EDIT: updated with the results for each song — January 27. Boy do I know how to pick them!

Voting for the Triple J Hottest 100 is on again. As we all know, radio is due to die a slow and painful death. Nova will surely be the first to go, as I suspect that marketing practices like distributing Nova-branded frangers on university campuses have accrued some kind of bad karma for them. Every station without ‘triple’ in their name will be next, yes this means Triple M is safe—they’re cool because they realise that Supertramp is great and they don’t give a crap what you think.

Eventually the Web will put every last FM station out of business.

So, from the list of songs that Richard Kingsmill has tried to sell me this year, this year I decided to pick at least a couple of songs that stood a chance of making it into the 100, guess which ones they are?

1. The Butterfly Effect — Phoenix (33^rd)
2. Tom Vek — C-C (You Set The Fire In Me) (did not place)
3. System of a Down — BYOB (27^th)
4. Maximo Park — Graffiti (did not place)
5. Iron On — Learn Today Earn Tomorrow (did not place)
6. The Grates — Message (did not place)
7. Edan — Fumbling Over Words That Rhyme (did not place)
8. Death Cab for Cutie — Soul Meets Body (did not place)
9. Cog — My Enemy (32^nd)
10. Babyshambles — F—k Forever (79^th)

Honourable mentions for weird and/or cool stuff:

1. MIA — Pull Up the People (did not place)
2. Hanne Hukkelberg — Little Girl (did not place)
3. Kate Miller-Heidke — Space They Cannot Touch (did not place)
4. Pegz — Back Then (did not place)
5. System of a Down — This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I’m On This Song (did not place)

Run along to the voting site and see if you can pick ten songs out of the list, and you might win a truckload of music for your trouble.

As someone who prides himself upon fitting in, I am delighted to say that I am now on the iPod bandwagon. This is one sweet product, Apple have really done a bang up job. With more storage than I know what to do with, here are some of the works currently on my iPod:

Regurgitator — Unit (1997)
I just hate that I like this album; after all, it is the one that took my favourite rock band at the time and turned it into some kind of synth pop project.

This was a significant event. I had Regurgitator before I even had friends. Long before Wolfmother, around about the same time as Silverchair, Regurgitator was Triple J’s band du jour, and those first two angry EPs were amongst the first twenty-odd CDs I ever owned, and for awhile there may as well have been glued into the CD player. I was a teenager and that was what I wanted, angry music! The debut long player was somewhat more sedate, but essentially more of the same.

Then, Unit hit stores with its garish silver packaging and classy song titles such as I Will Lick Your Arsehole, and it seems they lost a few fans in the process. One such fan, when it was pointed out that the opening track, I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff, seemed to pre-empt such complaints, remarked “yes well, I know it’s all ironic and whatever, but the music is still crap”.

And that’s certainly how I wanted to feel, but once I put it out of my mind that this was a Regurgitator album, I realised that this was one awesome product, just track after track of pure gold—this is how I have approached every Regurgitator album since.

Tom Vek — We Have Sound (2005)
Where the heck did this guy come from? The 24-year-old Briton calls himself a multi-instrumentalist, and asserts he literally made this album in his parents’ garage. I must say I have no problems believing this—certainly the playing is not perfect, the slap bass on If You Want is a tad out of time, and so on. Despite all this, the suspension of disbelief is still there and the songs are thoroughly enjoyable. Highlights are C-C (You Set The Fire In Me) and If I Had Changed My Mind.

Terence Trent d’Arby — Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent d’Arby (1987)
Yeah, the eighties are overdue for a comeback, and I’m not talking about stock market crashes and Communism. I’m talking about guys like Phil Collins, Huey Lewis, and Terence Trent d’Arby. Start emulating them now and get rich beyond your wildest dreams. Highlights are Wishing Well and Sign Your Name.

Nativity in Black: A Tribute To Black Sabbath (1994)
Nativity in Black II: A Tribute To Black Sabbath (2000)
Unlike everyone else, I never got into Black Sabbath themselves, but I can’t get enough of these two volumes of Sabbath covers by bands like Primus, Sepultura, System of a Down, White Zombie, and Faith No More.

Speaking in Tongues
This is a bit different: a video podcast of episodes of the SBS television series, Speaking in Tongues, starring John Safran and “Father Bob” McGuire. I can’t think of when I would watch video on the iPod—I don’t spend a great deal of time on public transport—but it’s still cool that I could if I wanted to. This is an awesome development and I hope SBS will podcast some of its future shows.

