Random Play by Graham Reid

except this was for people on P working out.

Hah!

But for me, pop music was the winner on the day.

Yes! I actually said to someone whilst watching the Ting Tings: "Isn't pop music great at the moment?"

It's good to know that pop ain't dead yet, despite what the youngsters are doing to it. (perhaps ironically I have to check to see if "ain't" remains a word in popular usage....causing me to wonder if I've become John Key....*shudder*)

You'd done so well to conceal your texting addiction. To better this year's effort you will have to text from stage while a band is playing next year.

As some real old guy might have said "Better to burnout, than to fade away"....obviously referring to something fast and chipped rather than his Mum's Hyundai.

Serj Tankian's band was very well rehearsed, very tight, they sounded like a very loud CD, but the man is so far up his own arse he could wear himself as a hat. Seriously, what was that stuff? It came across as the product of someone who nobody ever says "NO" to. Think heavy metal opera and you wouldn't be too far off the mark.

And I liked the Living End no matter what anyone else says. Always have, always will. It might be an Aussie thing though, maybe I lived there long enough to be infected.

The thing about Pendulum and most drum & bass really, is that it's just big dumb fun, made for no other reason than to get off your tits and bounce around to. I've always liked that about pop music and my preferences will always fall on the dopey fun guys compared to the so called musical messiahs. I'd rather have Slade than Dylan, I prefer the Pistols to Joy Division etc... I don't particular like the machoism I feel at the more brutal end of d&b but I think Pendulum are great and would recommend the album Hold Your Colour as a simple joyous breakneck pop romp. My female 18 yr old cuzzies here in Nelson were most gutted about missing them and would've loved giving it large in that big crowd.

I'd also recommend High Contrast as highly listenable d&b, especially their remix work and the fact they've used the likes of Mike Skinner and Kanye West through to Stevie Nicks shows that they're all about the pop music.

And in terms of big arsed dance remixes, Justice are the other ones I'm listening to quite a bit of recently. Their version of 'Electric Feel' is quite astonishing.

Bang! Bang! Eche! and Clap Clap Riot need to do a show together and fight it out for the right to use the "[Verb] [Verb] [Zany]" band name formula.

it's just big dumb fun, made for no other reason than to get off your tits and bounce around to

But I love big dumb fun! Why did they make me stabby?

But I love big dumb fun! Why did they make me stabby?

Just one of those things I guess, one person's BDF is another person's stabby and that's ok. Apparently some people find U2 quite uplifting while I just find it depressing. S'weird.

Did anyone see Weta play? They clashed with Arctic Monkeys and Hot Chip so I missed them.

I don't really get why everyone's bagging the Living End in particular... alright they're a bit bland, but they played competently and they swing a huge double bass around. Rocknroll?

I was disappointed with TV on the Radio too. It's a shame they didn't play a club show in Auckland while they were here, they probably would've sold out.

Hot Chip were my fave of the day, almost as good as LCD last year.

Pendulum are a bit of an oddity actually - their first album (which most of the stuff they played at BDO was from) is pretty standard D&B fare, whereas their second album is like some strange kind of cross between Muse and Black Sabbath and it's only the persistent 'bass-bass-snare' drum lines would that barely qualify it as D&B at all. Worth checking out, actually, there are some excellent tracks on there.

I think I must have been in the wrong spot for the Ting Tings, as all the people around me were standing stubbornly with arms folded refusing to dance.

Sneaky were awesome though - Connie Mitchell would make the best aunty ever.

Pendulum are a bit of an oddity actually - their first album (which most of the stuff they played at BDO was from) is pretty standard D&B fare, whereas their second album is like some strange kind of cross between Muse and Black Sabbath and it's only the persistent 'bass-bass-snare' drum lines would that barely qualify it as D&B at all. Worth checking out, actually, there are some excellent tracks on there.

Yeh, they're definitely heading to the dark side. Loved that Blood Sugar single as well, sort of like a mad D&B equivalent to Blur's Song 2.

Did anyone see Weta play?

Yep we caught the end of their set. They were having a good time and there were plenty of people dancing. The singer's voice was shot by then but otherwise they sounded good.

Sneaky were awesome though - Connie Mitchell would make the best aunty ever.

Hmmm, not sure about the aunty thing (I suspect she's younger than me!), but Connie was definitely the best vocalist I saw at BDO.

And to anyone who enjoyed Sneaky Sound System - may I also recommend Connie's earlier efforts with a band called Primary? They released two albums, both worth listening to. As far as I know they only toured here once - a summer tour supporting Tadpole (should've been the other way around in my opinion).

I agree with Mr Reid about Bionic Pixie - I liked them rather more than a number of the acts I caught later in the day. I remember someone having written that no one genre seemed to dominate this year's line up, but from my perspective it seemed to have an electro-pop theme that started with these guys.

I was sorry to miss the Ting Tings but the size of the crowd made it impossible. I wonder what it would've been like to have them on the main stage and TV on the Radio on the smaller one?

Did anyone see The Dropkick Murphys? I've looked for a mention of them in every BDO I've come across...nothing, nada.

Did anyone see The Dropkick Murphys?

We saw the first half or so of their set. They were fun and got a good crowd, although the sound where I was standing (directly in front about 20m back) was very tinny and a bit hard on the ears (no surprise given the range of instruments on hand I guess).

After a few songs we realised that they only really have one or two actual "songs" and that the set consists of small variations on those. They're fun though and might be a really great night out at a smaller venue with copious alcohol closer to hand.

I thought the T-shirts were cool though so I grabbed one of those!