Big Day Out 2013

Streaming, Lineup, Tickets, Dates, Reviews

Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide, Perth, 18-28 January

At a time of year when most people have yet to give much thought to any upcoming music festivals (largely due to being too busy huddling by the fire or scraping ice off their car!) we need to look down under for our live musical entertainment, and Australia delivers big time with the Big Day Out festival, which is actually a series of festivals with the same (or very similar) lineup playing across several venues and different dates.

I have to confess that when I spent a year in Australia back in 1996-97 I hadn't even heard of the Big Day Out, and had to check that it was even taking place that far back, but it seems it has been an annual event since 1992 so I guess I just completely missed the boat!

It's a shame as I can think of few nicer venues, and weather conditions, in which to take in a festival, with the Gold Coast location at Surfer's Paradise looking like an especially fantastic venue. I console myself that I did manage to take in the Crowded House Farewell to the World concert, which was held live at Sydney Opera House and remains the most dramatic location I've enjoyed live music at, ever.

So the venues have varied slightly from year to year, with Auckland taking part right up until 2012, but this year the core venues remain as Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and the Gold Coast. See below for the exact dates at each location, and any lineup variations. There is a possibility that this will be the last year at the current Gold Coast venue, as the Parklands Showgrounds that host the BDO are rumoured to be due to converted to an athletics venue for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Sydney - Friday 18 Jan

Gold Coast - Sunday 20 Jan

Adelaide - Friday 25 Jan

Melbourne - Saturday 26 Jan

Perth - Monday 28 Jan

The lineup varies slightly by location, but the main headline acts remain the same throughout. For the latest on slight variations the Wiki page is usually right up to date. The full lineup of featured acts is:

Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Killers
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Vampire Weekend
The Bloody Beetroots (Live)
Kaskade
Animal Collective
Band of Horses
B.o.B
Sleigh Bells
Foals
Alabama Shakes
360
Crystal Castles
Pretty Lights
OFF!
Grinspoon
BT
Against Me!
Gary Clark, Jr.
Nicky Romero
Morgan Page
Logo
Every Time I Die
Delta Spirit
Childish Gambino
ME
Hunting Grounds
JEFF the Brotherhood
Death Grips
Adventure Club
Jagwar Ma
House Vs. Hurricane
Avalanche City
Toucan
Helena
Nina Las Vegas
Sampology
Compressorhead
The Medics
Something With Numbers
Urthboy
Thy Art Is Murder
Deep Sea Arcade
Royal Headache
Chance Waters
Good Heavens
Stereogamous
The Griswolds
Fishing
The Gooch Palms
Donny Benet
Jackie Onassis
Bob Log III
Dead Letter Circus
I Heart Hiroshima
The Cairos
Hey Geronimo
We All Want To
Evil Eddie
Skinwalkers
Dave’s Pawn Shop
Lily Rouge
The Vernons
Sneeky Picnic
Jakarta Criers
Paul Mac
The Beards
Grey Ghost
The Killgirls
Full Tote Odds
Messrs
Allday
Lady Strangelove
Steering By Stars
Sincerely, Grizzly
Stab Capital
Gemini Downs
Archers
Dr Piffle & The Burlap Band
The Aves
Bodyjar
Seth Sentry
The Smith Street Band
Kingswood
Yung Warriors
Money For Rope
Jackson Firebird
Split Seconds
For Our Hero
Generik
Zanzibar Chanel
The Stiffys
Apes
Chicks On Speed DJ Show
Sugar Army
Emperors
The Chemist
Sons of Rico
Further Earth
Arts Martial
Rainy Day Women
Boys Boys Boys!
The Love Junkies
Skank MC
Dead Owls
Tomàs Ford
Foam

We've been able to find little in the way of live online streaming for the Big Day Out events. There is however an official Youtube channel, which has event previews and uploads the best of the live sets afterwards:

Big Day Out on Youtube

The Gold Coast Big Day Out was streamed live on local radio last year, so we can probably expect the same again, and they have an online stream to listen to:

Gold Coast Big Day Out stream

Latest: Triple J have also announced they will be live streaming the Red Hot Chili Peppers' set from the Sydney BDO - details of that plus any other sets they decide to broadcast (subsequently confirmed as included are Every Time I Die, Band of Horses, Against Me!, Grinspoon and Vampire Weekend) are available on their official site:

BDO on Triple J

As each venue only holds the festival on a single day, there is no official camping at any of the Big Day Out sites, so if you're travelling to a venue you'll need to make accommodation arrangements elsewhere. You can search for hotels, check availability and make reservations for local hotels here.

We would love to hear any personal experiences or feedback from the events we feature - if you've been or are going to this parade, please post any of your own comments or reviews in the box below.

For details of all the most popular music festivals, including Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Sziget, Electric Daisy Carnival, Coachella and many more, see our Festivals page.