Dane Cook — Retaliation (2005)
A friend recently introduced me to Dane Cook, the American stand-up comedian. The style of comedy is observational, about his own funny life experiences, as opposed to jokes. As is often the case with stand-up comedians, Cook’s comedy is greatly enhanced by his stage act, he has quite a formidable stage presence, so obviously you don’t get to see that, but this double album seems to make do without it.

“Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, 1961–2004, former Pantera guitarist, gunned down whilst performing with his new band, Damageplan, apparently by someone disgruntled about the breakup of Pantera.

Death happens all the time, and bigger atrocities than this one occur daily, but Pantera’s music has been important to me over the years and I have particularly respected Dimebag’s skill as an artist. I saw Pantera perform in Brisbane the last time they were here, at Festival Hall in 2001, at the very top of their game, kicking arse and taking names. Despite the pretty ordinary final album, that is still how I remember them.

Rest in peace, Dime.

So it turned out that Turtlebox had to miss the gig this eve. Apparently one of the band members had an accident and his ribs came off second best.

A pity, since I’ve been looking forward to it all week. Yeah I know, I only found out about it last week. Get well soon, band man.

It still turned out to be an enjoyable eve with m8s, accompanied by the acoustic renditions by Cam and Kieran of what are usually Daisycutters songs. The songs lose a bit of zing in the conversion to the unplugged format, it has to be said.

It’s getting close to exam season, it is too close to even keep worrying about it. The hard work having been done, I make another tentative step closer to being able to leave this institution that has sapped so much energy from my life.

People often ask me, “Lachlan, why don’t you update your site more often?”

Well okay, to be honest no one asks me that. Nonetheless, to silence those people I have changed 2 letters, in the name of this site, so that they can’t tell me I haven’t updated the site.

And so it is that my humble site changes from insom.cx to insom.com. Same site, same look and feel, same exact content for months at a time.

I would like to thank the people of Christmas Island for their support over the years. The old domain will continue working until it expires about this time next year.

In other news, Turtlebox are performing again! I always wanted to see them, but they disappeared off the face of the earth before I really became old enough to go to concerts. Now, many years later it seems they have a reunion gig, at Ric’s on Monday 21st June. If the weather is clement and I’ve kept up with my study commitments, I’ll be all over that like flies on shit.

Turtlebox rule.

Now, bugger off and don’t come back until semester is over. Muhahahaha.

“One loves one”
“One reciprocates, with ardour”
“One would like to give one one”
— Billy Connolly

What makes a good record store? I had a look at Leading Edge at Indooroopilly, and I’m happy to say there were a lot of strong points. It’s encouraging to see a major chain not suck.

1. Good selection of music, wide range of genres, generally decent prices. +1
2. A fair selection of local (Brisbane) music, which the large retailers usually won’t touch with gloves on. +1
3. No gratuitous genre groupings, just one music section, A to Z. All artists sorted alphabetically, even minor ones, so no need to look in 2 places for a CD. +1
4. Absence of posters advertising Elephunk by the Black Eyed Peas. +2
5. Tug Dumbly’s album is spuriously filed under Comedy. I would have created a separate Talentless Arseclown section and placed it there. –1
6. Vinyl. +1

So yeah. Not like me to rave about a store, but it’s good to see a major one that is actually bearable. I give it **** four asterisks.

Once again, Triple J has vindicated my taste in music, by having as #1 in the Hottest 100 a song I have never heard before in my life.

In fact, the entire Hottest 100 this year was comprised mostly of songs I had either never heard, or ones that I’d merely overheard in public, like that infuriating Dandy Warhols track, or the Outkast one. The remainder comprised entire albums from Powderfinger and the White Stripes. Surely this isn’t the state of the art in music.

So, I’ve resolved to start listening to the radio again. Keep up with the Joneses, and all that. That said, some of my favourite bands I have discovered without the aid of a radio.

Slipknot
I had Slipknot’s album on my hard disk, but I’d never taken the time to listen to it. That is, until a partitioning mishap caused The Great Hard Disk Crash of 2000. I’m never using Partition Magic again.

Anyway, the mishap caused all my music files to be corrupted with portions of other songs. This had the effect of creating a sort of computer mix tape. I was listening to one of these mixes out of curiosity when the second half of Eyeless by Slipknot came on. I recognised the ear-splitting racket instantly.

Death Cab For Cutie…
Just one example of a band whose album I ordered off the net, without having heard any of their music ever before. Sometimes you just hafta take a chance.

