertible on a mobile phone pull out in front of our bus and almost get cleaned up by it. Woulda served him right the knob.
We got dropped off quite a ways from the entrance itself, but that didn't matter as the line was huuuuuuge anyway, and we were dropped off pretty close to the end of it. There were people in allllll sorts of oufits. One guy in a classic english 'bobby' uniform with "Emo Police" written on the back of it (We laugh at emos =P ). Goths, strange costumes, costumes that looked as if the wearer would be cooked in the heat in no time. There were even a couple of guys in big sperm outfits, but it turned out they were workin' for a condom brand, handing out free rubbers. Doctor and Nurse couples. A group all in sailor suits. Girls done up like half goth but in a bright pink tutu. One in a cheap wedding dress. Many people had bought a plain white shirt and written on it with a black pen, many different phrases. Seriously though, the sun was hammering down. I thought I was stupid to wear a black shirt in this sun, but that was nothing compared to the hot and sweaty agony these people would endure.
Here we're heading for the entrance, there was a break in the line for a breif few seconds and heaps of people ran for it to get in line sooner.
Getting in was fine and all, I stood on some stairs not far from the entrance and took a photo of the grounds. The place had only just opened up I think, so there wasnt many people... yet. But the line coming in was a constant stream alllll day.
View of the grounds early in the day.
And the main stages that were set up, thought there were like 8 stages all up over the whole grounds.
Notice how clean the ground is at this point. Just grass. =) My Sis was saying that this is one of the first years is hadn't rained a couple days prior, which had made it just sloshy and muddy. And much more humid. Today was very dry and hot, but that wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.
We had a quick stop at the merchandise stalls and I bought a jersey and a hat, both which I put on almost straight away. The jersey was white, so I put it over my black shirt to keep the sun off better, yet still have my shoulders covered by the shirt, it worked well, and was surprisingly much cooler than the black shirt on its own (but still damn hot). My hat was left in the car that we came down in, and one of the boys was driving it here as he wasnt part of the hotel/bus/BDO package so I was hoping he'd bring it in. He forgot of course, and I dont blame him, so i wore the hat I bought instead.
The first act we went to was the Spazzys!
The Spazzys
And after that we went to see The Butterfly Effect!
The Butterfly Effect
The day went on and much music was heard. And people flocked in still. I managed to get up to where I took the first grounds photos to take some more to see the difference between the population of the area.
View of the grounds at mid-afternoon.
View of the stages at mid-afternoon.
After a bit more of a walk around and me with my hands in my pockets paranoid someone would try and take something, we came to one of the undercover stages, and Little Birdy was playing. Now I always thought her music was girly girly and such, but with some loud guitar and base it was pretty damn good.
Little Birdy - Pity the photo didnt come out better...
I'm not one for seeing lots of people in a small place, so I got a couple more snaps of it all:
People!
And me with ma' merchandise!
Next on the agenda was The Killers. Now I dont really watch video clips for songs, I jsut listen, and for some reason I always thought the lead singer of the killers was a large guy. Funnily enough he turned out quite the opposite. A great show, but we didnt get there in time and only got there on an angle.
Angled view of the killers
But I had a go at getting a movie of the little clearing we had, an odd break in the usual congealment of people. I think another good act was starting up nearby, towards the end of the Killers, so people were moving to get a position. I've put all the movies I made into one file on youtube, which I'll link to at the end of this.
And:
OMG more people!
A bit of walking around, getting the junkfood from the stalls and seeing a few more minor bands. We stopped in one of the undercover tents to listen to a band called 'Peaches and Herms' and it was one... ehm.. outrageous and intense acts. The lead singer - Peaches, kept removing clothing throughout the show, must've had like 20 sets of knickers on. and when she got down to what appeared to be the last one, she grabbed the sides and pulled it up, as it turned out to be some kind of stretchy body-suit. The act involved a lot of jumping and bouncing around, and straddling much of the stage equipment. Towards the end she took a fall off one of the sections of it and got carried away behind the stage by security people. People were cheerin' and laughin' and then we hear over the speakers "No no! put me back! I can do this I know the words to this one!" Whether it was part of the act or not the other musicians on stage looked pretty stumped at the scene, dropping back to merely keeping the beat. Shortly she hobbled back on stage and continued the show, eventually working back up to her previous level of mobility. The music was good (or at least seemed good with the current atmosphere) so everyone was really having a good time.
