Friday 30/01/09 The Big Day Out @ Adelaide Showgrounds, Adelaide

Have I whinged about the heat yet? No? Well that’s something of an oversight. We’ll skip the adjectives and the hyperbole and just go for the cold hard facts – the numbers are terrifying enough on their own. No further comment necessary. Forty. Three. Point. One. Celsius. Short sentences, conserve strength. Don’t overheat. Drink lots of water. Sunscreen. Hat. And now, if you don’t mind, we’ll head off on a tour of facilities. Ignore emo kids. Won’t bite. Too hot. Over here, to the right, there’s a mist tent. Full, to the extent that it probably needs its own postcode and toilet block. Perhaps even a United Nations airlift. Not to worry, just over yonder the fire brigade have been drafted in and are busy emptying one of their big red tenders onto a few more of the scorched masses. We’ll just sit here for a while. Drenched. Thank you. That’s a little better. Sunscreen blasted off. Reapply.

Over to left, we’ve got a big old hanger that claims to have aircon. Really good part is that entertainment has been laid on. Top notch entertainment too: TV On The Radio. And that’s what I call foresight. Trouble is, TVotR (initials, minimise effort) are perhaps hottest band on planet and seem to have negated aircon. Oh well. We’ll cope. And if we don’t there’s always an ambulance.

Main worry with TV On The Radio is they’re at a festival rather than their own show. Towards front the sound is too boomy (deepest bass feels as if someone’s massaging your chest with a foghorn) and towards back atmosphere falls flat pretty quickly. They’ve pulled a great crowd, but a fair percentage are here to see what all that fuss is about. And plenty just don’t understand. They leave, moving slowly towards doors, but they leave. Despite that, band are glorious and set list is impeccable. As it would be, when TVotR have such a brilliant new album to draw on. Personal favourite is Golden Age, but could as easily have been any of another half dozen.

Across an alleyway – food, if you can really bear to eat, water, latrines –organisers have installed another heat management system. It’s a collection of summer hits from the sixties, in shape of Little Red. And we all know that world was a cooler place back then. LR are altogether easier on ear and head and heart than TVotR. And right now, easy is good. Happy chappies. On stage and off. Band have toned down retro thing a touch, but it’s still their thing. And it works pretty well. For band and crowd, at least.

Some thumping percussion from Pendulum over on one of the main stages is close to drowning out the sixties, however. Should investigate. Stroll over. Stroll slowly. Pendulum offer miscellaneous Bond quote. Exactly what we needed. Main theme? Live And Let Die? Memory banks overheating. No answer. Pendulum are obviously very good indeed at what they do, which mainly seems to involve whipping crowd into rabid frenzy. That’s good. Hope mothers told them to drink lots of water. Mothers of crowd, that is. Don’t much care what Pendulum’s mothers said. Stadium drum ’n’ bass is something of a surprise, of course, especially after all these years, but added rock probably helps it all along. What’s bad is that Pendulum are about as subtle as weather. Vocalist poses interesting question: “who’s ready to hear something different?” I am. Abort journey into sunshine. Back to aircon.

Unfortunately, despite sterling attempts to confuse issue, My Morning Jacket really just a variation on same old something or other. Plenty of prog, some metal, various other odds and sods. Nothing particularly invigorating – though once again, very good at chosen task. Blend genres well. Gradually coming round to them, but even at best they don’t seem to have a unique voice. And that’s rather odd, given fairly unusual blend they’ve got going. Should perhaps have stayed with Pendulum. Hmm.

Next shed. Died Pretty. As Aussie as shrimps on a barbie, beer and hairdryer heatwaves. Classic album – Doughboy Hollow. Quite some time ago. 1991. Crikey! Reunion for Don’t Look Back tour last year. Obviously enjoyed themselves. More reunion, though lead singer Ron Peno now in Darling Downs with Kim Salmon, former Scientist and Godfather of Grunge. Play neo-Appalachian stuff together, to much acclaim and limited audiences. Died Pretty nothing like that, though also made by Peno’s performance. Like a lunatic sky-worshipping accountant on turps with Darling Downs; like an Aussie Iggy with Died Pretty. More clothes, thankfully, and floppy hat he can’t see out of. Band tight, Peno hot after lethargic start.