Brits beat Big Day Out's heat on the Gold Coast

MAD beats and the English came out in the midday sun on the first leg of the 2010 Big Day Out.

British singer Lily Allen performs on the orange stage / Brendan Radke

MAD beats and the English came out in the midday sun - along with 55,000 others - on the first Australian leg of the 2010 Big Day Out on the Gold Coast.

Leading the British invasion was enigmatic pop diva Lily Allen whose set was a radio airplay sing-a-long striking a chord particularly with the female half of Australia's largest festival crowd.

Allen cut a revealing figure in a black one-piece and was candid about its draw-backs.

"I'm sorry down the front row there if you can see my pubes," she quipped.

Earlier, she had promised not to be naughty on her 2010 Big Day Out tour after having been over-excited the last time she visited in 2007.

"I feel I am a completely different person to who I was when Australia first met me," she said. "I was boisterous and drunk and showing off and uncomfortable with who I was."

In truth, Allen was a slow hand-clap affair.

Compatriot Dizzee Rascal, whose club-soaked beats are the most danceable in contemporary hip-hop, was a tough act to follow.

The rapper earlier told The Courier-Mail he hoped radio hit Bonkers would result in "pandemonium". It was the biggest crowd mover of the festival.

He bravely continued his scene-stealing performance after being struck in the eye by a pocket-sized deodorant stick thrown from one of the front rows. Rascal, whose eye immediately swelled, jumped off stage and took a swing at the perpetrator before carrying on with the show.

Brit headliners Muse unwittingly caused hiccups with their extravagant set.

Bluejuice front man Jake Stone, in canary yellow tracksuit, jumped into the audience - but couldn't get too far with his microphone cord wrapped around Muse's CO2 canisters.

Ascendant indie troupe The Temper Trap seemingly have outgrown the side stages. Guitarist Lorenzo Sillitto said the Gold Coast crowd was "hot, sweaty, beautiful and loud".

Rounding out the UK contingent earlier was "Madchester-inspired" dance rockers Kasabian. Freshly shorn front man Tom Meighan led an urgent set in which songs like Fire crackled with much energy.

Spotted among the back stage visitors was State Opposition leader John-Paul Langbroek in a Beatles T-shirt.

A police spokeswoman said crowds at the Big Day Out were "generally well-behaved" with only a few people caught with drugs by sniffer dogs.