Scott Kelly I think :)

Best one I have ever been to.

The Coolies - Loved it. Heard good and bad things, but I liked them a lot.

The Darkness - Pretty bad sound at the start, but they were heaps of fun. Would love to see a gig at the St James. It would go off.

Something for Kate - Saw first three songs. Competent sounded good, 'Deja Vu' is a great song.

Peaches - Wicked. Left before 'Kick It' unfortunately to go see the Hari's for some kai. But the 'Shake your tits' dancers with their strap-ons were hilarious.

Dandy Warhols - Very cool. Bit too much of a stoner drawl for me, but the songs were cool.

The Datsuns - Good sound. New stuff is choice.

Gerling - 10/10. Loved their set. Such a fusion band, and I love how the singer hunches over the mic to sing.

The Strokes - I think all the Strokes songs sound the same to me, but I really feel for them with all the Metallica fans in front of them. Saw them at Kebabs on Queen after the show. Loved what they were wearing too (-big ups to the singer from Muse as well for his white suit!).

Felix da Housecat - Very funky. Very good.

Betchadupa - Wicked sound, tight songs. Their writing is getting better and better.

Flaming Lips - Hilarious. My highlight. So so good and I can't wait to see them again.

As well as all these bands there were heaps in between, but I saw all these bands for a while, and they all impressed.

The Strokes!!!!!! best band live!...although I was being pushed around by huge men and squashed and I couldn't see anything....
Kings Of Leon!!!!!! amazing!!! such nice guys...Caleb felt a bit sick though...that's why he didn't sing with his funny accent.
I am officially DEAF from listening to The Lost Prophets while waiting for the kings of leon..too many noisy bands played and they all deafened me. All I can hear now is this constant ringing in my ears. I dont think its gonna go away any time soon.

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As my first Big Day Out, i was well and truly impressed by all the bands i caught, wish i had organised my day more though so i cud hav seenall d bands that evry1s sayn were gr8.
neways after a ridiculously long 5hr bus trip from rotorua arriving at 11.50 i managed to see the last few 8ft songs. A gud start i thought! after takin the tour to find were evrything was, i was quite proud to be a kiwi, after hearin AWESOME beats from a range of our finest talent. BLindspott, the datsuns & the d4 along wif steriogram elemeno p scribe dj sirvere etc all were great.
i was a bit disapointed wif the dandy warhols tho, not as tuned as i thought they wud b. black eyed peas wernt dat great eitha, they had a gud performance and that fergie chik is HOT (from a gurls pt of view) but jus didnt cut it for me.
as the newest metallica fan, i must say they inspired me 2 give metal a listen.
Great day

the bleeders - i think i've seen them too much so i wasn't too excited and i was really tired but they were okay.
the coolies - not as good as the night before but that was probably due to tiredness, was fun to dance to them in the sun.
deja voodoo - only saw a bit of them, they were funny.
the darkness - they were awesome, loved the outfits.
peaches - awesomeness. not as good as the night before but it was great to see that she still had so much energy. so worth getting harrassed by concord dawn fans.
the dandy warhols - the singer was so wasted. i loved the keyboardist, she was great. quite mellow set.
fur patrol - great to rock out to while sitting down.
gerling - saw a bit of their set, if i wasn't so tired i would have danced along, real fun stuff.
aphex twin + luke vibert - checked them out for sets of 5 minutes at a time, it was insane in the boiler room, i liked the second half of the set more than the first of what i saw anyway.
the mars volta - saw the last half of their set, the keyboardist guy was awesome, i was expecting him to fall off his seat at any moment. also was quite shocked and scared when the singer jumped over the barricade, right infront of me and just standing and staring for 10 seconds.
the strokes - saw two of their songs, wasn't that excited by them.
betchadupa - they played some of their new stuff, sounded cool.
metallica - checked out about 2 songs from them, was up on the grandstand so i was in awe of the whole crowd just moshing hard out, insane.
the flaming lips - could not have finished on a better note, they were fuckin excellent, i was smiling from ear to ear and i'm sure everyone else was. they need to come back to new zealand.

all in all a good day minus the sunburn and the overcrowdedness.

