With the 2015 Big Day Out cancelled, it's time to put the ageing rock festival to bed for good

LET’S face it. The Big Day Out has sucked for years now. Here’s why we think it should be put to bed for good.

JAMES LAW OPINIONOPINION

4 min read

June 26, 2014 - 2:13PM

The Big Day Out has never been able to move past its heyday.

Music Festivals

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THE age of the big, oldschool, alternative rock festival is over — and it’s time for us all to let it go.

Big Day Out’s new owners, C3 Presents, confirmed that the festival will not go ahead in Australia or New Zealand next year, in the latest blow for the ageing event.

They have left the door open for a 2016 revival, but in the same way that it might be time for Pearl Jam and Soundgarden to hang up their guitars for good, it is time for Big Day Out to go the way of oversized flannel shirts and ripped-up jeans.

Let’s face it. Big Day Out is starting to smell like middle-aged spirit.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, BDO was the festival to be at. It was at the cutting edge of alternative music and youth culture. But in recent years, the old girl has started to show her age.

The problem with Big Day Out, like a middle-aged rocker, is that it has never been able to move past its heyday.

Is this the end of Big Day Out?

Case in point. The headliners of the 1994 Big Day Out were grunge rockers Soundgarden. Eighteen years later in 2012, its headliner was none other than — wait for it — Soundgarden. And a look through its most recent line-ups reveals a litany of crusty old bands past their prime, aching to revive their golden years. I’m looking at you Red Hot Chili Peppers (2013), Rage Against The Machine (2008), Neil Young (2009), Rammstein (2011) and Muse (2010).

Past it … Neil Young in 2009.

Put a shirt on, old man … Flea from RHCP.

The simple fact is, over its 22 years, the Big Day Out hasn’t moved with the times.

In recent years, the festival seemed to be aiming for a crowd past their 30s who can no longer tolerate going to a music festival — especially one held at the height of summer in the middle of a shadeless football stadium, packed with shirtless bogans.

Editor-in-chief of Aussie music website Faster Louder, Darren Levin, said the festival had “run its course”.

“With those huge arena bands, there’s only so many times you can bring back the Muses and the Foo Fighters before it becomes tiresome,” Levin said.

“People in their 30s don’t want to go and stand in a paddock with drunk kids … That idea of relying on big, dinosaur bands to get people through the turnstiles no longer works.”

Levin said today’s youth was looking for a more curated event.

“They want craft beer, they want a bit more of an experience, not just to be put in a big, huge racecourse and sold a few dagwood dogs,” he said.

A BDO casualty.

For anyone missing the Big Day Out experience come January, I'll be blasting 90s rage into a dust bowl in 45 degree heat.
— Tom Ballard (@TomCBallard) June 26, 2014

Having to go to work the next morning absolutely hungover because Gold Coast's was ALWAYS on a Sunday! #BDOmemories #RIPBigDayOut @bigdayout
— Browny (@brownypaul) June 26, 2014

With the Big Day Out cancelled, does that mean all the hipsters it's drawn in in the last few years will invade Soundwave now? Do not want.
— Nathan Hall (@_nthn_hll_) June 26, 2014

Such a pity the Big Day Out has been cancelled my Twitter feed won't be cluttered with people whinging about how bad the line up is.
— Cam Marshall (@mrcammarshall) June 26, 2014

An explosion of niche events that caters to much more specific tastes — such as dance (Stereosonic), indie (Laneway) or metal and punk (Soundwave) — and some logistical bungles have led to the demise of a number of other festivals aimed at a general, music-loving audience. This year, Harvest, Peats Ridge, Homebake, Pyramid Rock, Playground Weekender and Push-Over were all axed after struggling to sell tickets.

Byron Bay’s Splendour in the Grass has managed to stay a must-attend event thanks to its cutting-edge line-ups and three-day camping setup.

Vice has also made the point that bush doofs are providing a welcome alternative to the one-day mega festival.

“I think the market has become quite saturated and (Big Day Out) been pushed out by the niche events that are more experiential,” Levin said.

Fairfax reports that BDO lost as much as $12 million this year with poor crowd numbers for its event, which was headlined by grunge survivors Pearl Jam and blighted by the 11th-hour cancellation of Brit-poppers Blur.

Yes, the Big Day Out even continues to book Kamahl. Picture: Attila Szilvasi

Industry insider Kirsty Brown, from MusicNSW, said the sheer size of the event makes it hard to sustain.

“Given that BDO is the biggest touring event in Australia, it’s also probably one of the most expensive and logistically challenging to pull off, which puts pressures on the organisers to become risk-averse, so they don’t lose money,” said Brown, who has earlier worked for Adam Zammit, who went on to become CEO of the event.

“Viability is not a given just because something is iconic, unfortunately. Just look at CBGBs, or The Beatles, or even Homebake. There are plenty of examples of culturally significant events that for whatever reasons, can’t entertain us forever.”

Is this the end of Big Day Out’s time in the sun?

She said there was some truth to the complaint that the event was relying too much on past glory.

“I think BDO has too frequently repeated some acts, with artists like Lily Allen and Dizzee Rascal and Muse coming out so frequently that it did begin to feel unchallenging, and not as fresh as the festival had come to be famous for. (But) I don’t think BDO gets enough credit for trying to program acts that a wide variety of people from regional Australia might want to travel to go and see. It’s not everyday that someone from Dubbo gets to see Soundgarden, y’know? It’s a privileged city-sider complaint that the line-ups have become ‘bogan’ or ‘stale’ just because they might be used to a more cosmopolitan festival and touring calendar.”

Ultimately, Brown is much more hopeful that the event can return to its rockin’ best.

“If the BDO can find a more user-friendly venue to host 40,000 punters and maybe go back to programming the best emerging festival bands from Australia and the world, there is no reason I can’t be rockin’ out at the festival well into my 30s,” she said.

Levin said he thought the chances of C3 achieving 2016 revival were “very low”.

“It’s a huge organisation but I’m not sure they have a handle on the Australian market,” he said. “I just generally don’t think those huge, corporate festivals are going to have a place in the market.”