Most people out there are probably aware that we're reaching the end of the Summer festival season. Many festivals touring the country, catering for all tastes and keeping the masses happy. The most recent festival to make its way through town was none other than Soundwave - the alternative festival for all the people that like their music heavy or punk-y, either way - loud!
While I'll save the majority of my thoughts about the festival for my official review (which will probably be up on the weekend at this rate) there are a few things I have to say in particular, about one of the surprisingly more popular acts of the afternoon - Limp Bizkit.
You're probably thinking to yourself 'Limp Bizkit? ewww.. what the hell were you doing Javid? I thought you had credibility' - first and foremost you'd be wrong about the credibility part but that doesn't bother me. Yes Limp Bizkit are a bit 'ewww' - that being said I didn't mind some of their stuff back in the day and I think it was more the curiosity factor that brought people like myself to the main arena. I'll also say now that there is a spoiler alert so if you're still going to one of the other Soundwaves and you're actually keen to see Limp Bizkit then maybe not read this until after.
Eleven years ago was the last time Limp Bizkit were in the country. I saw them there, at the 2001 BDO (they were just after Rammstein) and yes, that was the fateful day that Jessica died in tragic circumstances. There were court cases and much publicity but you can be guaranteed that the events of that evening, while not meaningless, have certainly escaped peoples minds in the more than a decade that has passed since. It did result in a rethink of Australian festival safety and has led us to the system we have now.
About halfway through the set, Fred Durst brought up the topic. He said some very sentimental things that were, in their own way, quite moving, about the memory of this girl. Her father was in the crowd, obviously by invitation of the band and yeah, it was a nice moment. Then the Limp Bizkit banner dropped and behind the band was now a massive mural with the word 'Jessica' on it, with a pink background and even a little love heart to dot the I.
Let it be known that this action in itself I have no problem with. If I was in a band and someone died at one of my shows it WOULD affect me, it would stay with you for the rest of your life, especially if you were to come back and play that venue. This homage was a nice gesture but I have a few things to say about it.
1. After making his nice homage Fred Durst then went on to tell the story of the events of that night, saying that the band was refusing to go on because they KNEW it was unsafe, but that the BDO organisers MADE them, insisting that if they didn't, there would be a riot. The badmouthing of the BDO organisers was prolific. Don't get me wrong I'm happy to see them get bagged but, 11 years later, and with her father in the crowd, is it really necessary? The fact that your band hasn't been relevant for over a decade should make you plan the things you say. Me saying this is also entirely hypocritical. Nice gesture but the removal of accountability, putting it all on the Big Day Out, was a bit of a cop out. If it was really that bad, you wouldn't have played. If it really WAS a lose-lose situation like you mentioned, then why go to such lengths to blame someone else? It almost sounds entirely circumstantial. I know we're talking about the loss of a human life and it truly was tragic but it happened, nothing can be done now and blaming the BDO, to me, served no purpose but to reopen old wounds.
The ultimate hypocrisy was when the next song went into its interlude and he kept saying 'You can't point the finger! You can't pass the buck!'. Whether what he said was true or not, to go on a rant essentially blaming someone else and then to say something like that is messed up and stupid and hypocritical. I don't think anyone REALLY blames Limp Bizkit for that death 11 years ago, so why bring it up and then act like this? Sigh.
2. After making the homage and going on his rant it was time for the next song. You think they'd go with something 'nice' - even though thats hard to find in Limp Bizkit's repertoire. The song they chose was in fact 'Take A Look Around' - if you don't remember, it's that freaking song they did for Mission Impossible 2. What does this have to do with the death of a young girl? What does this have to do with ANYTHING remotely sentimental? Pretty much sweet FA. If you look at the lyrics (and yes, I just googled them and lost a few brain cells reading them) basically the song is aimed at haters - "now I know why you wanna hate me". If you REALLY want to read the lyrics click here - but yes, by reading them you'll notice there's nothing particularly meaningful, let alone appropriate about dedicating this song to someone who has died ("life is a lesson//you learn it when you're through"). Stupid, stupid choice. If anything it seemed more like it was played for the band, to back up Fred's Big Day Out hate. Not only that, but you're playing a track from a freaking movie when you had better album stuff you could be playing. Counterfeit was seemingly not even considered.
3. In general Fred Durst and his compatriots need a bit of a bagging too. They were given an hour long set and played a good.. oh I don't know.. HALF HOUR worth of music. The rest of it was just inevitably long breakdowns filled with crap being spoken by Durst, parts between songs with crap being spoken by Durst and randomly stupid DJ 'solos'. There was the playing of the first 8 bars of both 'Jump Around' and 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' - disgusting. Then at the end of the set the crowd were given a choice between two songs (Faith and Rollin), and while it was obvious which song the crowd chose they still played the other one and then closed with the popular one. Instead of that, how about you just play the fucking songs? In the time it took you to fuck around getting the crowd to answer a question that evidently didn't matter, you could have played another song. With all the crap here and there they probably could have doubled their set length. Such is life.
4. For the rest of the set, the Jessica banner stayed up. It was also left on the big screens with a certain amount of transparency so you could still see the video of the performance. This was also nice in its own way but it really didn't need to be up there for half the set. What made it worse was towards the end of the set when the cameras kept zooming in on the wasted chicks and dirty whores on peoples shoulders with their tits out. Don't get me wrong, I love boobies, but when there's an homage to a dead girl on the screen mixed with images of wasted teenage girls flashing their tits I don't call it good taste. Yes, there's every chance that if Jessica was still alive she'd be one of those girls but there was something eerily... wrong about the whole situation.
If you ask me (and I know you will), they should have done things differently. Play an efficient set, first and foremost. In regards to the Jessica banner and the whole notion of sentimentality they should have saved it till the end. With two songs left they could have dropped the banner and it probably would have been more poignant and lasting, not corrupted by Fred Durst's tomfoolery and the boobs of drunken skanks.
Either way, while they played some good songs, overall they were very disappointing - if not for the reasons I mentioned above. Having the enigma of Wes Borland back on stage is a good thing, and apparently they released another album last year (??) but Limp Bizkit had their day, had their moment. Rap metal is no longer relevant, and personally I hope it never comes back.
Judging by the MASSES of bogans and others who seemed to go absolutely crazy for it though, chances are they're here to stay, again. While seeing them did sate my curiosity, I can confidently say that I never again have to. Acts like JBT and the Mars Volta can fill a set that long, with less songs, and still play more music. I was there in 2001 and the performance was pretty much exactly the same. The only difference is that they're all so much older, and they're no longer relevant. Personally I wish Wes would go back and record another Big Dumb Face album.
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