24 January 1993 –
Royal Melbourne Showgrounds
In a compact showgrounds set up, the emphasis was on the 7
international acts. Helmet produced
a brutal set gleaned from the Strap It On and Meantime albums. The
Disposable Heroes Of Hiphosphy were impressive considering they only had
the one album to drawn from. Mudhoney were their reliable selves
despite some agitation from segments of the crowd. Carter
USM were enjoyable enough. Sonic Youth blasted through tracks
mostly from Dirty. Iggy Pop surprised the crowd with his choice of Stooges covers and headliners Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were
really effective in the gusty win which seemed to complement their set
perfectly. Local acts I saw included The Clouds, Hoss, The Meanies and The Hard-Ons.
23 January 1994 –
Royal Melbourne Showgrounds
This one vies with 2003 for the title of the best one I’ve
attended. The line up of local acts was
pretty good including The Cruel Sea,
Died Pretty, The Celibate Rifles and Robert
Forster. The 3RRR stage was packed for great shows from Urge Overkill and Primus. But this was a year for the main stage Teenage Fanclub produced what was
probably the best set for an early afternoon (circa 2pm) slot with a wonderful
version of Everything Flows at the end. The Breeders were OK, The Smashing Pumpkins much better, but the
real business was the final three acts.
The first of these were The
Ramones with a typical high energy set.
Then, in one of the best scheduling moves ever, they were followed by Bjork who went over well. (I could only see part of her set because it
clashed with, I think, Primus.) But best
afield honours were won by Soundgarden. Their set, coming just a few days before they
unleashed Superunknown on an unsuspecting world, was one of the festivals all
time greats. Unbelievably, only Spoonman
from the new album was played but their set will be forever remembered for the
climax of Slaves And Bulldozers and an unbelievable Jesus Christ Pose.
22 January 1995 –
Royal Melbourne Showgrounds
This was a letdown after the heights of the previous year
with the fault squarely at the feet of the international acts. Best of them were The Screaming Trees whose set was memorable for the sight of the
Connor Brothers and possibly Mark Lanagean jumping off stage to get at some
idiots in the crowd throwing mud at them.
Hole was disappointing, The Offspring, then riding the first
wave of their success, did well and Primal
Scream for some reason was flat.
(Maybe daylight didn’t agree with them.) The Cult made the horrible mistake of delivering a set focusing on
their just released self-titled album when a greatest hit set would have been
more appropriate. Ordinarily I would
have left mid-way to catch Luscious
Jackson but stayed seated in the grandstand owing to a severe
migraine. Curiously this was cured by
headliners Ministry whose sound and
vision were impressive. I left without
seeing boiler room headliners Fun-Da-Mental.
Among the local acts I caught were You
Am I, Crown Of Thorns, Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes, Magic Dirt, Fur and TISM.
28 January 1996 – Royal
Melbourne Showgrounds
At this one the main stages were set futher back as the size of teh crowd started to signficantly increase. It was another good year for local acts including Magic Dirt, Died Pretty, Spiderbait,
Regurgitator, Ammonia, The Powdermonkeys,
Shihad and Snout. A completely unknown Reef were impressive in what was
basically a barn. Billy Bragg had the RRR stage mesmerized as did Rancid. Tricky played a stunning set in the Boiler Room that didn’t get the
credit it deserved. The Jesus Lizard were entertaining as they always were and Elastica were fun. Rage
Against The Machine got the biggest response of the day but I found their
performance too one dimensional. Nick
Cave and the Bad Seeds were the first return act and really should have
been the headliners. That honour went to
the now largely forgotten Porno For
Pyros, Perry Farrell’s band for part of the time during what turned out to
be Jane’s Addiction’s lengthy hiatus.
They were OK (the on stage props were great) but I left midway to catch
the legendary Radio Birdman tear it
up on the RRR stage.
25 January 1997 – Royal
Melbourne Showgrounds
This was a good year for catching up on local and
international acts away from the main stage.
