Monday, October 13

[LIVID]

Oh my gosh. The White Stripes. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

LIVID was excellent. Highlights included Little Birdy, Lamb (yay!), the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jurassic 5 (watched their brilliant performance from the highest tier in the arena; the crowd and the lights looked amazing), Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and, oh my gosh, the White Stripes. Watching Meg play those drums awakened something primal in me.

Such a completely fun day with splendid friends.

However, it’s gripe time.

The Resin Dogs were the low-light of the day. I’ve never seen a good show from them and would rather watch a bunch of rugby players bang on about club trophies. And the drummer was so obnoxious.

Next question: how could an event so large and expensive as LIVID be so phenomenally disorganised and undercatered? Right from the word go, none of the security staff seemed sure about which line was which, some for under-18’s, some for over, no signs, oh it was confusing.

Then the food choices encompassed numerous kiosks selling an identical range of processed foods, leading to the inevitable horror of people leaning against railings eating meat pies. The ethnic food section had three stalls: the Indian and Greek tents both served a variety of meat dishes at exorbitant prices (or you could have a dish of rice for $4, mmm, what value) and then of course there was the Aussie BBQ stall selling elongated sausage products. Completely hideous. My dinner consisted of two ‘king size’ Picnic bars, but at least I’d managed an insubstantial vegie burger for lunch. Of course I went all cosmopolitan and had a takeaway cappuccino, but it’s Melbourne so I’m allowed.

And then numerous bands ran late. Therefore I had to miss a good portion of Lamb to make it to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And they made us walk all the way around to the other side of the arena to get into the White Stripes, which seemed inefficient. Lame organisation, but the terrific bands made up for it.

Even the VIPs were left in the lurch. Brooke couldn’t get her VIP pass without having to speak to a billion different people. None of the gate staff had a clue and she was left quite bewildered before eventually getting one at a miscellaneous barrier.

At least they were giving out free water.

posted by pete at 12:07 PM

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