The sun was goin down so we headed back to the main stages, hoping to get a good enough spot to last the rest of the night. We got there in time to see Jet!
Jet
And after Jet, in the stage beside the one in front of us, there was Muse. (The stages were set side-by-side so while one act was playing the other stage could be set up for the next act)
Muse
The next part of the movie (linked at the end) is of Muse.
And then the main act came on. TOOL. The crowd was already crazy. We didn't manage to get into the mosh area right at the very front of the stages, but we still had a pretty good view. The show was f@cking awesome. The crowd was pushed together so hard at one point I put my arms up and couldn't get them back down again! =D I managed to get a little space next to me and got my camera out:
Another part in the movie, part of Tool and me with my bad habit of trying to get the crowd around me, but it was too dark. (I shoulda just aimed at Tool. =P )
I dont know if it was the heavy base in the air, or the crowd pushing around, but I just could not get a stable photo of Tool at this point.
Squelched photo
And the last part of the movie comes in here, more Tool and their light show. =)
And when I could get a photo, I had really bad luck with the lighting, semming for the photo to take jsut as the stage lights were between beats. I think I managed to get one okay one tho.
Tool Lights
The space beside me had opened up just a little more so I took the opportunity to lean back into it and take a few photos of the mates I was with, and then got my sister to do the same for one of me and Dean.
Me attempting to smile, my eyes arent dialated... you saw nothing..... >_>
And I put my camera up one last time for a photo of the show just finished:
Tool finished
And that was it for the shows. Tool was the main, and last big one. A few more smaller acts were playing or finishing up, but suddenly everyone was rushing to get out. We took a more leisurely pace, and stopped by our last act, Crystal Method, awwww yeahhh. I couldnt believe they were still on, and glad I didnt miss it. A couple of us rushed into the dance area and shook around for a bit.
Remember the first few photos of the BDO? The ground was so much clean and clear.... well, it was half aluminium and plastic now. har har har.
Dirty Ground
And I got a photo of the few of us we could find amongst the crowd, that could still stand... well.. somewhat. =P
Wasted!
It turns out we (Ta, Dean, Myself) wern't actually told the place where our bus was meant to pick us up.. and it wasnt in our little info pamphlet either. So we spent a while looking for Where The F@ck We Were Supposed To Be (tm), and only just managed to catch the very last trip they do.
We got back to the hotel, to find the other half of people already there! And passed out for the most part too.. I took the opportunity to have a look out the balcony at the city lights at night, something I couldnt remember from the night before.
City at night
Now the sun that day was scorching, and we all practically dipped ourselves in sunscreen at regular intervals. The boys however, with their collared-singlets, still copped quite a beating on their shoulders, as evident in the next photo.
Manboobs! err.. I mean sunburn!
I dont know if I actually had a straight head or not, but I felt alright, and after cleaning up a bit after an extremely hot and sweaty day, I went to bed.
I awoke with a numb patch on my foot for no obvious reason, but otherwise fine. We all packed up and left the hotel, to begin the long drive home. This was made even longer as we ran into about a 50-70km stretch of almost gridlocked traffic leading out of the Gold Coast.
Heres the movie! I've combined the few I took and put them up on youtube. Sorry about my nasty habit of trying to get the crowd around me (even when its pitch black). But enjoy for what its worth.
BDO on Youtube!
Thanks for reading! It was awesome fun!
Hey lads, I initially wrote this up for the people on my wow guilds forums (Europeans), but I guess i should share it with you too hey =)
********
I thought I might do a little write up about my trip for the Big Day Out. What is the Big Day Out? It's a one-day-long music festival, that happens once a year. This one was my first, and I had a damn lot of fun! I brought my camera, but didn't take as many photos as I'd originally thought I would.