This included the best act of the day the mighty Jon Spencer Blues Explosion with a characteristic high energy
set. Japan’s Shonen Knife garnered fans in one of the animal pavilions with
dreadful acoustics. On the main stage
was Fear Factory an act I’ve never really
warmed towards, Supergrass who,
whilst entertaining, are no Teenage Fanclub and The Prodigy an act that makes fine albums but whose renown as a
live act I’ve always found puzzling to say the least. The Prodigy as well as The Offspring and headliners, Soundgarden
were all making the second appearance at the festival, the latter two without
threatening their previous heroics. Poor
Patti Smith on her first ever Australian
tour tried to make an impression on an indifferent audience which appeared not
to have heard of her. At least the diehard
fans had memories of her epic show at the Palais Theatre the previous night to
sustain them. Local acts providing great
value that year included You Am I, Spiderbait, Paul Kelly, Magic Dirt, Even and The Black Eyed Susans.
26 January 1999 – Royal
Melbourne Showgrounds
There was no event in 1998 but it returned in 1999. Once again the main stages provided varying
standards of quality or interest. Soulfly delivered a great set of extremely
heavy rock and The Manic Street
Preachers were fine and Peaches
was fun in a tightly packed pavilion. The Fun
Lovin’ Criminals were too laid back compared to a festival I’d sent them in
Belgium just 5 months previously. Korn battled sound problems but did
enough to convince me to purchase their Follow The Leader album which I still
play today. Marilyn Manson baited
the audience which made for an
entertaining show as I waited to see whether any of the crowd missiles would
hit. (I can’t remember anything about the actual music though.) Headliners were Hole with Courtney Love seemingly channelling the spirit of Stevie
Nicks. I left after a few numbers to
enjoy the far more enjoyable TISM. On the outside stages two young acts really
impressed Ash and Sean Lennon as well as The Dirty Three, The Powdermonkeys and The Mark Of Cain. The nuance of Sparklehorse was undone
by the shocking acoustics of the animal pavilion. I didn’t catch either of Fat Boy Slim, Powderfinger or, to my eternal regret, Underworld. Their set in the
Boiler Room after Hole was largely regarded as the best performance of the day.
30 January 2000 – Royal
Melbourne Showgrounds
The first band I saw on the day was Atari Teenage Riot who dressed in black and screaming political tracts
were distinctly at odds with the summer’s day.
I spent a lot of time in the outside stages enjoying Bert Orton, Ozamalti, Joe Strummer and Lisa
Miller. Primal Scream in the
Boiler Room atoned for their previous BDO appearance with a sensational set and
Basement Jaxx also impressed in the same venue. On the main stage The Cruel Sea and The Foo Fighters were great, Nine Inch Nails did reasonably well but the disappointment were
headliners The Red Hot Chili Peppers
who had begun smoothing out the rough edges of what had made their music so
compelling in the first place. Fortunately,
the outside stage had Sweden’s awesome The
Hellacopters and their high energy rock.
Pity they attracted such a small crowd.
Determined not to repeat the previous year’s mistake, I finished the
night at the Boiler Room where, once again, the best performance of the day
came, this time courtesy of The Chemical
Brothers.
28 January 2001 – Royal
Melbourne Showgrounds
My initial hopes for a good day were initially dashed by the
release of the timetable which was full of uncomfortable clashes and
choices. Then the unfortunate death of a
concert goer at the Sydney leg resulted in headliners Limp Bizkit pulling out. This
act - a band whose Australian popularity was fuelled almost exclusively by JJJ and,
who were going to struggle in front of a Melbourne audience anyway, were the
first, and to date only, headliner I had planned to ignore. ) This led to a reshuffling on the main stage
acts which solved many of scheduling
problems although it still meant that I had to miss Japan’s ZooBombs, You Am I, The Go-Betweens and The
Happy Mondays. Unbelievable to
think of this today but Coldplay
were on the bill with an early afternoon slot and did really well as did the
pre Fergie Black Eyed Peas on an
outside stage. After that was lots of
sampling including, Roni Size Reprazent,
The Avalanches, The Fuaves and The Casanovas. Melbourne began a mutual love affair with At The Drive-In who were
sensational. On the main stage Queens Of The Stone Age, Placebo and P.J Harvey all impressed on their first Australian tours. Powederfinger were given to opportunity
to close the day on the main stage but wisely declined. That honour was given to Rammstein, whose industrial rock was more suited to a Melbourne
audience than Limp Bizkit, who promptly went on to steal the day.