Human Waste Project
A band I got into by overhearing my housemate play the songs. I ended up having to get this album from Britain via eBay, but it was worth it. Sadly, they only put out the one album before disbanding.

De La Soul…
An example of the many bands I’ve got into after sampling their work on the Internet first. I’ve said it a thousand times, the MP3 culture is not something the music industry should be fighting against.

Edan
I came across Edan whilst searching CDNOW (rest in peace) for a completely different band. That site was great, until it was assimilated by Amazon. I swear, Amazon has the worst interface of any commercial website I have ever seen. Anyway, the soundbite was cool.

Edan is a one man band—DJ, MC and producer—whose recordings have the vibe of a 1980s rap fanboy making tapes in his parents’ living room. While Eminem is selling billions of records by rapping about homosexuals and Vicodin, Edan is keeping it real by rapping about stealing.

Lately, whenever I read about the big upcoming music festivals, I scratch my head, wondering who the hell all those bands are. Not just the small, indie stage bands. Major ones.

Then the realisation hits me: everyone has heard of them but me. These mysterious bands are being played non-stop, on the radio and television, to an audience of millions of adoring fans—I just haven’t been listening. A while ago, I got sick of being let down every time I tuned in to Triple J; so, like a coward, I retreated back into my CD collection and pretty much stayed there.

The older generation is not at all incapable of keeping up with the latest chart music: they think it sucks, and they don’t want a bar of it.

This year, Delta Goodrem put out her debut album, which spent 27 consecutive weeks at #1 on the ARIA chart, and went platinum 13 times. When I heard that Delta had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, my reaction was similar to when I heard that Skulker’s instruments had been stolen at a gig. Not being a particular fan of the music, but realising that no one deserves such a thing to happen to them. From the bottom of my heart, I hope she gets well soon.

When she does recover, I’m positive that she will use the opportunity to get out there and perform, and will use her talent to make albums with artistic and musical merit. Having done all that, if she wants to pose for FHM, or speak out on some important issues, or whatever else musicians do instead of playing music: awesome.

I recall seeing a letter-to-the-editor in a Rolling Stone–type magazine many years ago. This chap suggested a “holy trinity” of grunge music: Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana. The first two of them were still kicking arse and taking names at the time, and Kurt Cobain’s corpse was still warm.

As a musically inept, but opinionated, ninth grader, I had serious doubts that Soundgarden were a grunge band at all. In hindsight, I can now say I have never known exactly what grunge is. Seriously, somebody please tell me. At any rate, Superunknown (1994) was not it.

And so it came to pass that Soundgarden made one more album, then disbanded while they were still good. Chris Cornell went on to make a solo album. Around the same time, the singer of influential rock band Rage Against The Machine decided he was too cool for that band.

I think you know where this leads.

The feeling I get listening to Audioslave’s debut album is a strange one. I had been a fan of Soundgarden and Rage Against The Machine since the beginning of high school, and had grown accustomed to their respective talents. To this day, every time I listen to their albums, I get something new out of them.

Therefore, while Audioslave would always be a collaboration of great interest to me, the fusion of talents didn’t seem quite right. It is as if the instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine would never sound right with any voice except Zach’s, and Chris’s voice would always sound weird outside the context of Soundgarden.

But with neither band looking like getting back together any time soon, this is what we have: a juxtaposition of very different talents. I find Audioslave a very enjoyable listen, but getting used to it might take a while yet.

Cog (with Ochre, Tension and Sol Terra)
Waterloo Hotel, Brisbane, Australia
Friday, 28th November 2003

I’ve heard Sol Terra called a “heavier version of George”, and “kind of like Evanescence”. I can’t confirm these viewpoints as I really only heard one song. Then it was inside for a counter meal for the remainder of the set, because I was very hungry and didn’t want to miss out on any of the other bands.

It is true that the band has a female singer (a rare thing to see at this kind of show). The vocal is somewhat operatic, with the feminine quality that Human Waste Project has, and that the cookie monster howls of Otep do not have. Also featured is former Ochre skinsman, Tony, who had left that band a few months ago to pursue other musical interests.

Prodigal sons Tension returned for the first time since leaving the Sunshine State several months ago to set up shop in Melbourne. I had been looking forward to seeing them for some time. The first thing I noticed was the trendy new Chapel St attire, but the savage guitars and Fantastic drumming are much as I remember them from before. Quite a few new songs, but no new EP yet—just a redesign of the old one. This band does a great Inspector Gadget cover that I would have liked to hear, but maybe next time.

