The only reason I'll go to Big Day Out nowadays is if there is a must-see band playing. I didn't want to risk Soundgarden not doing any sideshows and the BDO selling out so got a ticket early on before Soundgarden did announce sideshows.
There were a couple of other bands that I was happy to see as a bonus including Battles, Kimbra and Royksopp. The first two didn't disappoint but sadly I missed Royksopp as I found myself needing to sort out accommodation issues (Note to self: avoid hotels that don't have 24 hour check-in). I also saw a bit of Girl Talk and he put on a fun show involving many dancers on stage and toilet paper roll streamer guns.
I'd seen Soundgarden on their last tour before breaking up at the Big Day Out in '97. I recall being disappointed by Cornell's unreliable voice. That impression stayed with me over the years seeing various live videos, some where he was rocking and others where he was.. well shocking. However my faith was somewhat restored after his solo Songbook tour (my recordings here) last year so I was interested to see how the reformed band would fare.
Cornell's voice was shaky in the opening tunes, and this wasn't helped by a muddy sound mix. But as the set progressed so did his voice and the sound improved too, and by the end they had the crowd in the palms of their sweaty hands.
The setlist was a great mix featuring mostly Superunknown and Badmotorfinger tunes but also some other newies and oldies, including Loud Love and Beyond The Wheel which both sounded awesome.
A little rain did nothing to perturb the crowd, however I don't think I kept my camera as dry as I should have and water may have been covering my built-in mics. Whatever the reason, most of my Soundgarden videos have a 'dampened' sound which is disappointing, but C'est la vie.
I have finished uploading videos of Boy and Bear, Kimbra, Battles, Girl Talk, Soundgarden and a compilation of the half pipe skating (including Tony Hawks last skate of the night where he somersaulted out of the half pipe with a 180 twist to boot).
