Hard News: The Big Day Out, Auckland, 2009
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I didn't hear the Cyndi Lauper but I tell you, I was too zapped to go to Prodigy after Neil but the ENTIRE 3 k walk back to my home I could hear them like I was inside the tent. Would've been an amazing experience if I was 10 years younger I'm sure but I can't help wonder how many punters are going around saying 'eh? eh?" this week.
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All I can say is: LILYWORLD. Miles Cleret, Hot Afro A Go-Go, the mighty, mighty Son Of Dave... A little bit of Glastonbury/Bestival in Aucklalofa.
The lilypad is such a voyage of discovery.
Is Killer Ray still around ? He was the dude.
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I didn't hear the Cyndi Lauper but I tell you, I was too zapped to go to Prodigy after Neil but the ENTIRE 3 k walk back to my home I could hear them like I was inside the tent.
We remarked on that too. They seemed just as loud at the end of the road as they had right outside the gate.
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Heh. We drove 4kms to Ellerslie to have a post-BDO beverage at a friend's house, got out of the car and said 'what's that? Is that still The Prodigy? Holy crap!'
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For those who missed Neil (or want to relive the experience), it looks like some nice chap has bootlegged the show.
Although it's not up yet it is promised that "mp3 and FLAC files will be posted soon" - http://kiwiconcerts.blogspot.com/2009/01/neil-young-auckland-new-zealand-16-01.html
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yeah Neil was pretty spectacular ... the sound he gets out of his guitar, for an old timer , wow . and true that made the price worth it initself .
Sniffer dogs on the gates at the Goldy BDO huh , how very moronic .
Ting Tings should have been on a little later then I'd have got to see them . I hope the datsuns havn't lost that garagey loose humour they once had , its not that I particularly dislike Shihad its just that one Shiahd might be enough . -
For those who missed Neil (or want to relive the experience), it looks like some nice chap has bootlegged the show.
Ah. Good old Kiwiconcerts ...
What a great show to get.
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Is Killer Ray still around ? He was the dude.
About 10 years ago, a female friend hired Killer Ray to play at her party. She caught him rifling through her underwear drawer later in the evening...he kind of lost his weird-but-coolness for me after that...
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he kind of lost his weird-but-coolness for me after that...
Fair enough too.
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I think Killer Ray now rifles in peace, god rest his soul.
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So very very disappointed about TV - but happy the Ting Tings and Neil were able to bookend a very pleasant BDO. Didn't have (or see) any crowd issues for the TT, we got there 15 minutes early and were pretty close.
And for anyone who thinks they are too old for the BDO - we went with a friend's 70 year old mother who had a wonderful time.
Although I'm not sure she would have enjoyed last year's Rage vibe...
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<quote>we went with a friend's 70 year old mother who had a wonderful time.<quote> Well, that settles it. Now I have to go to one. I am officially in awe.
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O FFS
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This was my first and probably last BDO. The whole big crowds, nowhere to escape, $4 bottles of water thing is not my ideal concert going experience. I'm more of a Gillian Welch at the Paramount or Wilco at the Opera House type. That said I figured it's my last chance to see Neil here in NZ so I went, leaving Napier at 3:30 in the morning, travelling 7 hrs on a bus and then returning straight after to get back to Napier at 7:00 on Saturday morning. The Ukelele orchestra were a neat way to start though although the ukes weren't miked very well. Great vocals though. The only other act I was there for was My Morning Jacket and I wasn't dissapointed. Lugar Boa were my pick of the local acts and I'm not great dance fan so didn't venture anywhere near the Boiler Room. Neil was all I expected and he really gave an incredible performance even if the set list was a safe one. Kind of neat that my 2 sons were there too even though they were more interested in the Dropkick Murphys who I would have liked to have seen but it clashed with Neil. Now in 2 weeks I'm going to Ryan Adams with my daughter. Does that say something about the differences between us as parents and how our own parents were? Watched Bullet for my Valentine and Pendulum from the stand and was more entertained by the crowds than the bands although why do some dickheads feel they have to throw bottles into the crowd. Some twat even threw one on stage before Neil and hit the drums. As a long time Neil fan I wondered what sort of reaction he'd get and was amazed at the how much the crowd was with him. One of the neatest things was the 2 teens behind me knowing and singing all the words to A Day In The Life. I think that sums up what it's all about really.
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I went (I think I saw you, Russell. Reddish t-shirt and a floppy grey hat?), and enjoyed myself greatly. My highlights were Pendulum - it's an awesome sight watching about 2/3 of the main field at Ericsson packed with people who're rocking along to one bad - and the Headless Chickens. Neil, well, not so much. Maybe it's just my heathenous, immature taste in music, or maybe I just missed some crucial influence in my early years, but either way he didn't rock my boat the way that it sounds like he did for a lot of others. I stayed for most of his set, then bailed to catch of the HCs. Their performance was great, visually, and the crowd vibe was nice. The only downer was having only a sleeveless t-shirt as the temperature plummeted, and then having to wait in chilly idleness for my flatmate to escape after Prodigy finished.
