Music’s big day down but not yet out
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Snoop Dogg aka Snoop Lion entertains at Big Day Out. Picture: Jake Nowakowski
Source: News Limited
IT was a slightly smaller Big Day Out that took over Flemington racecourse this year.
Security estimates put the crowd at around 25,000 – half of what the festival used to manage in its heyday.
The drop in ticket sales could also have had something to do with the fact this year was the first time the event was held on a Friday.
Despite rumours the Big Day Out is on festival death row, organisers are planning for next year, tipped to appeal to a younger demographic.
What the festival may have lacked in numbers this year it made up with passionate music fans sampling a wide variety of genres on seven stages over 11 hours.
The older punters were catered for with headliners Pearl Jam.
Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder belts out a song. Picture: Jake Nowakowski
They defied usual festival rules to play for well over two hours.
This year’s event suffered a blow when headline act Blur mysteriously pulled out.
Organisers replaced them with British band Beady Eye, fronted by Liam Gallagher, former singer for Blur’s nemesis, Oasis.
In Melbourne a cheeky Gallagher dedicated Beady Eye’s cover of Oasis’ Rock and Roll Star to “any Blur fans here”.
He also gave a shout out to “Melbourne Heart soon to be Melbourne City FC.”
Victoria Police said from 3pm there were more than 30 arrests for drug possession, with offenders receiving caution notices and diversion orders on the spot.
