While the news of Britpop giants Blur dropping out of their co-headline spot at Big Day Out 2014 came as a shock to many, including festival organisers, one Australian band have swept in to save the day: Wolfmother are vying for the coveted spot between Arcade Fire and Pearl Jam.
Ahead of another ‘secret show’, this time seeing the reformed Wolfmother playing a last-minute show at Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory, frontman Andrew Stockdale posted a letter of intent to the band’s official Facebook page, declaring, “On behalf of the band and myself, may I say we’re keen!”
The post was then taken down, but Associate Editor of Rolling Stone Indonesia, Hasief Ardiasyah, managed to take a screen capture of the post before sharing it with the public in a tweet. Stockdale’s message urged fans to go to BDO’s Facebook page and “put in the good word.”
Meanwhile, Melbourne rockers The Delta Riggs had big news for their fans, telling them via Facebook that, “We are replacing BLUR on the BDO. Hash tag, Fuck yeah,” before announcing that their co-headline slot would be “a Blur covers set,” much to the delight of their fans.
San Diego surf rockers Wavves also took to social media to vie for one of the BDO top-spots, tweeting festival organisers, saying, “we’ll take their spot.” Of course organisers have their own “list of targets” whom they are currently contacting, according to BDO investor AJ Maddah.
Readers can check out Music Feeds‘ own list of suggestions and Wolfmother’s message, below. If Wolfmother do indeed get chosen by festival organisers, it would be their first time playing the festival as Wolfmother since 2011, having previously played the festival in 2005 and 2006.
Gallery: 9 Potential Replacements For Blur’s Big Day Out Spot
Well, you can't blame @positron76 and @wolfmother for trying… pic.twitter.com/cbbaGD7tlh
— Hasief Ardiasyah (@hasief) November 25, 2013
@triplej @blurofficial @bigdayout we'll take their spot
— WAVVES (@wavves) November 23, 2013
BDO Blur Replacement
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Foofighters
Foo Fighters: Number one on our own list of targets. Fooies just announced their live comeback with some dates in Mexico City -- does that mean they're out of the studio already? They might not satisfy every Blur fan, but you know they're gonna sell tickets. Time for Dave Grohl to live up to that nice guy reputation once again. -
Bowie
David Bowie: He's definitely free, and even though that Primavera appearance chat turned out to be a hoax, he's gotta hit the stage at some point this album cycle, right? Arcade Fire could put a good word in, and if Pearl Jam are OK with sharing the limelight, BDO could pull off the greatest recovery in festival history. Fingers crossed. -
Pulp
Pulp: Here's one for the Britpop fans. They may never have scaled the mountains of success like Blur did, but they certainly share an audience. Cocker and co. haven't been here since 2011 either. Even AJ Maddah thinks it's a good idea! -
Silverchair
Silverchair: They're BDO heroes, they'll cater to the Australia Day crowd in Sydney, and a reformation might even sell a few more tickets too. Sure, Johnsy might be working on his solo album, but he may just be willing to take one for the team, suck it up and blow us all away one more time. -
Wolfmother
Wolfmother: One from the "we've just reformed, we're available, hire me" files. Eh, it's an idea. And if Big Day Out can replace the Black Keys with Paul Dempsey, who's to say they won't have to settle for a less popular replacement for Blur? Speaking of… -
Blackkeys
The Black Keys: Dan Auerbach and Pat Carney pulled out of BDO 2011 due to "exhaustion," so we think it's high time they paid their respects. They may have been here late 2012, but early this year they said "we hope to be back touring our new album by the end of the year." Make it happen. And release the album while you're at it already! -
Bjork
Bjork: Another BDO drop out, with Bjork cancelling her Sydney set in 2008. Could she swoop in, swan-like, and save the day? We reckon the 90s crowd will dig her. -
Tupachologram
Tupac's Hologram: Hey, we said we're not experts. Pac made an appearance at BDO's sister festival Lollapalooza last year. Could Australian audiences handle 80 minutes of the same? There's always the potential for a Snoop cameo too... -
Abba
ABBA: Yes, we realise this is getting ridiculous, but levity is important in times of crisis. There HAS been talk of an ABBA reunion of late, and given the band's everlasting popularity in Australia they could just be the brightest dark horse Big Day Out have. Given Arcade Fire's recently acquired tastes for disco, they'd have a few fans in the wings as well.
