The number of people dressed in black t-shirts was noticeable as far back as Federation Square, as the hordes of music fans made their way towards the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

Having witnessed Mariachi El Bronx two nights earlier at Billboard, it was fascinating to see the same musicians in their hard rock alter ego, The Bronx, already ripping the half-empty bowl a new one, at the very un-rock’n’roll time of 7PM.

This was the last night of the Kanye West Big Day Out tour and The Sidney Myer Music Bowl was buzzing with excited punters. At 8:30PM the words “ACT 1”, followed by a cheesy painting of Roman statues, was projected onto the huge backdrop as the Jay-Z and Kanye single “H.A.M.” signaled that it was time to give up on the impossibly long drink queues and take a position.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds (formed in 2010) brought with them tonight every English and Irish person from St Kilda and through strobe light after strobe light we witnessed a ‘Gallagher’ in action.

A totally sold out crowd pumped the place with passion and uber enthusiasm. Drinks were poured into plastic cups at Noel’s request, which tells me he is a paranoid man and I guess with his past, one cannot blame him.

Rebecca Houlden's photos from the Melbourne Big Day Out continues with pictures of Soundgarden (pictured above), Foster The People, Kitty, Daisy and Lewis and Kanye West. Click HERE to see part one.

Rebecca Houlden takes us to the Big Day Out in Melbourne and captures the amazing performances of Kasabian, Frenzal Rhomb, Mariachi El Bronx, Cage The Elephant, The Living End (pictured) and many more...

Ah Big Day Out… the festival that has been running like a freight train year after year only to be halted this year by slow ticket sales and a ‘weak lineup’. And despite all my concerns leading into the day Ken West (minus Vivian Lees for the first time ever) pulled it off and put on a more than enjoyable day.

There was a thing at this gig that became curiously weird; Battles, a mainly instrumental band using new styles of music composition were playing in a venue with old concrete walls. Walking into particular areas of The Forum and then smelling an odour of dampness was peculiar for a place that looked hugely grandiose from the outside (although I’ve been in venues that have smelt worse). If it was a person, The Forum would be with growing old with dignity as rather than getting painful facelifts to retain its youth.

Being a pretentious wank, I’m used to attending gigs in tiny rooms with a handful of other conceited punters who spent half their night looking disinterested while composing a smarmy Facebook status update on their smart phones to show the rest of the world how cool they are. So it was a grand experience to see every single punter in Festival Hall loosing their shit as what is arguably one of the best live bands of our generation strutted their stuff onstage and damn near caused a riot, with numerous revellers being bailed up by security as they made their merry way out onto the streets at the end of the show.