I still have my priorities right. I could have been home watching the tennis final, but I accepted the offer to help out on the Indymedia stall at the Big Day Out (it was a long day but we gave away posters and sold a few NewsReal discs and it was good). Anyway, at the point the tennis was on, I was watching The Chemical Brothers and I think that was the right place to be.
Even so, I was very aware that this was not the best of Big Day Out line-ups. Perhaps I’m getting old and this new=fangled music that the young people listen to just doesn’t appeal but I don’t think that’s it. I think back to other BDOs: classic, hardcore ones such as Nirvana (was that ’92?) and the Breeders and Rage Against the Machine and Nick Cave… and my best one ever, a couple of years ago with Jonathan, when it was PJ Harvey, Kraftwerk, Basement Jaxx and Underworld, all at the one show. But this year I’m glad I was staffing a stall and didn’t pay for my ticket. Even Chemical Brothers were less vibrant than Underworld had been, or than Infected Mushroom usually are. Certainly, this was not the emotional high of 1200 Mics, lifting us into the stratosphere at 4am at last year’s Earthcore.
Before anyone suggests it, it’s not drug-related. I didn’t take anything at Earthcore, or the BDO two years ago either.
My only regret today is that I double-booked and forgot it was Pride March until yesterday… I wanted to duck out of the BDO, race to St Kilda, meet up with Bonnie and march with her, and then race back but it didn’t happen.
Life has been kinda hectic lately…