On tour with the Big Day Out and a little DJ called Mark Murphy (Part 2)

Whores, drugs and rock 'n roll…and that was just the latest issue of New Weekly I was reading at the café where I was having breakfast last Thursday morning (I like my eggs scrambled, not stirred). After a nice café latté, we jumped in the car and headed out to Homebush for the Sydney leg of the Big Day Out. This event sold out in a few hours and apparently the whole tour is now the biggest selling Big Day Out in history. Could it be because of me, perhaps?

Got there to find it pretty busy already (the biggest difference between Sydney and Melbourne is that Sydney gets sooo messy so early. Melbourne, I find, are much more relaxed and less into getting wasted but more into the music…man. Anyway, both are fun).

Now, because I am doing the whole tour, my pass has been upgraded to AAA (Access All Areas) so I thought I would utilise this to the fullest today. You know, as much star-spotting as these peepers can handle. Why not! It’s not every day you have a lanyard that can get you anywhere!

Started my set at sometime after three. Got my first track on and had a terrible time with the first mix. Couldn’t work out whether it was the stylus or something else. Second mix was fine but the third or fourth track, it happened again. But this time the stylus got stuck. I had to nudge the needle three or four times to get it into the next groove. It got stuck again and I realised there was no hope so I did the quick mix to another track. I was sweating that much I could’ve bottled it for the thousands in front of me. They looked like they needed it. I worked out what was wrong (I’m not telling as it could spell the end of my DJing career, although it wasn’t my fault, I swear) after the sound guy changed the stylus and from then on, I was fine.

I got through it, relieved myself and thought I’d try and use the AAA passes and get backstage to the main stadium. Can I tell you, it’s another world. We got onstage to the side and watched The Killers perform. We were right there in front of 20-30,000 people. At that moment I wanted to throw my DJing career out the window and become the singer in a rock band. Sure, I was too old but who cares…Iggy Pop is still going! I wanted what they had. Why can’t I have it?

I also flinched watching the kids being dragged from the mosh pit after nearly being crushed. The lead singer of The Killers had to say something. It really did look frightening down there. But it was great to see the kids passionately mouthing every word and phrase to every song. Watched Jet brush past us as they went on stage to do their thing. They were alright.

I had to play on the Gold Coast that night so I had to leave early. Made it to the airport just in time. Relieved myself once again before boarding. You don’t want cramps and you certainly don’t want to use the toilet on the plane. I always feel you could fall right through.

On to Melbourne. It had sold out (obviously, they knew I was playing) and was set in a massive field on the outskirts of Melbourne. It was stinking hot and being somewhat pale, I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to get some colour. So I said ‘no’ to sunscreen which now sounds absolutely foolish as I look like a lobster, fully cooked!

The set up was great although there was no stadium so you couldn’t sit down and watch the bands. This was also like the Gold Coast. Lots of big tents. I liked the carnival aspect of this or maybe I just love a big tent.

Started my set after Lilly Allen again. She had the place packed and was slamming George Bush and saying how Melbourne was a much better audience than Sydney, where on cue, the crowd went berserk. I’ll let you know if she does the same thing in Adelaide. A tired trick, but effective.

I put my first track on and had the monitors turned way up and thought that it sounded great. I actually started ‘grooving’ but couldn’t understand why most of the crowd was leaving. Sure, I realise that the majority of people are here to see the internationals, but I was foreign – I was from Sydney. Anyway, I then hear these footsteps approaching from behind and there was the sound engineer leaning over to turn the master volume up. There was no sound out there! Who had turned the master down? Nobody does that! Anyway, the rest of the set was great.

Tried to catch some other acts I hadn’t seen like Hot Chip, who were good, but didn’t see a lot of them. Something About Kate were alright, but really depressing. The jumping castle behind the main stage was fun and I had dinner with Simon Day (hi Lia) from Ratcat which was great. Caught a bit of Tool but being a dance head, was not really into 20-minute songs about stuff I don’t really didn’t need to know. And Justice were amazing, again.

Adelaide and Perth next, so stay tuned. Rock on.

Mark

Comments

[Hazel Bannister]

Hi, you lucky person having dinner with Simon day from Ratcat. What is he doing now, does he have a myspace account do you know. I want to send him a link to my niece Natasha who is a song writer/singer/guitarist and she is only 13 years old. She just won the best female vocalist at the 'Kool skools" competiton. I just wanted to see what he thought, she really likes their (ratcat) music and loves Avril Levigne as well. If you see him can you pass on her my space account its "myspace.com/natashaduarte17" I think thats right, I know that her name is Natasha Duarte, her band also has a site and they are called "a bad daysgood night" they also have songs on their site all of which Natasha wrote the lyrics and most the music for. Feel free to look as well. But please tell me about what Simon is up to, is he still in a band or what.

Thanks Hazel Bannister