Live Review: A Day On The Green Feat. The Living End, Spiderbait, Veruca Salt, The Lemonheads

Monster rock line up


Article heading image for Live Review: A Day On The Green Feat. The Living End, Spiderbait, Veruca Salt, The Lemonheads

Image: The Living End, Becko

By Becko


When the Big Day Out wrapped up 4 years ago, us 40 something blokes lost an outlet… some would say we lost our childhood.

It was our first taste of a true alternative music festival.

Bands like Silverchair, The Living End, Regurgitator, You Am I, and Tumbleweed were a summer staple on the Big Day Out lineup.

That’s why Australia needs the next Big Day Out, that’s A Day On The Green.

This year’s “Almighty Monster” lineup, headlined by The Living End also featured Spiderbait, Veruca Salt & The Lemonheads, who flew straight in for the Bimbadgen Hunter Valley gig.

Tumbleweed and The Fauves also made their Summer festival return. It was like we took a piece of the mid 90s and brought it all back.

The funny thing is, we have all got a little older… but maybe not the wiser – and it’s the same for the bands! The difference is we swapped the show grounds for the serenity of the vineyards. 

The day was hot, let’s not sugarcoat it – it was stinky early in the afternoon sun. The Fauves and Tumbleweed didn’t disappoint.

Evan Dando came out with an acoustic opening before his band, The Lemonheads and you had to feel sorry for Veruca Salt who flew in from a Chicago winter to experience some Aussie 36 degree heat!   

Kram from Spiderbait lead out the band, as the sun came down over Bimbadgen. It was a killer set including an acoustic break with “Goin’ Off” with our fave lyrics: 'There are some people who are dickheads. They don't care What they do to others'.
The set was chockers and was slightly extended due to a broken snare drum – “Buy Me A Pony”, “Calypso” and then “Black Betty” brought it home. 

That just left The Living End, the true and deserving headliner of the day. They had just got off the plane from Germany, recording their next album – 28 hours in the air! Jet Lag was never an issue though, just look at that set list!

How they managed to fit in a soundcheck and some wine tasting with the record company peeps and then hit the stage, is anyone’s guess!

This ‘Greatest Hits’ show was something any Living End fan would never forget.

Thank you to the A Day On The Green team… thank god for this event. Us rock fans now have a summer festival to look forward to.

Watch Becko interview the acts backstage:

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See the full photo gallery:

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A DAY ON THE GREEN 

The Living End, Spiderbait, Veruca Salt, The Lemonheads, Tumbleweed and The Fauves 

Saturday Feb 24 Bimbadgen, Hunter Valley NSW 

Sunday Feb 25 Sirromet Wines, Mt Cotton QLD 

Saturday Mar 3 Petersons Winery, Armidale NSW 

Saturday Mar 10 Josef Chromy Wines, Launceston TAS 

Sunday Mar 11 Mt Duneed Estate, Geelong VIC 

Saturday Mar 17 Leconfield Wines, McLaren Vale SA * The Lemonheads not performing 

Tickets and more info available here

Listen to Jane Gazzo’s interview with KRAM ahead of the tour:

 

9 March 2018




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