BDO 05 - Slipknot, Shihad and Regurgitator

The two main draws for me at this years Big Day Out were System of a Down and Slipknot. I'd seen System back in '02, and even though they were really good I wasn't so excited about seeing them again, so Slipknot were the guys I was most looking forward to. The moshpit was pretty crowded and it took me a while to find a space. No sooner had I settled in than some drunken munter staggered up next to me. I kept a wary eye on him and sure enough he began convulsing almost immediately. Me and everyone else in his vicinity backed away as fast as we could and he was quickly surrounded by half a meter of empty space. Except towards the front, because those people there were facing away from him. Sure enough, one projectile vomit later, some poor bastard had his arm and backpack dripping with puke. Sometimes I wish I was into a different genre of music.

They kept us waiting a while (I guess they had nine sets of gear to set up) and they finished a little early, so they didn't play for long. The setlist was something along the lines of:

Song I Didn't Know
This Blister Exists
The Heretic Anthem
Pulse of the Maggots
Spit It Out
Duality
People = Shit

I'm probably forgetting a few songs, but those are the ones I remember. In the end I was a bit disappointed. I probably would have liked it a bit more if they'd played more new stuff, but on top of that, the crowd wasn't very into it (at least where I was standing), and the band just wasn't as crazy as I hoped. They certainly talked to the crowd a lot, but their banter seemed geared more towards the average empty headed teenage munter than towards me. The one really cool bit was when they got the whole moshpit to sit down and then jump up at the same time. I really wish I'd gotten a photo of everyone sitting down, cos it looked pretty cool.

As for the performance, it lacked something. The main drummer seemed to stuff up a few times on the new songs, the secondary drummers spent more time jumping on top of the drums than they did playing them and apart from Duality they didn't play any of the songs I really wanted to hear. It wasn't bad, but I was a little disappointed.

Once they were finished I decided to get the hell out of the moshpit, as Shihad was about to start. They opened with a new song, and it was over before I got out of the pit. I was just about to leave the main stadium, and the began playing 'My Minds Sedate'. For a second I turned around and thought “I used to love this song, maybe I should give these guys another chance.” But then I saw all the excited teenyboppers and their blank stares from being confronted with a five year old song, and I said “Nah, fuck it”. Then it was off to do the old drink/food/toilet dash, and catch ten minutes of Regurgitator.

Regurgitator was the first band I saw at the first Big Day Out I visited six years ago. I wish I'd thought of that when I was watching them. They weren't as crazy as they were back then. I saw about two songs, and it was OK, but I felt like I should get back to the main stage to get a good place for System. Shihad were still going and the four or five songs I heard made me glad I'd decided to miss most of their set. They closed with 'Comfort Me'! What's up with that?