a day out

this is my first blog.

So last Friday it was Adelaide's turn for the Big Day Out. A festival we are yet to lose, luckily it seems that music is only half the reason that people go to the festival and that seems to be good enough for the organisers to come back to here every year. Although this year, the line-up was good enough to sell it out based on its merits, however I do wonder how many people traveled from the quick selling Sydney and the slightly slower yet still quick seller Melbourne. I'm not entirely sure, but whatever the case the Wayville Showgrounds were packed with males, saving their anger for Rage, girls with bad haircuts wanting to see Bjork (two dots) and miscellaneous riff-raff waiting for Silverchair and the plethora of average Australian bands in their outlandish t-shirts that offended me. It's kind of charming to be offended, it's part of rocknroll, but call me a traditionalist but I prefer to be offended by people with talent. Although that's life and it's not going to change, people will be nasty to each wearing their passive aggressive t-shirts until this planet meets its doom. Other kind of misfits that met in their groups and had lunch together, sat together in the shade and laughed while downing expensive beer and expensive ice creams. I was there too. I don't fit into anything really, I kind of wait to be selected by a group to be apart of the posse, maybe even given a high ranking in that posse - that didn't happen. I kind of hung around the place and looked around at girls but consciously not too long that they get the wrong impression that I might actually notice them and nodded at guys if they were nodding at the music I was nodding at. I had a pretty good conversation with a stranger while seeing neo-prog, indie glam band Battles.

Him: "You like these guys?"
Me (to myself): ohmigosh, do I know you? You look familar, maybe we met earlier in the day but I haven't spoken to anyone I don't know. Maybe I know you through someone
Me: "Yeah!"
Him: (I don't think he said anything more, but that's not the point)
Me (to myself): Ahh, I definitely have no idea who you are, yet you started a conversation with me that didn't involve me to move out of the way. You are a "top friend".

Good thing the conversation didn't go any further because so far I had gone through it flawlessly. Didn't want to a ruin a perfectly good day so far.

You know what did ruin a perfectly good day so far... Billy Bragg. Arcade Fire had alluded to it (I think they think it's their role in life to) but none of the other bands had. Battles didn't speak, Cut off your hands just kind of danced and Spoon blew out my Cherry Bomb. I only saw the last half of Billy Bragg but it was enough. Not only was I pretending to sing along to songs but I was getting fired up by his little inter-song speeches. Billy Bragg could not possibly do a set that didn't involve himself talking - he has charm, he has stories (sort of) and he has a point of view. One thing I remember distinctly was this speech was that we needed faith - the human race needed faith. Not capital 'F' faith, not Faith in God, but faith in itself. Wow - so modernist, you know. It was all about what the modernists were about and maybe we've come full circle back to it. You know what, the entire crowd applauded and cheered and agreed but I don't know if many of them believe it. I looked at Billy Bragg with such admiration, this was a man who cares so much about a fair go for all, a man who hates racists and fascists and loves the working class. I looked around the audience and it was just the same white Australians who are so apathetic when it comes to human rights, racism, caring about not only the working class but every and each Australian. Maybe I'm generalising too much, but I put myself squarely in the middle of this crowd. Apathy is my god and don't I know it. It's the god of the people around me. People were cheering at this but they weren't here to change, they were here for the music, they were there to see the man that is the legend, Billy Bragg. Does Billy Bragg want people to admire him, yes but only for his message. Sure he's talented but his message is the root of his passion and the only part of his music that is actually admirable. I made my way to the main stage to hear a similar message from Bjork. She didn't really say much other than "Tank You" between songs but the message in her songs come loud and clear. By the end I wanted to move my feet, I wanted to strike my hand in the air with her. I wanted to make my own flag, I wanted to get rid of our own flag. I wanted to raise that flag and I wanted to declare independence. And when they shut me down, what do I do? I scream back that I'm going to raise my flag higher, higher. Nice. I can leave every bit of disgrace behind and make a eutopia of my own ideals. It sounded so good. Next up was Rage Against the Machine who drew an enormous crowd and I felt sort of privelaged to be close enough to be blinded by Zach de la Rocha's pearly whites. He really does have amazingly white teeth. To me it was the same message as Bjork, and I couldn't really understand why the waiting Rage crowd don't like her. Ok maybe I do, but they should be a little broader minded - she had ticker tape after all. Thankfully Rage let their preaching through their songs and boy, people were angry! People just let their anger flow through the music, whether their anger is legit or whether it is spawned by Rage's music and fed straight back to him, I don't know, I just know that everyone around felt in their bones every word that Mr de la Rocha spouted. He did say something though, right at the end. He basically said that he had been misquoted in saying George W Bush should be assassinated, but rather his whole government should be put on trial, judged and then assassinated for the atrocities committed in Iraq. You know what, I agreed. Maybe. Well I agree it's a dumb war and caused irreversible damage in at least two countries, I don't know if I could ever wish anyone death - even if George W Bush. I guess I did that night because I cheered. He continued to explain that Mr Bush is afraid when we march against the war, he is afraid when the people speak. So he should be, he's mr democracy after all. Yeah! I left the big day out going "Yeah!". I don't know if I had much more to say but I was pumped up. As a symbolic gesture, I tried walking against the flood of people trying to exit to the remarks of "aren't you going the wrong way" ... I don't know, they said more impressive stuff than that. I was trying to find a group of friends anyway, wasn't entirely symbolic.


I was pretty pumped up and was asking myself the next few days why I wasn't at those rallies, why I didn't care and shouldn't I care if all these other secular people care! Chances are a lot of those people didn't really care - in fact the guy I was standing next to was someone I knew and he was wearing a polo shirt with la collar popped - surely he didn't care, certainly less than me. He just cared about his hair, right? I was even thinking that these people, these artists were like prophets. You know, they're not there to impress people (they didn't seem to be, anyway) but rather they had a message. The outlook wasn't good and the message was to change. Hope? I think there was hope for a better world - I don't know if anyone could ever believe this world better, not worse or that the world could ever be what it fully potentially could be. If innocence could be restored, if it ever was that way. It made me think that if there were ever prophets again, their passion would match these artists. Rage Against the Machine isn't a far cry from a Micah or many other prophets -in fact I think I found the big day out a more spiritual event than any church related service I have been to in quite a while. I think I got a lot out of it that made me think. That's not entirely true. As much as I listen to when God's word is spoken, you can learn so much from these people, these are the people of the masses why God's people are dwindling or are just weak. Maybe what is so enticing about these people is they truly believe in what they're saying, they have faith in faithlessness but they have hope. I don't really 100% understand how they can conclude that we can improve with our terrible history, but I think maybe Christians have lost faith in themselves as humans as well. Humans do good things too, just rarely. I don't know, maybe we're just so spiritually bone dry that we are just intimidated when these spirited people stand up for themselves and when we see the work of the Holy Spirit it its in the stadiums of mega churches and the resonance of 4 minute praise and worship pop song - if that's the extent of the Holy Spirit, maybe I'd prefer to be bone dry. Maybe I want some prophets to come forward with some passion that isn't sunsets and rainbows - maybe I want an experience of God that I can show to other people that isn't bundled up in a nice package - maybe I'm hoping that we can experience in not just the good things but rather that God's recreation is visible in the real shitty things of this world, you know to show that there is hope and God has a plan - maybe I'm asking too much, or not asking enough.