Ochre have also been gone for what seems like forever and a day, what with Tony leaving, and the subsequent search for a new drummer. They appear to have settled on Hollow’s Craig Richards. It seemed like he was not 100% au fait with the songs yet, especially the opener Synopsis, but by the time they launched into the new stuff, he was all over it like a fat kid on a cupcake.

The new songs are refreshingly different and give Anna’s key playing fingers a lot more to do. Awesome.

Cog are also moving into new and interesting directions. I have never understood why they chose to cover the Leftfield/Lydon tune Open Up, but it shows that they aren’t afraid to experiment. In the words of their singer, a lot of bands are viewed as ‘decent bands but their songs all sound the same’. Cog is in no danger of being seen this way; indeed, the danger is that they may try to diversify too much.

Rating: **** four asterisks.

Cypress Hill are coming to Australia, but they are missing Brisbane:

• 7/12 Perth, Global Festival, Belmont Racecourse
• 9/12 Adelaide, Planet Nightclub
• 11/12 Canberra, ANU
• 12/12 Melbourne, Metro Nightclub
• 13/12 Sydney, Global Festival

The population of Brisbane, plus the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, adds up to well over 2 million. That puts us in 3rd place behind Sydney and Melbourne, and it is understandable that a lot of bands—especially those with small touring budgets and low ticket prices—feel that it’s not viable to play here. But, Cypress Hill is not one of those bands.

I think it’s cool when popular bands make an effort to play some smaller places. ANU Bar, Nambour RSL, Birdsville Hotel, go for it. Even if it is at Brisbane’s expense, it doesn’t really matter, because there is no shortage of live music in this city. But lately, a few big bands such as Cypress have been giving Brisbane the arse, and I’m positive that they’d play here if they could. Is there a venue shortage in this city?

The historic Festival Hall is gone, and Devine Ltd is currently dancing on its grave, pending the demolition of the building and another soulless apartment tower to be built in its place.

The Arena is still in business, but we all know just how long that will last.

The Entertainment Centre is too big, the Zoo is too small, the Convention Centre is too busy, the Riverstage is too outside, the Tivoli is too inside. Other places exist, but either the logistics of hosting a concert are too difficult, or the tour organisers are too lazy.

At any rate: Cypress Hill, if you could play here next time you’re in the country, that would be super.

Big Heavy Stuff — Size of the Ocean (2001). A critically acclaimed band with a fan base small enough (however devoted) to keep the band in their respective day jobs. An album recorded and gathering dust for about three years while it waited for a distributor willing to put it in stores. Given this album’s Rasputin-like unwillingness to die, it’s no wonder the disc keeps finding its way into my CD player. Possibly my favourite Australian album to date.

Something For Kate — The Official Fiction (2003). Each successive SFK album has a habit of alienating fans and making many more new ones. But this album is so different even from its predecessor, Echolalia (2001), that it takes a few listens just to figure out what the band is up to. I’ve learned to trust that Paul Dempsey knows what he’s doing, and sure enough, after a few listens, this disc proved to be a grower. Currently selling like hot cakes.

Iron On — The Understudy (2003). I’ve only seen these guys/girls once, supporting Sealifepark at the Healer. Behind the incomprehensible liner notes and self-conscious onstage banter, Iron On have developed a sound that is both worthwhile and uniquely theirs, distilling all the best bits from indie bands that have gone before them. Any band that cites Magic Dirt and Death Cab For Cutie as influences is, in my opinion, worth at least looking at.

Silverchair — Freak Show (1996). After this disc came out, anyone who was still whinging about Silverchair being Nirvana in pyjamas was made quiet. A thirteen-part opus, almost entirely dedicated to being an outcast, Freak Show may have seemed dangerously close to a ‘concept’ album—but it was varied enough in songwriting style to get away with it.

Japunga (with Headkase and Fulcrum)
Her Majesty’s Bar, Brisbane, Australia
Saturday, 26th July 2003

HMB—formerly, and informally, known as the Basement—is a rock venue, something which might make it a bit of a relic in these enlightened times. However, in a city as big as ours it is quite viable for clubs to specialise. The Basement has attempted to get a broader clientele by putting a lot of fiddy cent urban music onto its playlist, and dedicating Thursday nights as “Tha Cribb”. Humorous indeed.

Seriously though, Basement, you need to bust a cap in this half baked concept before people stop going there. If I want to hear hip hop and the like, which I sometimes do, I’m perfectly capable of walking to the Dome.

