Big Day Out 2014 @ Western Springs, Auckland - 17/01/2014

It was with some trepidation I headed to Western Springs to check out the new venue for the Big Day Out 2014. I have been to about 6 previous Big Day Out's and Western Springs is a quite a different venue than Mt Smart. I had been to there for a few shows in the past and although the venue was extremely suitable for that it was only one stage, not five, as well as food stores and a market. On arrival I quickly realised that my fears were unfounded as everything seemed to fit into place quite nicely. They even had room for an art trail which was cool to check out at the end of the night. There was plenty of treats for the punters to ensure every one stayed hydrated on what was a stunning and hot summers day. One clever stall owner even provided a phone charging service for those emergency battery top ups. One of the things I loved was that you could stand on the walkway that was the middle ground between the two sets of stages and see what was happening across most of the venue. Obviously there were a few teething problems such as toilet queues in the late afternoon onwards and also the same for alcohol tagging and sales but all in all the venue had a far better vibe than Mt Smart could have ever had. There were a lot more green spaces and chill out areas and the venue shows great promise for the future.

Now that I have covered the venue I can start to talk about the acts. Because of the clashs and also so short distance between stages I only got to see two full sets that of Primus and Ghost but that gave me the opportunity to check out a few bands and acts that I normally wouldn’t  take the time to see.

Prowler opened up the shebang on the smaller set of the stages with their high energy punk metal that got the blood pumping straight away while Beastwars played a dominating set that got the pit started on the main set of stages. At this point I wandered for a bit before returning to the main stage for The Naked and Famous and their much awaited return to our shores after some solid touring overseas.

Primus was the first band I was really excited to see thus one of the only bands I got to see the full set for and they didn’t let me down. Les Claypool and his merry band got the heads nodding and smiles across the faces of many a fan. Multiple instrument changes awesome crowd banter and precision playing the set was sublime but as always at Big Day Out it was just too short.

The afternoon was filled with some pretty big acts but not much that appealed to me being a metal head but it gave me plenty of time to take in the atmosphere and see little bits of other acts. Mac Miller and seemed to be getting a big crowd and Beady Eye were as unenergetic as Oasis but that is just my opinion as I could never get into their whiney British rock.

The act I really wanted to see was Ghost. With a small crowd amassed and others lining up for Snoop Lion they were dealt a treat and a half as the Nameless Ghouls opened up the set with Infestissumam before Papa Emeritus II stepped out onto the stage to a huge roar of the crowd and straight into Per Aspera Ad Inferi. The Depeche Mode cover If you have Ghost went down well and many a chuckle was heard. We did get treated to an amazing show including Papas great humour as he wound up the punters waiting for the hip hop hero. This was another case of Big Day Out putting these guys in the wrong place in the line-up and not giving them enough time as there set was very very short. Ghost was my highlight for the day and they gave us that religious experience you look for at a live gig even if they are blatantly Satanic. My horns were held high and heart soared throughout their set. I could go on about them for ages as I feel they are the breath of fresh air metal needs at the moment but they were only a small part of a huge day.

Because of set clashes and such Snoop lion was put onto stage 15 minutes into Pearl Jam’s set and not being a Snoop fan I started to head to the Pearl Jam show. I was blown away by the exodus from Pearl Jam to see Snoop. Now I may be completely off the ball park here but from my observation there appeared to be more people rushing to watch Snoop than to see Pearl Jam.

I have been a fan of Pearl Jam for a long time so was keen to see them but I have to admit I was a tad bored by them. Eddie seemed to be getting quite pissed drinking from a huge magnum of Kiwi Red. I loved Black and that was a moment that you had to be at if you’re a Pearl Jam fan. Maybe it was the lack of stimuli as I wasn’t drinking or anything on the day but there set just seemed a bit sloppy and I found myself wandering over to check out the Deftones destroying the stage.

The last act of the day Major Lazar was definitely not my cup of tea but to say I wasn’t impressed would be an understatement as they really know how to put on a show and closed the day out in spectacular fashion. The giant Zorb with a guy in a suit and tie running across the crowd was nothing short of mind blowing and the crowd responded to this and the many other visual factors to their show.

In my mind the Big Day Out has finally found its home after around 20 years here in New Zealand. Western Springs was a great choice of venue and the event was hosted in style. Bring on next year even bigger and better.

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