On 5am, Saturday the 20th 2007 I set off. My Sister, Ta ("tay"), had organised the majority of the trip, as she's like that, always organising outings and such. This was her 4th Big Day Out, so she was probably the best person to do so anyway. The BDO nearest to me was in the Gold Coast, near Brisbane, the capital of my state. This was about 6-8 hours drive south, with a few stops on the way for fuel and food. There was a couple cars of us heading down there.
Here's My sis pulling a crazy face for the camera, with her bf Dean in the background eatin' some food after our first pit-stop.
And out the window at that point, I cant exactly remember where we were, but I'm pretty sure this is a sugar-cane field, with fairly young cane growing.
Dean with a can of Redbull, he loves the stuff and made Chapelle-show references the whole trip "Cocaine in a can!" Out the window is the much drier side of the road opposite the cane field. Not enough water for everywhere =P
Traffic in both rural areas and in the city was pretty smooth and we had no real dramas. The hotel we were staying at was the same one my Sis had stayed last trip, so we actually found it in good time and only got lost for a few minutes here and there.
We arrived, and went up to our rooms on the 17th floor.
The view from our apartment. Might be pretty normal for you big-city people, but this was a feast for the eyes for me, I dont think I've ever stayed in a hotel room up so high.
And a feast for the eyes it was, as we noticed within a few minutes of being there that the hotel next to us had a pool on it's roof, and this roof was a few storeys below us. And ontop of this roof was also topless sunbathers. Those hotel-cleaners would have had to get out the Windex and wipe all the face-prints from the glass after that, I tell you. There was 3 women, and the 3rd didnt want to 'bare it all' for some reason. After a while one of them seemed as if she was looking up, and one of the boys with us waved. Wouldn't you know it, but she waved back, then jumped into the pool with the 3rd girl and promptly tore off her bikini for us =) Much thanks is in order I believe =D
Shortly after our arrival, drinks were on the menu, so Ta, Dean and myself went down to the nearest bottleshop (conveniently just a bit down the road). Carton in hand we returned to the room, and downed a few. The day wasn't over yet, so we grabbed towels and headed for the beach, (conveniently just a bit more down the road =P ). After a quick swim with a strong undercurrent we returned to the hotel, I had a go in the sauna which was nice. Some hot girl from Finland was in there too =D. Next door to the sauna was the 'Steam Room' and I'm thinking "What's the difference?" Well, about 25'C at _least_. I was with Dean at the time and while we were in there he accidentally splashed me with water, and I swear any hotter it would have scolded. After about a minute in there we couldn't take it anymore. My fingers were on fire and it hurt to open my eyes. We went outside and jumped in the pool. We expected it, but damn it was freezing after being in those hot rooms. We cooled down for a few more mins and headed back up to the room.
I dont remember much of the night, it involved a fair bit of drinking and talking. We went for a walk around the shops nearby. I do remember sitting in a gormet burger shop cradling an unopened carton of beers in my arms, fighting sleep. Those burgers take _forever_ to make I swear. I think I nodded off a few times before I was woken by my Sister, the burgers were made and we were heading back to the hotel again. (I figured it'd be smart to carry the beers, means if I get lost the boys would have it high on their priorities to find me... and the beer. Plus I'd have something to do/drink while they came for me. >=D )
I made sure to drink a lot of water before bed, to stave off any hangovers that'd threaten to spoil my BDO, and it worked. I awoke the next morning feeling pretty good and eager at what the day had to offer. This was it, my Big Day Out.
I may be pretty boring, but a lot of people were going dressed up with a particular theme for the day. The boys I was with had made very typical aussie/bogan singlets, and sewn collars in, probably hacked from much more expensive shirts. I'm not sure what they called this theme, I can only imagine some kind of trendy or sophisticated bogan look.=P
The boys in their collared-singlets with ties. Deans hair isnt done up at this point, but he intended to spike it up in the middle, as his haircut is like a small mohawk. You'll see it in a later movie.