28 January 2002 – Royal
Melbourne Showgrounds
Not a good year, caused largely by 9/11 which scared many acts
from making the trip to Australia. Only
the presence of New Order and Garbage was enough to get me through
the turnstiles and they both delivered.
Unfortuantelty, I couldn’t get in to see The White Stripes as they were scheduled in the infamous animal pavilion and caused a
crush as everyone wanted in. (I wasn’t
as desperate, having salready seen them.) Silverchair
were fine and The Crystal Method,
Kosheen and Jurassic 5 were all nice discoveries for me. I had absolutely no interest in seeing one
hit wonder Alien Ant Farm, was
baffled by System Of A Down and left
during headliners The Prodigy.
27 January 2003 – Royal
Melbourne Showgrounds
For me this rivals the first two for the title of the best
BDO ever owing to the wonderful diversity on offer. I spent the greater part of the early period
with local acts The Vines and Augie March interspersed with
impressive sets in the animal pavilion (now with improved acoustics) by The Music and At The Drive-In offshoot Sparta.
I then took in The Deftones
on the main stage followed by a rest preceeding 5-6 non stop hours of the finest
music imaginable. First, I caught most
of the set by Wilco on an outside
stage. Then I ventured into the main
stadium to catch the remainder of Queens
Of The Stone Age with Mark Lanegan. I stayed on for about half of P.J Harvey’s set fronting a 3 piece
band similar in style to her early records.
Then it was off to the Boiler Room, which in those days was on the main
arena alongside the right hand main stage, for the first Melbourne performance
of Kraftwerk. 30 minutes later, the right hand stage kicked
in and I popped out to catch Jane’s
Addiction on their first reunion tour.
For the next hour I kept popping in and out of the tent. The Gods were with me that day, as it enabled
me to see my favourite tracks from both acts.
After the mighty Germans finished I moved outside for the end of Jane’s
set. Immediately after that, headliners The Foo Fighters came on and Dave Grohl
wisely powered through a strictly greatest hits set. Then it was back to the Boiler Room to finally catch Underworld. If only every line up could be like this!
26 January 2004 – Royal
Melbourne Showgrounds
This one featured just about the worst scheduling clash in Melbourne
BDO history. Headliners were Metallica. I could only afford 30
minutes to their mighty repertoire so that I might catch a significant portion
of outside stage headliners The Flaming
Lips. (But Metallica were so loud I
was still able to hear them anyway.) Of the
other acts The Strokes appeared ill
suited to the main stage, MUSE
showed the first signs of their impending superstardom, The Dandy Warhols were fine and The Black Eyed Peas showed the first signs of blanding out. Kings
Of Leon, for some reason, failed to leave an impression. Despite the English hype, I was underwhelmed
by The Darkness and couldn’t decide
whether they were serious or just talking the piss. In any case, I left after a few numbers, preferring
the soothing sounds of my favourite crooner, the Malaysian born, Australian, Kamahal. Also on the outside stage was The Mars Volta who were impressive
considering their set was seemingly a couple of very long numbers. English act Audio Bullys were good
in the Boiler Room where I was finally able to see Aphex Twin albeit with Luke
Vibert. But for me, the most
fascinating act of the day was Afrika
Bambaataa and his pioneering rap.
Literally two turntables and a
microphone being passed around the large number of people on stage who free
formed their lyrics, this was music history and education of the highest
order. It was such a shame that only
about 300 people witnessed it.
