Timetables were planned, sunscreen slopped on, pre-drinks quickly drank down and cigarettes rolled before many started their odyssey to one of the most anticipated dates on the Australian musical calendar; the Big Day Out. 36°C and stormy was the forecast for the last round of the 2009 BDO, still remaining at its spiritual home of Claremont Showgrounds. With wrangling between organisers and the local council only resolved a couple of weeks before the event, punters breathed a collective sigh of relief that the traditional trek to Claremont wasn’t going to be missed. On arrival, word had spread that sniffer dogs were once again patrolling the entrances, which reinforced the fact that said canines presence will become a regularity just like in the eastern (fascist!) states. The merits of sniffer dogs have been debated far and wide in media outlets, and it still remains; all that will be said is that the death of 17-year old Gemma Thoms was a truly tragic set of circumstances.

The sun was absolutely blazing on arrival, yet the crowd was already bulging with the event selling out less than a week beforehand – reportedly, 38,000 tickets were sold. A certain curiosity accompanied that, as there was no hard rock headliner to attract the bogans like moths to a light bulb. Instead we had an aging rocker whose headlining merit had been a major sticking point amongst pre-festival talk, especially on this site. With most doing their best to find any nook or cranny of shade, there were still an impressive amount of fans crammed front and centre into flavour of the moment UK duo The Ting Tings. Actually, instead of impressive make that sickening, as if you tried to get near enough to the Green Stage to get a look at frontwoman Katie White’s fake eye-lashes you were met with a wall of sweaty torsos and BO. It was quickly decided that it certainly wasn’t worth the price of admission to listen to a couple of there radio-hits, like Shut Up And Let Me Go. White’s voice is clearly better suited to the studio than the stage, with her vocals taking on an almost male like deepness when tested.

After applying another 3 tubes of sunscreen, it was back to the Green Stage for pop experimentalists TV On The Radio. Having marginally more room to move than for The Ting Tings, there was still no Fremantle Doctor of any kind when the 4-piece from New York strode on stage and were the first of many nerds to showcase their impressive musical wares over the course of the day. Playing the 1-2 of Golden Age and Wolf Like Me early on, Dave Sitek – who looked like a black Santa going to a roller-disco – introduced his men to the fans and thanked them for staying out in the sun, which by this stage felt like the laser from James Bond’s Moonraker shining directly on your forehead. Moving through their now healthy back catalogue, fans were treated to older and newer tracks like Red Dress and Dancing Choose, both from their most recent LP Dear Science. Finishing with their classic Staring at the Sun, TVOTR put on a memorable and danceable show, it’s a pity it was a little hard to enjoy when your skin felt it was dripping off your face.

Taking refuge in the old Boiler Room – now the Purple Stage – The Black Kids were blasting into their bubblegum blend of synth-pop. Having only one album to play with they had a modest crowd bouncing along to their addictive tunes. The sound quality was great and the Kids were on song with fans heartily cheering after each of their favourites, like I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You, Hit The Heartbreaks and Listen To Your Body Tonight. Moving to the new Boiler Room to set up for the rest of the afternoon wasn’t as painful as remembered, and on arrival Ajax was spinning a healthy collection of party jams that had pockets of groovers making an early start in the afternoon sun. Playing up in the high-rise DJ tent, roadies were busy setting up the Knights of Simian’s electronic round table. Containing synths, sequencers, drum machines and samplers, it had been a talking point pre-festival about their likeness to the great Chemical Brothers.

When the James’s appeared on stage, they were looking their nerdy best with Shaw resplendent in thick black-framed glasses and floppy fringe and Ford looking a fraction tubby and sporting a fro more suited to a 70s Playboy bunny. Opening with Sleep Deprivation, the boys built the sound up layer by layer through their bank of electronic toys and the result was clean, clear and very danceable, which had the crowd moving immediately. Running through tracks from their lauded Attach Sustain Decay Release, and some other instrumentals from their soon to be released sophomore album, the duo had little interaction with the crowd apart from a few shuffled dance moves and some smiles. Subtly adjusting each track, crowd favourites included It’s The Beat and Hustler, and they attracted big cheers when they finished with a remix of I Believe. It’s clear that Simian Mobile Disco should return to our shores sooner rather than later.

Attention then shifted back to the DJ tent, with DFA nu-disco heavyweights Holy Ghost! digging through their crates to kick things off with some early 80s boogie electro and smooth Miami disco. Taking their name from the Bar Kays’ classic funk/boogie anthem, the duo from New York ran through an at times typically obscure set, interspersed with some of their own remixes like Hearts on Fire by Cut Copy and originals like the stunning Hold On from last year. Next on stage were the UK’s finest electro-poppers Hot Chip. Led by uber nerds Joe Goddard and Alexis Taylor, the boys from London kicked things off with One Pure Thought and continued to up the ante with each song, taking cues mainly from their second two studio albums The Warning and Made In The Dark. Shake A Fist was an early highlight, with its Krautrock styled psych out, and a more upbeat Boy From School went down a treat. Ready For The Floor certainly did what its name suggested, while Sexual Chocolate was a tasty treat for older fans. It was Over and Over that got the biggest response, however, with the heavy cowbell making it one of the highlights of the festival.

Peewee Ferris did an admirable job of keeping the atmosphere up, but it was clear by the huge amount of people streaming into the Boiler Room that The Prodigy were who people were coming to see. The rave veterans had been inspirations to so many; it was why many had purchased their tickets to this year’s event. Unfortunately the Boiler Room got to capacity very quickly, and many were left to watch from big screens outside. Keith, Maxim and Liam strode out with the confidence of almost two decades in the game. They started off their set of crowd pleasers with Breathe, and followed it up not long after with Firestarter and Poison. A couple of new tracks appeared, including recent single Invaders Must Die which sounded great. Keeping moving with their trademark HUGE breakdowns, Voodoo People came and went with Maxim asking where his ‘voodoo people’ and his ‘Prodigy people were at’? Keith took a bit of a back seat from the mic, before the show was briefly stopped to allow security to remove over-eager fans from containers and fences. Smack My Bitch Up was one of the highlights of the day, before epic closer Out Of Space stole the show. An amazing show from one of the truly great dance acts of a generation, though it must be said that perhaps they could have closed the main stage with Neil Young on around sundown.

Another year another Big Day Out, and as evidenced by its sold out status the BDO is still the most relevant festival on the Australian circuit. Imitated but never replicated, it really does offer something for everyone and hopefully it is not tarnished with the tragedy that happened on the day. As a final message; look after each other people, your friends may not know what’s best for themselves, but if you do don’t be afraid to tell them. Stay safe and take care and everyone can still have a big day out.