Posts by Russell Brown
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One small cheer on the current topic: to the Big Day Out organisers for finally installing a proper viewing platform for people in wheelchairs. As I noted in my BDO wrap-up, it helped a 16 year-old with cerebral palsy have one of the days of her life.
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Jackie, it isn't easy for those of us over 40 -- we were joking at one point about how the whole thing is an exercise in self-abuse -- and I'm lucky enough to have a lounge to retire to at crucial times. According to Sofie in another thread, the Summit Bar seems to have been a good place to chill this year.
There were one or two oldies looking somewhat alarmed to be cast amongst tens of thousand of munted youths before Neil Young, but it's really quite a safe place these days. They make drinking alcohol difficult at the BDO for a reason ...
Also -- and I meant to put this in the post above -- there was a view abroad that the more mellow vibe this year was partly down to the absence of BZP-based party pills. I certainly saw far fewer taut, strained faces.
The big thing was that, pricewise, seeing Neil Young at the BDO cost about the same as seeing him at his own show would have. It was quite a deal.
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Because I wasn't up to doing much else, I've written a rather extensive BDO 09 wrap-up:
I did also go for a swim yesterday.
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Say it ain't so? They and TVotR were my biggest regrets for yet another Pete BDO no show. I heard that the TVotR sound mix was munged but Pendulum rocked arse?
Don't listen to Danielle: Pendulum was an event. I wouldn't want a whole day of that, but as part of the rich tapestry of sounds of a BDO, it did the trick for me.
TVotR were underwhelming, thanks to the sound problems and the fairly massive drain of energy from the stadium as the Pendulum fans poured out and up the steps.
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Being on a Neil list I knew what to expect, he has been doing a number of new songs but this setlist was a bit safe with only one new one but the performance was something else.
I'd read about 'Just Singing a Song' but never heard it. A gather some long-term fans have been complaining about his most recent work, but that's a good song!
Reasonable-quality version from late 08 here:
And Mr Brown-saw you checking out Lugar Boa. What did you think?
Pretty good, actually. If I didn't already know, I think I could have picked that Jimmy is a Saints fan.
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Thus Pendulum, who made me want to beat them to death with their own keytar or whatever the hell they were playing ...
So it's wrong of me to think they were kind of awesome?
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Last but not least - Neil Young ... I sure hope he has a good night.
He was incredible. The best mainstage performance ever at a Big Day Out, IMHO.
He encored with a version of the Beatles' 'Day in the Life' that was so artistically valid there are barely words for it.
There's a short clip of that here ...
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Russell: can the fact that I'm not responding to this one count as an extenuating circumstance next time I tell Craig to jump into the nearest body of water at his disposal? Nearly made a vein pop there, I can produce a medical certificate to that effect.
You'll have to work it out between yourselves. I'm going to the Big Day Out.
Byeee!!
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I was looking at a quoted statement of the International Red Cross, and remarking that it was nice that they hadn't jumped the gun - even if it was true, they hadn't seen evidence to know it was so said so.
No, I got your point. I wasn't meaning to have a go at you.
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Okay, I've been annoyed at the International Red Cross for a few of things they've said in the past, but this does put them up in my estimations. It may be that the IDF has broken the rules around its use, but they're not going to call it that without actually being satisfied. This is almightily even-handed, and especially so from an aid organisation.
The LA Times has a story describing one death and multiple burn injuries from what appears to be a WP attack. I'm not sure that "it was an accident" washes -- using WP over residential areas seems to involve an unacceptable degree of callousness to me.
A Wired backgrounder quotes Human Rights Watch as saying the use of WP "violates the requirement under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life."
It's not clear how robust the other reports of WP injuries are -- and of course, Israel won't let in intenational media or human rights observers to find that out.
But really, what has been done to the UNHCR compound is an outrage.
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