Headkase are the most original metal band I’ve seen in some time. Combining thrash metal and keyboards has been done before, but the demented circus sound of Headkase is vastly different from the poxy ‘choir’ patch used by too many black metal bands.

Six members being too big for the stage, one of the guitarists had to stand in the mosh pit. That’s how you know you’re in a relatively humble venue. After the concert, Nutty, pissed as a newt, keeps the same look on his face as when he was onstage, howling those incredible vocals. Perhaps the wind changed. Regardless, looks like these are good times for Headkase.

I’ve seen Japunga a few times before and I’ve never really ‘got’ them before now. The lyrics go within the standard metal theme of adversity and triumph over it. Their guitars are downtuned, with droning riffs which seem to only use the notes that downtuning a guitar makes available.

Despite these sonic boundaries that they have set for themselves, it is an unfriendly sound they do well, due to the overall tightness of the rhythm section and the impeccable drumming. The album, which has barely left my CD player since I got it, sounds eerily similar to Sepultura at their peak, which isn’t a shabby comparison at all.

Rating: ***½ three and a half asterisks.

Sealifepark (with Iron On and Turnpike)
The Healer, Brisbane, Australia
Thursday, 5th June 2003

It’s refreshing to go to a gig where the majority of the audience is comprised of the band members and their friends.

Iron On were first up. A little research indicates that this is an “indie-rock” band. I’ve always wondered what that is meant to mean, and I can now say I’m closer to knowing than ever before.

They sound a bit like Pollen (where are they now?) would if they had a chick do some of the vocals. A ‘young’ band, closer musically to promise than to fruition. That said, it’s about time someone was having a serious go at doing this kind of music again, and Iron On have some pretty good ideas, so I’m keen to see what else they’ve got.

Turnpike are a three-piece of the “ten thousand monkeys” genre. Give ten thousand monkeys a guitar each, and so forth. On a long enough timeline, random distorted guitar ramblings consolidate themselves into something you can slap a time signature on and call a tune. See also: Rival Flight.

Sealifepark are close to what I think the ideal grunge band would be, without actually being one. They seem to hint, by way of songs like Strike III and A Clean Slate, that they are capable of flying off the handle, albeit with some restraint. For the most part though, this is slow and dreamy, Sunday morning waking-up type music.

Lee’s voice is as great live as it is on disc, and the musicians have a unique sound that is skilled but not robotic. That said, I’m not sure there was any huge benefit in going to see them live. The song list was kind of short, considering they have about three albums worth of material. Still, it was good value for money and a damn sight better than sitting in front of the telly at home.

Rating: **½ two and a half asterisks.

De La Soul
The Arena, Brisbane, Australia
Saturday, 31st May 2003

De La’s first time in Brisbane was keenly anticipated, selling all available tickets with ease. One guy roamed the queue outside, offering $100 for a ticket. Not surprisingly, he was left wanting.

Being a relatively new fan of the group, it was also my first time.

Some of the songs included, alluded to or hinted at were: Potholes In My Lawn, Me Myself And I, … “Saturdays”, Ring Ring Ring, Ego Trippin, I Am I Be, Breakadawn, Itzsoweezee, Pony Ride, Stakes Is High, U Can Do, Oooh, Thru Ya City, I C Y’all, All Good?, Bionix, Baby Phat.

De La’s stage paradigm is not so much a collection of distinct songs, rather a stream of consciousness where parts of different songs effortlessly segue into each other, punctuated regularly with appeals to the audience to move their arms around in a certain manner.

This is where Maseo really shines. His beat is smooth and flawless; scratching and other turntable novelties sound like they actually belong in the music. I’m all about Maseo over here.

Rating: **** four asterisks.

I found out yesterday that Death Cab for Cutie are coming to Australia to support Something For Kate on their upcoming national tour. Two of my favourite bands, playing Brisbane on the 5th of July, while I am in New Zealand.

!@#$!#$%!@

After destroying my immediate surroundings with my fists of rage, I regained my composure. I’ll simply have to catch them in another capital city, probably Sydney, when I get back. Damn the expense.

For anyone else who will be in the country, get yer ticket early, because they will sell out.

De La Soul’s concert on Saturday doesn’t seem to have sold out yet, which is surprising to me, but I’m sure it’ll be full o’ people.