And we were off! The majority of the trip was a package deal with some group that got us two nights at the hotel, bus rides to and from the BDO, and of course tickets. The special thing about this was that this package is available before tickets actually come on sale, so we get a foot in the door before most other people, so to speak. So we left our hotel on the bus at something like 9 or 10am. Got to the grounds in good time, and also saw an idiot in a convertible on a mobile phone pull out in front of our bus and almost get cleaned up by it. Woulda served him right the knob.
We got dropped off quite a ways from the entrance itself, but that didn't matter as the line was huuuuuuge anyway, and we were dropped off pretty close to the end of it. There were people in allllll sorts of oufits. One guy in a classic english 'bobby' uniform with "Emo Police" written on the back of it (We laugh at emos =P ). Goths, strange costumes, costumes that looked as if the wearer would be cooked in the heat in no time. There were even a couple of guys in big sperm outfits, but it turned out they were workin' for a condom brand, handing out free rubbers. Doctor and Nurse couples. A group all in sailor suits. Girls done up like half goth but in a bright pink tutu. One in a cheap wedding dress. Many people had bought a plain white shirt and written on it with a black pen, many different phrases. Seriously though, the sun was hammering down. I thought I was stupid to wear a black shirt in this sun, but that was nothing compared to the hot and sweaty agony these people would endure.
Here we're heading for the entrance, there was a break in the line for a breif few seconds and heaps of people ran for it to get in line sooner.
Getting in was fine and all, I stood on some stairs not far from the entrance and took a photo of the grounds. The place had only just opened up I think, so there wasnt many people... yet. But the line coming in was a constant stream alllll day.
View of the grounds early in the day.
And the main stages that were set up, thought there were like 8 stages all up over the whole grounds.
Notice how clean the ground is at this point. Just grass. =) My Sis was saying that this is one of the first years is hadn't rained a couple days prior, which had made it just sloshy and muddy. And much more humid. Today was very dry and hot, but that wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.
We had a quick stop at the merchandise stalls and I bought a jersey and a hat, both which I put on almost straight away. The jersey was white, so I put it over my black shirt to keep the sun off better, yet still have my shoulders covered by the shirt, it worked well, and was surprisingly much cooler than the black shirt on its own (but still damn hot). My hat was left in the car that we came down in, and one of the boys was driving it here as he wasnt part of the hotel/bus/BDO package so I was hoping he'd bring it in. He forgot of course, and I dont blame him, so i wore the hat I bought instead.
The first act we went to was the Spazzys!
The Spazzys
And after that we went to see The Butterfly Effect!
The Butterfly Effect
The day went on and much music was heard. And people flocked in still. I managed to get up to where I took the first grounds photos to take some more to see the difference between the population of the area.
View of the grounds at mid-afternoon.
View of the stages at mid-afternoon.
After a bit more of a walk around and me with my hands in my pockets paranoid someone would try and take something, we came to one of the undercover stages, and Little Birdy was playing. Now I always thought her music was girly girly and such, but with some loud guitar and base it was pretty damn good.
Little Birdy - Pity the photo didnt come out better...
I'm not one for seeing lots of people in a small place, so I got a couple more snaps of it all:
People!
And me with ma' merchandise!
Next on the agenda was The Killers. Now I dont really watch video clips for songs, I jsut listen, and for some reason I always thought the lead singer of the killers was a large guy. Funnily enough he turned out quite the opposite. A great show, but we didnt get there in time and only got there on an angle.
Angled view of the killers
But I had a go at getting a movie of the little clearing we had, an odd break in the usual congealment of people. I think another good act was starting up nearby, towards the end of the Killers, so people were moving to get a position. I've put all the movies I made into one file on youtube, which I'll link to at the end of this.
And:
OMG more people!