30 January 2005 – Royal
Melbourne Showgrounds
Sadly this was the last fling at the original venue. This marked the first and only time I was
accompanied by one of my nephews as I couldn’t persuade anyone else to
come. Our tastes are quite different and
some compromises were in order. He
introduced to Australia hip hop via Scribe
and Kid Koala and also insisted I
watch System Of A Down who I found
as baffling as ever. But his best
achievement was getting me to stay for Slipknot
who were really impressive and not the gimmick act I feared they would be. In return, I took him to see the brilliant Le Tigre in the animal pavilion, Money Mark, The [Jon Spencer] Blues Explosion who he
liked and The Polyphonic Spree which
I loved and he loathed. The Hives somehow eluded him. But there was no arguing over the quality of
headliners The Beastie Boys or The Chemical Brothers closing set in
the Boiler Room.
29 January 2006 – Princess
Park, Carlton
This was the temporary venue with a reduced capacity which hosted the BDO for 2 years. It was a mixed bag on the main stage. Headliners The White Stripe played a curiously disjointed set which didn’t
flow as well as at did. Franz Ferdinand were OK , Kings Of Leon improved considerably and
The Magic Numbers would have been
better served on a smaller stage. Consequently
the way was cleared for The Stooges
to steal the show even though the increasingly younger audience had absolutely
no idea about them. But in many respects
the true highlights were at the minor stages.
I spent a lot of time at one tent in particular taking in the energetic The Go! Team, the legendary Sleater-Kinney, a more focused set from The Mars Volta and a spoken word
performance from Henry Rollins who,
in turn, introduced The Beasts Of Bourbon. The Boiler Room played host to a great set
from Belgium’s Soulwax and later on,
their alter egos, 2ManyDJs. Finally,
towards night’s end as I was seeking to hook up with Mickey, I stumbled across
a fine set by the rapper Common.
My unbroken run came to end when I had absolutely no
interest in attending the 2007 show. I
couldn’t get a ticket to the 2008 show due to its unprecedented sell out in an
hour owing to the unexpected announcement of the reformed Rage Against The
Machine. The 2009 show had Neil Young
but the rest of the card was weak. I
ended up buying a ticket to Young’s sideshow at the Myer Music Bowl.
28 January 2010 – Flemington
Racecourse Carpark
An extremely promising line up was rendered impotent by the
scheduling. Even worse, was the 40 degree
temperature for the greater part of the day.
Survival was the name of the game and the organisers responded
admirably. Early on I took in the majesty of The Jim Jones Revue followed by Meagan Washington and Andrew
W.K from the safe distance of a beer tent.
Trips to the Boiler Room to see South Africa’s Die Antwood and The Crystal Castles
were interspersed with a tent show by Gareth
Liddiard of The Drones. Whilst
watching Edward Sharp and the Magnetic
Zeroes a cool change kicked in, allowing for a move to the main stage for
the day’s big 3 acts. The John Butler Trio were playing as I
waited to get into the safety barrier.
This enabled me to catch the triumphant return of The Stooges followed by the equally triumphant return of the world’s
most spectacular live act, Rammstein.
After that I proceeded outside to catch the enigmatic Tool who had headlined one of the year’s I’d missed. But the
Stooges/Rammstein/Tool combo came at a cost; I had to forgo Primal Scream performing Screamadelica
live (but I saw that show when the album was originally released), Grinderman (who I’d also seen
previously), M.I.A and, most unfortunately
and to my eternal regret, LCD
Soundsystem.
I’d only had time for listening to one album on the day,
this post having to be written over a couple of days owing to circumstances beyond
my control.
(83) Porno For Pyros – Self Titled
Porno For Pyros released two albums of which this was the
first. For the most part, it is a
cracker, although it runs out of steam towards the end. But before then the title track, Cursed
Female and Cursed Male all pack a punch and the single Pets is magnificent. It is easily the best of all Perry Farrell’s
non Jane’s Addiction recordings.
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