Guitar Central owns you. It is the reason for your life. They are the only guitar shop outside Brisbane CBD to be open on Sundays, thus ensuring Daz could get strings in time for the All Stars’ jam session yesterday. They even let me have a bash on a $2500 Stingray bass unsupervised. Now that’s nice-a.

(Stingrays aren’t very fragile, granted—but I could have scratched the paintwork or something)

95 Leichhardt Street, Spring Hill.

Props to James for performing his first live show in awhile and giving himself Parkinson’s in the process. Hopefully the hands will become accustomed to playing again.

Sure, guitar is all well and good, but when it really comes to skills, the bass is where it is at.

Dr Lachagon (Media Player, 1.4MB)
Dr Jamesenstein (Media Player, 1.0MB)

Can you dig it?

Australia Day at HMB Basement — Nux Vomica, Prefix, King Mungi, Ochre, Full Scale, Japunga

If it’s one thing Ochre believe, it’s that Luke from Cog is a sexy bitch. I want an amp like theirs that can display messages such as that. From the relatively primitive amps I currently own, there’s a long way to go.

The Stewart Hill fanclub got what they came to see, but the evening surely belonged to drummer Tony, allowing himself to cut loose and obliterating his bass drum in the process. Nice one.

Melbourne’s Full Scale were a success, and I’ve never heard a rock band appeal to the crowd for noise so often. The bombastic lead singer is this band’s best asset, screaming from atop a very flimsy guardrail separating the stage from the audience, clasping hands with random members of the audience—including myself—and jumping into the audience.

The lyrics are saturated with politics and I’m not generally into political rock, but the music makes a sufficient case for you to oscillate your cranium.

Tell you what, it was oscillating in the morning.

Triple J, making fun of Nelly in your Hottest 100 broadcast yesterday was very mean. He has feelings just like everyone else. If he never comes to Australia, I place the blame squarely on YOU.

First of all, props to Dave for the use of Casa Kelso down the coast. It certainly helped that what turned out to be a 21-hour day for me wasn’t made any longer by having to drive down on the morning.

Yes, the Big Day Out. Dave, Daz “I am the Pork Fireman” Murray and myself caught the fun and action on Saturday.

I am still equivocal to the concept of festivals, and this year’s was by no means unmissable. However, they are at least an opportunity to discover new bands. Local bands are mostly squeezed onto an out-of-the-way stage with no shade that I probably wouldn’t be able to park my car on. Not a lot of faith shown there.

As usual, the big stages were nigh on impossible to get to except for the most hardy and persistent of fans. The Deftones were a write-off for me because the sound sucks at that distance and you can hardly see the band. So it was a day of frequenting the smaller stages.

Post-Life Disorder have some interesting ideas and they certainly fulfilled their role as token metal band in distinguished fashion. Not bad at all.

Hollow, you’ll be fine. Just decide whether you are a reggae or metal band and get a new vocalist.

Incidentally, you’ll never see me doing that daft index finger and little finger salute at a concert.

Resin Dogs I have never been a particular fan of, but I have to hand it to them, they can certainly get a crowd in motion.

Cog certainly have their vocal supporters in Brisbane, and unfortunately the 45 minute slot did not do this band justice. The crowd yelled for an encore knowing how futile this would be at a festival. The vocalist did the standard speech about how everyone should get out to see Australian bands more, as it is a cheap night out and you are supporting local talent. It is a valid message, and while it seems that he would be preaching to the converted, it gives the converted pause to preach to others. Kudos.

Machine Gun Fellatio, you are all show and no talent. You are the Anna Kournikova of the music industry. Only slightly more nude.

You Am I. I used to like you Tim, until you started saying things on stage like “don’t trust guys, they’re c…”. Be quiet, you’ll blow our cover.

Girls Germs, it seems you can keep in time now. It’s amazing what a bit of practice can do!

6012 did their thing well but the band seems to lack focus. Diversity is cool but they seem to dart between hip-hop and metal a bit too profoundly. The guy is a decent rapper, so I think they should run with that.

Xzibit was the first rap concert I’ve been to, and I was thoroughly entertained. A lot of people seemed to know the words. I didn’t think X was particularly popular down under, but with his weed-and-booze populism, it’s not hard to see why he is. This was one of a number of acts that slipped in a moot encore by finishing up ten minutes early. I’d probably rate Xzibit as my highlight of the day.

In summary, there was a lot of fun to be had for hardened festival types who don’t mind rocking up to concerts very early or charging drunkenly through a crowd of punters. Otherwise, you shouldn’t be disappointed if you gave this one a miss.