Things that were Good:
the Bleeders - sounded great, especially Bleeding Heart, I wish I'd got closer to the stage and joined in.
the Darkness - yeah, they'll disappear soon enough, but they were fun, motherfuuuuuuuckeeeer.
the D4 - liked the new 'mellow' song, but after the singles/6Twenty it seemed to drag on a little.
SFK - they ALMOST made me like REM. For a few minutes, at least.
the Mint Chicks - I didn't care what my "too cool" friends thought. Time to go mental already!
the Mars Volta - 10 points for mincrophone-eating. Intense listening but great to watch.
betchadupa - the third time I've seen them, the first time I've enjoyed it. Maybe it was the lights? They seemed quite energetic, especially toward the end of their set.
the Flaming Lips - what a way to finish off the day! I didn't stop grinning during their performance. I wasn't much of a fan before but I'm sold on them now! Amazing, I loved it.
Meeting the Darkness outsde their hotel in the city
Watching Trixie dance to the Coolies
Meeting Noizy. What a friendly (albeit somewhat confused) person he was to me.

Things that weren't Good:
The CAT banner on the essentials stage. I thought the purpose of going to see a band was seeing them? Thanks, Mint Chicks, for at least bashing it round a bit and climbing over it so we could actually see who was making the music.
The volume on the purple/essential stages - just like last year. It's not so much on the stage the band is on,
but the empty one with the invisible band's sound uber-loud. Ouch.
Where were all the loos?! There weren't enough, the ones without hour-long queues were a long walk away from wherever I was.
The misting tent smelled like the water had been taken from the harbour near Portage Rd.
People who recognised me but ignored me, gave me scummy looks or walked away when I approached to introduce myself.
The Datsuns finishing 15 mins before scheduled (in print, anyway) I only got to see two songs. On the screen.

The Bleeders were cool. Some dude crowd surfed out during their set and the chief security guy or whatever he was had his fists clenched as the dude came over the barrier. He was so fucking angry. Not a cool start to the day... I sure hope he calmed down. The poor crowd surfer didn't know what hit him.

The Mars Volta were very cool. It was cool to stand back and watch them... saw them the night before but couldn't hear the mix as well cause I was right at the front. I was wicked hearing some of the same beats they'd worked through the night before. My mouth was open the entire set.

Thursday kicked ass. They were the first band I had seen play on that stage and what the fuck was up with that advertising accross the bottom? I could just see the drummer if I stood on my toes and the rest of the band when they came right up to the front of the stage. Out of all the places they could have had the advertising why did they have to put it there????? It was cool meetin the band afterwards also :D It's not often you get a band like that in NZ so I'm pretty stoked :D

Deja Voodoo - Interesting, that's all I can really say. Loved the guy with the flames on his head
Goodshirt - Good.
Shapeshifter - Totally loved it. Should have stayed longer
The Darkness - Fuck they were good. The crowd was pathetic though. Am I really the only person who likes them? Jumped around in the front of the mosh singing out loud
Elemeno P - Why did Dave hang from the top of the stage??
Zed - Great. Loved the mix of new and old, crowd seemed to enjoy themselves
Concord Dawn - Amazing. Danced around like there was no tomorrow!!!!!
Something for kate - Not bad for an aussie band. I loved the dress that lady was wearing
Lost Prophets - One word - WICKED!
Peaches - She's pretty cool. Loved the fake blood, that was funny
Kings of Leon - Didn't really watch them. What I heard was alright
The Dandy Warhols - I guess I expected too much. They were a little boring at times
The Mint Chicks - Kody is very energetic isn't he??
Fur Patrol - They always sound good, they can do no wrong
Muse - Enjoyed myself jumping around in the mosh to Muse
The Strokes - Better than i thought they would be. Julian didn't need to make fun of the Metallica fans though. Metallica has more fans than they do!
Aphex Twin - YEAH!!!!!!!!!! danced around (nearly fell over)
Betchadupa - Pretty good actually. A little tired though so I didn't really remember much of their set
Metallica - Of course I had to check it out. I'm not a Metallica fan, but the stuff I heard was amazing! I now can see why people like them
Basement Jaxx - The boiler room was packed with people all wanting a good time. And a good time is what the definately got. I also now know why it's called the 'Boiler Room'. Thank god for that walk through mist tent!
The Flaming Lips - Nice video show, balloons, lights. That guy talked way too much though. Dancing animals were highly disturbing. It's also impossible to take a guitarist in a pink costume seriously. Oh, and what was up with that Nun puppet?

Great meeting : Heather (finally), The Dandy Warhols, The Darkness, Zed (again! Good to catch up with Nath), Elemeno P, Devin Abrams (Shapeshifter), Peaches, Muse, Steve (from Fur Patrol), Everyone at the C4 tent, this chick with this hand painted 'The Darkness' dress, The guy who talks too much (Flaming Lips), Liam Finn, Julian Casablancas.

Not bad for my first ever BDO....