A bit of walking around, getting the junkfood from the stalls and seeing a few more minor bands. We stopped in one of the undercover tents to listen to a band called 'Peaches and Herms' and it was one... ehm.. outrageous and intense acts. The lead singer - Peaches, kept removing clothing throughout the show, must've had like 20 sets of knickers on. and when she got down to what appeared to be the last one, she grabbed the sides and pulled it up, as it turned out to be some kind of stretchy body-suit. The act involved a lot of jumping and bouncing around, and straddling much of the stage equipment. Towards the end she took a fall off one of the sections of it and got carried away behind the stage by security people. People were cheerin' and laughin' and then we hear over the speakers "No no! put me back! I can do this I know the words to this one!" Whether it was part of the act or not the other musicians on stage looked pretty stumped at the scene, dropping back to merely keeping the beat. Shortly she hobbled back on stage and continued the show, eventually working back up to her previous level of mobility. The music was good (or at least seemed good with the current atmosphere) so everyone was really having a good time.
The sun was goin down so we headed back to the main stages, hoping to get a good enough spot to last the rest of the night. We got there in time to see Jet!
Jet
And after Jet, in the stage beside the one in front of us, there was Muse. (The stages were set side-by-side so while one act was playing the other stage could be set up for the next act)
Muse
The next part of the movie (linked at the end) is of Muse.
And then the main act came on. TOOL. The crowd was already crazy. We didn't manage to get into the mosh area right at the very front of the stages, but we still had a pretty good view. The show was f@cking awesome. The crowd was pushed together so hard at one point I put my arms up and couldn't get them back down again! =D I managed to get a little space next to me and got my camera out:
Another part in the movie, part of Tool and me with my bad habit of trying to get the crowd around me, but it was too dark. (I shoulda just aimed at Tool. =P )
I dont know if it was the heavy base in the air, or the crowd pushing around, but I just could not get a stable photo of Tool at this point.
Squelched photo
And the last part of the movie comes in here, more Tool and their light show. =)
And when I could get a photo, I had really bad luck with the lighting, semming for the photo to take jsut as the stage lights were between beats. I think I managed to get one okay one tho.
Tool Lights
The space beside me had opened up just a little more so I took the opportunity to lean back into it and take a few photos of the mates I was with, and then got my sister to do the same for one of me and Dean.
Me attempting to smile, my eyes arent dialated... you saw nothing..... >_>
And I put my camera up one last time for a photo of the show just finished:
Tool finished
And that was it for the shows. Tool was the main, and last big one. A few more smaller acts were playing or finishing up, but suddenly everyone was rushing to get out. We took a more leisurely pace, and stopped by our last act, Crystal Method, awwww yeahhh. I couldnt believe they were still on, and glad I didnt miss it. A couple of us rushed into the dance area and shook around for a bit.
Remember the first few photos of the BDO? The ground was so much clean and clear.... well, it was half aluminium and plastic now. har har har.
Dirty Ground
And I got a photo of the few of us we could find amongst the crowd, that could still stand... well.. somewhat. =P
Wasted!
It turns out we (Ta, Dean, Myself) wern't actually told the place where our bus was meant to pick us up.. and it wasnt in our little info pamphlet either. So we spent a while looking for Where The F@ck We Were Supposed To Be (tm), and only just managed to catch the very last trip they do.
We got back to the hotel, to find the other half of people already there! And passed out for the most part too.. I took the opportunity to have a look out the balcony at the city lights at night, something I couldnt remember from the night before.
City at night
Now the sun that day was scorching, and we all practically dipped ourselves in sunscreen at regular intervals. The boys however, with their collared-singlets, still copped quite a beating on their shoulders, as evident in the next photo.
Manboobs! err.. I mean sunburn!
I dont know if I actually had a straight head or not, but I felt alright, and after cleaning up a bit after an extremely hot and sweaty day, I went to bed.
I awoke with a numb patch on my foot for no obvious reason, but otherwise fine. We all packed up and left the hotel, to begin the long drive home. This was made even longer as we ran into about a 50-70km stretch of almost gridlocked traffic leading out of the Gold Coast.
Heres the movie! I've combined the few I took and put them up on youtube. Sorry about my nasty habit of trying to get the crowd around me (even when its pitch black). But enjoy for what its worth.
BDO on Youtube!
Thanks for reading! It was awesome fun!
