In pictures: Adelaide's Big Day Out was the hottest music ticket in town for more than 20 years

Adelaide’s Big Day Out was once a rite of passage for many SA indie kids until its ultimate demise in 2014. Take a walk down memory lane with photos from the iconic music festival.

South Australia needs a “single destination” music festival iconic to the region, a former Big Day Out site manager and promoter believes.

Looking back on his intimate involvement with the cultural “behemoth” that was the BDO – the travelling musical circus which landed in every major capital city for more than 20 years – Sacha Sewell said the void since had been filled by a swath of smaller, more boutique events.

“It would be great for SA to have a single destination festival, like a Splendour In The Grass or Meredith,” Sewell said.

“In terms of locations, I’d say the best logistically would be the beautiful Fleurieu or Clare Valley.”

While “bucket list” events like Splendour have remained popular – linked to a specific, unique destination – the BDO went from rite of passage for the cool kids who grew up in the ’90s and noughties, to ultimately redundant by 2014, as other rival festivals emerged.

In pictures: Looking back at Adelaide’s Big Day Out festivals

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After first arriving in Sydney on Australia Day in 1992 with a bill boasting the likes of Nirvana, Violent Femmes, Yothu Yindi and You Am I, by the late noughties punters had begun to demand a more specific festival experience.

“The Big Day Out was just a behemoth, it was enormous,” Sewell said.

“It’s that one day of the year for people, it was their (AFL) Grand Final or Melbourne Cup, they had made their plans to get out of work or school.

“But people’s tastes changed.”

However, Sewell forecasts we may yet see the return of something similar in the future.

Sewell with partner Michelle Vella.

Map for Adelaide’s 2011 Big Day Out.

“Things are circular, but when they come back they’re always different,” he said.

Sewell, now an events manager at Holdfast Bay Council, said those “very intense days” managing the Adelaide leg conjured lifelong friendships and memories.

“The people you worked with, they were world-class people, whether it be the bands, production managers, site and road crew, the Adelaide team, we were family,” he said.

Part of a core team of five, which was later complemented by hundreds of casuals on the day, Sewell would do everything – the “unsexy stuff behind the scenes” – from managing crowd behaviour, movement between stages, general logistics, to simply ensuring everyone got a beer in quick, saw their favourite act and avoided lengthy queues for the toilet.

Adelaide’s Big Day Out music festival ran from 1993-1997 and 1999-2014.

His 2008 debut as local promoter was a “privilege and an amazing ride”, but it came with a bunch of challenges.

“The show had never sold out before (in 2008), so that added new pressures,” he said.

“People were desperate to be let in, we had problems with fence jumpers and scalpers, even people attempting to come up through the drains.”

However, the following year proved to be the toughest — amid 40 degree heat, Sewell felt like he was “working in a pizza oven”.

“I can’t think of a more challenging day in my career, but the result was fantastic,” he said.

“And I’ve worked on thousands of events and festivals. It was a hard slog in that heat. It was the first and only time that bottled water outsold beer.”

Take a walk down memory lane with some of the best pictures from Adelaide Big Day Outs of the past.

His team’s stellar work was recognised with a Best Public Event Safety Award from SafeWork SA.

However, 2010 was “festival perfection”, with the likes of Muse and Lily Allen “at the height of their game and kicking massive goals”, and no crowd issues to speak of.

“The vibe that day was so good,” he said.

However, he said from around 2007 the landscape began to change with a glut of festivals emerging, including Soundwave, Parklife, Stereosonic and Summerdays.

Working on all of them all at some stage, he said the crowds began to flock to events that were “very genre-specific”.

“People went more tribal to their styles of music,” he said.

“It became a very, very crowded marketplace, the competition for acts increased, people’s tastes and choices changed. It wasn’t sustainable. It became a very expensive exercise.”

The crowd excited to see Brazilian band CSS on stage in the Boiler Room in 2011. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

SACHA SEWELL’S FAVOURITE BDO MEMORIES

The Chemical Brothers (2005)

“The Chemical Brothers in the Boiler Room one year, the crowd was going off and things got a bit funky, so the Boiler Room had to be expanded to the front car park under the tent.”

PJ Harvey (2003)

“The first year I took the reins as site manager the pressure was on but I had a moment standing by the mixing desk when PJ Harvey started playing ‘Good Fortune’ and it felt like she was singing just to me.”

Rage Against The Machine (2008)

“There were funny moments, like when Rage Against The Machine managed to get the whole 40,000 strong crowd to sing back a certain line in Killing In The Name. The irony wasn’t lost on me.”

Foo Fighters (2003)

“Another time Dave Grohl pointed at my Cooper’s T-shirt and said how much he loves the beer and it’s on the band’s rider.”

Slipknot (2005)

“Or a member of Slipknot screaming angrily: ‘Someone give me a hug’ while geeing themselves up before going on stage.”