23rd January Sydney
The Big Day Out takes the opportunity of the long weekend that marks the peak of the summer holidays here to hit the two biggest cities in the country, Sydney and Melbourne. Australia Day marks the anniversary of the arrival in Sydney Harbour of the first ships bringing prisoners from Britain to found a prison colony on the far side of the world. This year, the anniversary, 26th January, falls on a Saturday, but the BDO organisers have chosen to hold their festival on the day before in the hope of avoiding overt displays of nationalism, which have blighted the BDO in recent years. In 2005, following ugly race riots at a beach in a Sydney suburb, the BDO caused a national outcry by banning the Australian flag from the festival site.
Identity is always a matter of contention and the Australians, whose country has only been in existence for three human lifespans, are acutely aware of this problem. Ambiguity about new arrivals and a realisation that they took the land from its original owners makes Australia Day a time for airing doubts as well as showing pride.
Being a keen student of both history and identity, I asked a few of the Australian artists on the tour if we should do something to mark Australia Day – or Invasion Day as the indigenous peoples refer to it. Perhaps aware of the earlier controversies, no-one seemed interested. It took a delayed plane and a conversation over a bottle of Jamesons with the mischievous crew from the Lilyworld stage to hatch a plot.
We arrived in Sydney in time to go along to Kate Nash’s jam-packed side-show, where she invited me up to perform A New England with her band.
