From Dire Straits to the Foo Fighters.

I’ve been to some amazing concerts, and though many of my recollections have passed into the abyss that used to be my memory, there are a few that still stick around. My first concert was at the rugby ovals that used to be the old dump, in Rockhampton. The band was Dire Straits, and it was their “Money for Nothing Tour”. We sat in the members building on the side of the field, and it was a two storey building so we were above the field where most of the crowd were. I must admit that I remember the computer game in the clubhouse more than the concert, but “Brothers in Arms” was excellent.

Then there was the Baby Animals concert that we broke into at the Sound Shell in Rockhampton, by standing on the roof of my car and jumping over the fence. I ended up with dents all over the roof, can’t remember anything of the concert apart from “Early Warning” and a picture of the Queen with a beard? I’m not even sure who I was there with...

I also went to a few Screaming Jets concerts, but the one that’s the most memorable is the one in Brisbane when I had my Army medical. Once again, I’m not sure who I was there with, but I ended up next to the speaker, and the next morning I had a ringing in my ear. This would have been okay, but the hearing test they gave me was in a large Perspex cell, with earphones and a button to press when I heard a noise. I was deaf through a whole wavelength due to the ringing and I was sent to a specialist to discover the cause the next day, but by that time the ringing had gone and I was able to confuse the doctors by having good hearing. Not sure what tour it was or what songs they played though...

We also used to go and watch concerts at the QE2 stadium next to Griffith   University. We didn’t get in or anything, back in those days students couldn’t afford it, so we would sit on the hill next to the cemetery and watch through a gap in the stands. I got to see the Rolling Stones on the “Voodoo Lounge” tour, U2, and AC-DC to name a few. We had to hide the casks of wine we were drinking from the police on horseback who would patrol, but apart from that we had a pretty good time.

I also saw Cold Chisel at Boondall in Brisbane, and I can actually remember Ian Moss’s guitar playing. He was that good. But I still remember the ride home on the train more. We were gathered in one of the train carriages on the way home from the concert, when a group of four large men began to sing songs from the “Sound of Music.” They weren’t that bad either, and when they began to encourage the rest of the passengers to sing a song, an intoxicated friend of mine agreed. He sang the “There was an old Farmer” song, if you don’t know it, look it up. It’s suggestive without becoming obscene, and he knew so many verses that the whole carriage was clapping along and laughing.

My most recent concert was Tenacious D and the Foo Fighters. Apparently I might be in the film clip from the Gold Coast concert...

Most of what you need to know about the Big Day Out

My first time at the Big Day Out was in 1999, and the only reason I can date it is because of Marilyn Manson and the huge screen flashing the word “Drugs.” We had taken the number plates from the Holden Gemini that was rusting beneath the house and attached them to an unregistered Kombi that my housemate had just bought, and drove down to the Gold Coast.

We were tempted to break in to the festival, an acquaintance from university had worked his way through the storm drains and had emerged from the drains in the chill-out tent the previous year, which really freaked out some of those recovering in there, but in the end we forked out the cash. Another friend was able to dodge the cops on horseback that were patrolling outside the festival, and made it over the fence, but was nabbed on the inside by security. I’m still not sure what the line up was that year, our group of friends were all at university and we were experimenting with some mind altering substances (we had found some magic mushrooms in a field earlier and we were a bit messed up), but I do remember Marilyn Manson. 

We had made our way close to the stage, and when his set began my girlfriend at the time got up on my shoulders. That was OK, but then there was a surge toward the stage, and the press of people became so dense that I was lifted off my feet and propelled towards the stage. I found out later that my girlfriend had taken her shirt off and was being crowd-surfed towards the front, with me dangling from her legs completely oblivious to what was going on. I couldn’t see because it’s hard to look up when you have another person on your shoulders. While this was going on another friend was having sex in the crowd, and being cheered on by onlookers, but the cheering may be made up, I’ve been told he’s pretty average...

After it was all over, and we were heading towards the gate to exit the festival, we happened to notice a domestic that a couple were having near the exit. As happens with these things, a crowd began to form to view this impromptu street theatre, and made a ring around the couple. At first it was just normal shouting at each other, but then the guy involved slapped the girl in the face, prompting a number of observers to step forward. Before anyone could intervene, the girl, a switch having been thrown in her head, did the crazy eyes, and then head butted the guy, smashing his nose across his face. There were a number of cheers at this unlikely outcome, but when the guy collapsed on the ground, blood pouring from his nose, and the girl began to kick him on the ground, people stepped in and dragged them both away. I think we also reversed into someone as we were leaving the car park, but since we were in an illegal vehicle, under the influence of illegal substances, there wasn’t much we could do except to make a break for freedom and head back to Brisbane. Over the next few years we started going to Woodford, but that’s a whole other story.