What a gig! I think a large part of the success for these British Rockers was the crowd. With what seemed like half the balmy army in attendance, the fans really got behind them and made what was really a small turnout for The Arena a huge success. Probably the most energized I’ve ever been in a mosh, I came out dripping in sweat – but what a rush! It was amazing, and the band loved the support, thanking as much as possible between songs. Oldies like Reason is Treason and LSF, and the not so old Empire and Shoot the Runner keep fans screaming along throughout the night. A must see live band in my opinion.

This year I headed down to the festival with the very lovely Ashleigh and her friend Rach. Sarah also grabbed a lift to the coast, resulting in some great BDO-themed sing-a-longs on the long trip down.

We got to the Southport Parklands with plenty of time to spare, so we explored the venue and some of the art installations before until hurrying off to the first act. Dead Chickens, originally made in Germany, was a extremely strange mechanical monster machine. Multi headed chickens suffering from pneumo-kinetic mutation was the feature, their talking heads resting on computer-controlled metal frames. It really has to be seen to be believed, but I’m quite sure this display would have freaked out quite a few of the day’s drunken patrons.

Operator Please, a band we’d never heard of before, had the pleasure of being the first of the day to grace our ears. Locals of the Gold Coast, the name sounded interesting, so we decided that was enough to check them out. I was quite surprised! Had a nice Indie Rock sound to them, with lead female vocals a little similar to The Grates. They’d also integrated violin piece to most of the tracks, and it’s always good to see bands adding something a little different to the standard rock lineup. Be sure to check out the tracks on their (urgh) myspace.

Next up we checked in on The Butterfly Effect, a prog-rock/metal band out of Brisbane. I had the pleasure of seeing them at a local tavern a few years ago, so it was quite a change standing at the back of a crowd of thousands. Still, we decided to move on to I ♥ Hiroshima, which played the few tracks we’d heard from them. Quite good, and were pretty funny too. Down with Ashton Kutcher indeed!

We got a fair bit of a break, before heading to the deep moshy abyss beyond the D-barrier for the headlining acts. Lining up to squish in for Eskimo Joe, we were get a load of the whiny voice of the MCR lead, athough his comment about being happy about the lack of his fans being bashed was quite humorous. I really wasn’t looking forward to them that much, being turned off the album with the massive amount of play its had lately. My thoughts changed come the live act, and it was great having the entire crowd in on tracks like Sarah and From The Sea. Afterwards, we all twisted our heads to catch a glimpse of John Butler Trio jamming on the Blue Stage. The distance still couldn’t stop everyone jiving to the funky Zebra.

Soon the action was back on the Orange stage, and having pushed up some more we were right in the midst of the action for The Killers. With the best stage design of the day so far, stage had a delicate timber-bar appearance and was covered in flowers. Playing both oldies and new tracks off Sam’s Town, Brandon Flowers (the lead) would later laugh off the crowds inability to keep up during the easiest repeated line of the day – “I got soul, but I’m not a soldier”, from All These Things That I’ve Done. He managed to take back control of the song, and got everyone back on track. Quite a cracker of a set, I like The Killers new material much more live than in the studio release. Back over on the Blue Stage, Australian Garage Rock band Jet rocked out, but could hardly be heard of the chanting for Orange’s next act. We waited (at times) patiently as the an amazing set got constructed before our eyes. Before we new it, Jet were finishing up as we stood with great anticipation in front of a virtual star field.

It was then time for Muse to grace the stage. With stage presence like no other of the day, Matt Bellamy rocked out in his usual eccentric style in a spaced out set designed around their new album, Black Holes and Relevations. While we started a few rows from the front, we ejected to a more comfortable vantage point after nearly being engulfed completely by the black hole that is a very packed and excited mosh. Luckily, both shoes remained firmly stuck to my feet, unlike in The Killers crowd. As well as taking tracks from BH&R, the festival’s massive audience enjoyed the set’s great tracks from past albums.

Afterwards, we felt the sudden heat of another art installation, Hand of God. The massive sculpture of a hand was shooting gas-fueled fire skyward, out of its fingertips. Insane!

The night closed with the Violent Femmes. This 80’s band was revived to a massively supportive crowd, chanting in on their No. 1 hit – Blister In The Sun, and many others. It’s great to see these guys with such energy and passion after all these years.

We headed off to the car, to find a flat battery and an expired RACQ membership. After quite a bit of screwing around, we managed to get an RACQ Man out and it started on so much as the smell of those beautiful jumper leads. All was not rocking however, as all the exits from the parklands were backed up so much that we ended up exiting about 2.5 hours after arriving at the car.

Despite this spot of trouble, it was still an absolutely smashing day! I’ll be looking forward to this and many other music festivals in the future. I have some low quality pics and video from the camera-phone to upload, I’ll just sort out the bad from horrible over the next few days.

The best of Local and International acts will be showcased, with the winners being announced on Jan 26.

What’d I vote for? It’s hard listening to such a great amount of music and not being biased towards more recent tracks. I tried to pick 10 that I was really into at the time of release, and stuck with me throughout the year.

Thus I present, Scuba’s Selection of 2006’s Alternative Goodness:

Arctic Monkeys – Dancing Shoes
Flaming Lips – Free Radicals
Hard-Fi – Cash Mashine
Kasabian – Empire
Mates Of State – Fraud In The 80’s
Muse – Supermassive Black Hole
Mars Volta – Viscera Eyes
Panic! At The Disco – London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines
Sufjan Stevens – Dear Mr. Supercomputer
Thom Yorke – Harrowdown Hill

After thoughts? Panic? Yes sure its Emo, but darn addictive too. Mates of State was tough, I loved the album and narrowed it down to about 5 before picking Fraud In The 80’s. The rest were each my favorite tracks of some of my favorite albums of the year. Enjoy.
Speaking of great music, I’m off to Big Day Out later today – so expect a full wrap up featuring the likes of The Killers, Jet, Muse and The Violent Femmes very soon.