The Big Day Out for me was once a tradition. The best festival with the best bands. A must do for the summer. These days though the tradition is broken and it doesn't look like being re-instated.
When I was 14 years old the BDO was coming back from a 2 year hiatus. The 1999 line up was more than a 14 year old girl could imagine. I begged and begged my mum to let me go. The headline acts in themselves were enough to make you want to pee your pants with excitement! Korn, Hole and Marilyn Manson. Then you had amazing local talent like The Living End, the Superjesus, Jebediah and Regurgitator. Powderfinger were also there and had only just released their most commercial album to that date 'Internationalist'. The band played at about 4pm if I remember correctly. I often laughed in years to come when they ended up headlining.
Following years line-ups were just as exciting and in later years when it started selling out in a few short hours the line up made your heart race in the hope you could snag tickets to see all these amazing bands in one place.
Year after year I was pumped at the announcement of the line-ups. I went to 10 BDOs and loved every single one of them. I have amazing memories from the bands, the people, the atmosphere. A trip to the Lilypad is an adventure in itself.
A few years ago the line up came out for the 2009 BDO and I was unimpressed. So unimpressed that I made the decision not to go. This is despite me once saying 'I'll always come no matter who is playing'. The day rolled around and I felt weird not being there. I felt sad that my tradition had been broken but I knew that it would be ok and next year I'd be back there at Olympic Park.
When the 2010 line up was about to be announced I felt excited again. There was a rumour the fabulous Mr David Bowie would be headlining. Instead when the announcement came we were given Muse.
Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE Muse, but they headlined just 3 years prior, so I was quite let down. Again I decided not to buy a ticket.
This year I was a little more wary of how the line up would look. I'd heard rumours of Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots. I didn't want to get my hopes up.
When the announcement was made I was very let down. Great bands, amazing bands! Tool, Rammstein and Iggy Pop are the headliners. But they've all done it before! I got the feeling that the BDO organisers were just giving us punters recycled goods. Why would I pay $150.00 to see bands I've already seen! When I was 14 I paid $70.00 to see one of the best, freshest line ups ever in Australia.
This will now be the 3rd BDO I've missed since I started going and I've come to the realisation that my tradition is over. Good bye BDO, it's been fun!
*Disclaimer: Should the 2012 line-up be an improvement my tradition may need to be re-instated
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