It might be the lingering festival drought brought on by the pandemic, it might just be my age (geriatric millennials, put your hands up), but every Big Day Out I ever went to has suddenly blurred into one mega-festival. In my head, I swear I saw New Order and Sleater-Kinney perform on the same day, but Wikipedia says that’s impossible. (An abundance of Smirnoff Ices, the signature festival drink, may also be to blame for my recollection.)
When I listened to the Inside the Big Day Out podcast, I found myself going back to the posters to remember which years I went. Although I can remember moments, such as Dave Grohl coming across to the second stage as we waited for Nine Inch Nails or Paul Dempsey questioning why we were watching Something for Kate when Red Hot Chili Peppers were playing, which years these were kind of escapes me. One other thing that I cannot remember is how I actually survived the whole day. I was not drinking alcohol, but I actually cannot remember drinking anything. To be honest, I cannot remember eating anything either.
Memories truly are a strange thing.
Laura, that is a great question about water. I vaguely remember actually getting random drinks from taps on people’s front lawns, but I don’t remember carrying around a bottle much. I actually do not remember there being many public water bubblers, especially not like parks today in Australia. (Wonder if this is a global phenomenon?)
Associated with the water debate, I cannot remember drinking water or actually anything at all when I went to music festivals, like the Big Day Out.