Yet another BDO before I hit The Great Gig in the Sky.

It has been 12 long years since my first Big Day Out. There are probably several reasons for this hiatus -

because, with its iconic line-up featuring a mix of legends (The Ramones when they were all still alive), independent darlings of the decade (Smashing Pumpkins; Bjork) and personal favourites (Teenage Fanclub), I feared '94 could never be topped;

because back then, even at 20 with my fashionable middle parting (which was red along the scalp by the end of the day) stripey tee and connies, I was exhilarated but bloody-near flattened by the heat, the punishment of the mosh, the beer;

because I had started to feel like I cared less about rock than I used to (which I have discovered is still a fuckload more than most of the twentysomething STIFFS who watched silently; gormlessly while an ant-like but still mesmerising Iggy Pop busted out peerless classics many metres away);

because for many years after '94 I had believed in hand-selecting 'boutique' gigs to attend (Morrissey, New Order, Primal Scream, Franz Ferdinand) where the fans would really be fans and the gig would be full-length - rather than joining the great unwashed to eat dangerously pink hamburgers, queue for the girls dunnies and fight my way through henna tattoo vendors and socialist worker bookstands to see the back of some tall guy's head.

All that changed this year. I went to the Big Day Out. Much to my dismay, I didn't get bruised and battered in the glorious, insane thick of the mosh like I did back when people hadn't yet died in the name of rock (well, at least, not at the Big Day Out)...

But I still came away feeling like music has survived. and I'm here to tell the tale. Stay tuned......................

Hang about. Maybe I don't need to tell the tale, cos in the time honoured tradition my mazer has done it for me. Have a bead - it's pure gold.