As for the person arrested for narcotics, my feeling is they probably had something harder than E. Either that or they did something really dumb like blowing pot smoke in a cop's face. The police just don't do anal-retentive at the BDO, seeming to treat it as more of a PR outing and an exercise in visibility-is-a-deterrent, so getting nicked for something means you really earned it.
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I went (I think I saw you, Russell. Reddish t-shirt and a floppy grey hat?)
Nope. Greyish t-shirt and a floppy blue hat ...
The police just don't do anal-retentive at the BDO, seeming to treat it as more of a PR outing and an exercise in visibility-is-a-deterrent, so getting nicked for something means you really earned it.
Yes, quite probably. The Aussie cops, on the other hand ...
Gold Coast police superintendent Jim Keogh said police were not party-poopers but were determined to ensure the safety of patrons after a spate of drug overdoses at new year's dance parties in Melbourne.
"If they pass out from drugs in a big crowd, lives are at risk and we have to get them out," he said ...
... Supt Keogh said he was surprised by the number of people taking illegal drugs into music festivals despite the heavy police presence.
"Not only are they getting arrested and charged but they are also being evicted, so it turns into a very costly and disappointing day out," he said.
"I can't understand how they think they can get away with it and I hope they get the message for Good Vibrations and Big Day Out."
Well clearly, they didn't. The Gold Coast cops at the BDO got 120 people in a symbolic two-hour stretch and doubtless missed several tens of thousands of other punters. As a harm-reduction measure, it has some fairly obvious flaws.
Not least that this kind of be-very-afraid tactic runs a serious risk of nasty unintended consequences. How many kids necked their entire supply before going in? Or decided to risk buying drugs on-site?
And the idea that you're preventing harm by arresting people for marijuana possession at a music festival where alcohol is available for purchase is just silly.
Oh, and check this for a way to harsh the buzz: cops in commando gear toting guns and waving their fucking arms around while a dog sniffs some poor guy. How awful.
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Yes. Though uniformed police officers in Australia regularly carry guns, so it wouldn't be unusual for people there like it would here.
Personally I get the heebie greebies when I'm in an airport and the cops walk past with their guns on their hips. Probably wouldn't affect me as much if every cop in the country was toting.
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Russell, all Aussie cops are armed, all the time (even off-duty). So that picture's nothing special for them. Even those outfits aren't anything unusual, not even here. Dog handlers here wear overalls as their standard-issue uniform. Take away the pistol and the Taser (crouching and standing officers' visible arms, respectively) and that same photo with minor uniform differences could be repeated in NZ with ease.
Still a very different, and distinctly gung-ho, approach. I guess Aussie cops aren't softly-softly types.
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Take away the pistol and the Taser (crouching and standing officers' visible arms, respectively) and that same photo with minor uniform differences could be repeated in NZ with ease.
It was actually the body language that shitted me. There's nothing worse than an over-excited policeman (okay, a few things) and that's what that picture looks like.
I like how our guys just stroll around in their visibility vests, keeping an eye on things and not creating trouble. Three arrests in an entire day is pretty amazing.
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Three arrests in an entire day is pretty amazing.
It's certainly far fewer than past BDOs, especially historically. '"When it first started there were about 120 to 130 arrests but now the serious crime has all but disappeared," Mr Davison said.' That's, what, a 97% decrease? Incredible.
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That's, what, a 97% decrease? Incredible.
Well, we do have a National government.
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Thus I demonstrate there is no thread I'm too unqualified to inanely partecipate in.
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Wow. As recently as 2001 there were large numbers of arrests. 89 that year. Then a huge drop, to 28 in 2002.
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Well, we do have a National government.
On a related (to that line, but totally unrelated to the thread other than the date coincident mentioned below) note, I heard a great "But we have a National government" one yesterday. A close friend's father is about to lose his in-home care, with ACC and WINZ playing pass-the-buck over who should be paying for the care of someone who's on ACC for a medical misadventure. She was telling one of her friends and his parents about it (the parents are stereotypical millionaire, Takapuna-dwelling righties), and his father said "But National are the government now. They'd never allow that to happen." Total disbelief that Saint John could ever allow such a thing to occur on his watch, and honest conviction that it was just bureaucratic fuckup. "Someone must've ticked the wrong box. National will get it sorted out."
Will be interesting to see what happens with that case, because the letter from ACC announcing a 3 Feb funding termination came through on Friday (while my friend was BDO'ing). Not exactly a lot of notice. So there was much spamming of pollies over the weekend, and the media are champing at the bit to get a nice, juicy, highly sympathetic aren't-ACC-evil-bastards story.
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My first youtube upllode(sp ;-)
6:15 mins of Neil Young gloriousness, A day in the life/ Enjoy :-)
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