I'd been hanging out to see Puddle of Mudd from some time (COME TO AUSTRALIA FELLA's) and bought my ticket the second I found out they were on, all days were sold out bar the Sat, but what did I care, POM were who I wanted to see and see them I did, they rocked, I'm not to sure how many of the pommes actually knew who they were, the guys that I was with had certainly never heard of them. Anyways they blew me away, I'd describe their live sound but I think they do it better themselves.......(Wes) Like real emotional rock'n'roll music that's hardcore, got a good backbone and everybody's gonna definitely hear for the way it is." ... (Greg) "Like darkness with fun and happiness, the way a lot of people feel." ... (Paul) "Like punk rock and metalbilly." ... (Doug) "Like an eclectic montage skewed by society, burdened within its own pain." ... Burden me with your pain anytime guys!!!!

I really don't have much to say about these guys but that I was really quite disappointed, maybe I needed to be 15 again and in love with Brandon to loose myself in it, but even found that hard with all such girlies around me screaming his name and telling each other that they loved him more, it was really quite distracting and by the end I had to decide whether to head up the back or knock one of these poor tortured souls out!! To put it plainly..... it was boring, maybe it was the Festival/Stadium setting, I say this because a few friends had been see them here in Sydney at the Horden Pavillion and said it was awesome, therefore my expectations were pretty high, maybe that wasn't a good thing either. I'd like to point out though, that just because I say it was boring doesn't mean they were crap, as that's not so, they meshed well, didn't miss a beat and Brandon's voice is well "dreamy" (to quote one in the crowd) but I just found it boring......boring, boring, boring.

OK NOT MY KINDA MUSIC AT ALL, however I wanted to check'em out all the same and managed to stick it out for 2 or maybe up to 4 songs, I couldn't tell, I think they stopped once or twice but what they said didn't really sound any different to the way Corey belts out their songs, I can appreciate that the music, especially the guitar riffs, are fast and furious and you really do require some skill to pull it off, but it's just something I can't get my head around......by they way, how many of them are there??? as the stage was a sea of people......

The Big Day Out, Started here in Sydney in 1992, with a crowd of 9,500 and Nirvana head lining. The event has always been around the Australia Day long weekend and I can’t think of a better way for Australians to celebrate their national pride [rolling eyes]. Over the years Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, The Gold Coast and then Auckland, New Zealand have been added to the list and for the first time this year, a 2nd show in Sydney was announced due to the immediate sell out of the first day.

The Mars Volta certainly started off brilliantly, with fat jams and cool guitar solo’s, however, their Woodstock ‘fuk the crowd, we are in our own world’ type attitude was a little annoying and belongs in the LSD induced 60’s, truly, it got a bit ho hum after a while, with no where to sit due to the crappy rainy weather I found I could not fully chill out to their vibe, their 'I only have eyes for me' attitude finally beat us into submission and we toddled off to catch another act. Now this may sound like I’m being a bit harsh…and I probably am, because really you can’t fault their cool funky sounds it’s original, creative and genuine and it really was some of the best of the day, however, when one has to scrape up $100 out of their hard earned yet menial wage, I at least expected to hear a few of the tunes that grounded my interest in the band in the first place, not one long jam session where you became restless standing in the one spot listening to, with many other stages adorned with bands that were willing to dish out what you came to see off we went, saying that, when you’re hot and wet and there’s no where to sit but muddy or wet grass your tolerance tends to be somewhat lower than usual.

Well, here’s the band I paid the $100 to see, and man did they kick some serious ass, I’m not talking walking on stage and giving a good show, these guys rocked out from the first riff. I’d not seen them before but have worn some big ass grooves in their CD ‘Begins Here’, so with storm clouds brewing and Gerling finished up on the far stage, the boys from TBE cranked up their intro music and the crowd responded in kind, they entered stage left and ripped into the set, the music mix was spot on and Clint dictates his voice from strong and angry through to powerfully emotional, certainly sucking me in, he’s supported by strong concise riffs from Glen and Kurt with Ben thrashing it out on the pig skin up the back, the crowd fed off the incredible force of this band and the energy was only intensified by the kind support that only shows through fans knowing every word to every word song, the guys must have been getting off on this for sure, even those who’d wondered in and hung up the back to check them out seemed to be finding it hard to stand still, there was certainly few left chill’n out on the grass. Well to wrap up, I can’t imagine these guys confined in an indoor venue, there’s no way 4 walls could contain them. Do your self a favour and grab a copy of ‘Begins Here’ whack it in your sound system, move everything away from the edges and crank it, it’s the only way to listen to these guys if you can’t get out to see them live. Check out more about TBE @ www.thebutterflyeffect.com.au