Special Guests Announced for Sydney, Melbourne & Adelaide Big Day Outs!

There’s just under a week to go! The 2012 BIG DAY OUT will kick off its 20th Anniversary trek on Friday, 20 January, making its very first pit stop in Auckland, New Zealand. Maps and playing times for each city of the tour are now online (did we mention Big Day Out’s swanky new mobile App, where fans can get busy creating their very own custom schedules?).

Now there’s even more additions for punters to include! Big Day Day Out have announced four special guest artist performances in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. Start your engines …

SPECIAL GUESTS SYDNEY: GRINSPOON
Thursday, 26 January, 2012 – Sydney Showgrounds
Essential Stage: 8.30pm – 9.20pm

Australia has a history of producing killer rock bands, and few come finer – or play harder – than GRINSPOON. No strangers to BIG DAY OUT punters, it was way back in 1997 that the then Lismore-based outfit first smashed through the airwaves with their debut album, Guide to Better Living. Since then they’ve churned out hit after hit: Just Ace, DCX3, Ready 1, Chemical Heart, Lost Control, Hard Act To Follow and much more.

The mighty Grinners will interrupt studio preproduction on their new album (expected to drop this year) to represent Australian indie rock at BIG DAY OUT in Sydney for the honour, and competitive challenge, of playing the Essential Stage going head to head with Soundgarden and Kanye West! Expect big riffs, solid hits, Phil’s acid tongue and a cheeky sense of humour. Sydney your support is mandatory! Grinners want you there.

SPECIAL GUESTS MELBOURNE: GRIND TIME NOW AUSTRALIA
Sunday, 29 January, 2012 – Flemington Racecourse
Boiler Room: 12.20pm – 12.40pm

For years the Big Day Out has lead the way in delivering exciting new acts, and 2012 is no exception. This year they’re teaming up with GRIND TIME NOW AUSTRALIA to deliver one of the more core, exciting elements of hip-hop – live rap battles!

Those who caught the sensational online clip of Melbourne rapper extraordinaire 360 versus Sydney lad Kerser last month will know just what rap battles are all about. Some of your favourite hip-hop artists came up through the battle scene: think KRS-1, Immortal Technique, Cassidy, and more. Now, GRIND TIME NOW AUSTRALIA – a division of Grind Time Now, the world’s largest rap battle league – is heading to the BIG DAY OUT for the very first time! Never seen a live battle take place? You’re in for a treat. Hip-hop fans should get themselves to the Boiler Room for the ultimate crash course!

SPECIAL GUESTS ADELAIDE: DAS RACIST
Friday, 3 February, 2012 – Adelaide Showground
Hot Produce Stage: 7.30pm – 8.15pm

Chaos. What else would you expect from a trio touting weed-edge/Hare Krishna hardcore/art-rap/freak-folk? That’s DAS RACIST, and a little of their chaos goes a long way – all the way from Brooklyn, New York to BIG DAY OUT 2012. After racking up YouTube hits with Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, Spin voted DAS RACIST a must-hear at SXSW 2010… A year and two mix-tapes later, the group was on the magazine’s cover with debut album Relax.

Currently one of the hottest acts in hip-hop, DAS RACIST are now making their way down to Adelaide to give SA fans a taste of what the New York Times called “actual chaos: a thrilling unreliability”. Don’t miss them!

SPECIAL GUESTS ADELAIDE: THE LIVING END
Friday, 3 February, 2012 – Adelaide Showground
Skate Stage: 6.00pm – 6.45pm

You asked for it: after much petitioning from local fans, BIG DAY OUT is proud to be welcoming THE LIVING END back to Adelaide! The high-octane Melbourne trio will take to the Skate Stage in order to perform a special soundtrack to Tony Hawk’s BDO Vert Jam – very fitting, given their track End of the World was featured on the Tony Hawk Underground 2 skateboarding video game!

With two more ARIAs under their belt in 2011 – one for Best Rock Album in The Ending Is Just the Beginning Repeating, plus a gong for Best Rock Live Act – THE LIVING END are unstoppable. Let’s face it: there was no way drummer & Adelaide boy Andy Strachan was going to let his band get off the hook that easily …

LILYWORLD GOES FREE RANGE!

Those lovable middle-aged kooks have been set free on your Big Day Out – no longer cooped up in their Lilyworld they are coming out to get you!

Look out for their Soft Toy Cannon, Big Balls, Ambient Surfboard or Pancake Happiness Centre….coming to a corner of the site near you!

The *2012 BIG DAY OUT features: KANYE WEST, SOUNDGARDEN, KASABIAN, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, THE LIVING END, NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS, HILLTOP HOODS, NERO, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, PARKWAY DRIVE, GIRL TALK, BLUEJUICE, RÖYKSOPP, BATTLES, THE JEZABELS, ART VS. SCIENCE, BASSNECTAR, OFWGKTA, ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI, KIMBRA, REGURGITATOR, THE VACCINES, TONITE ONLY, MARIACHI EL BRONX, THE BRONX, CAGE THE ELEPHANT, DRAPHT, FOSTER THE PEOPLE, FRENZAL RHOMB, THE GETAWAY PLAN, PAPA VS PRETTY, BOY & BEAR, BEST COAST, CALLING ALL CARS, ABBE MAY, SHOCKONE + MC SHURESHOCK, MISS KITTIN, DAS RACIST, THE T-REK BAND, KING CANNONS, THE AMITY AFFLICTION, FAKER, STONEFIELD, KITTY, DAISY AND LEWIS, GRINSPOON, GRIND TIME NOW AUSTRALIA, JJJ UNEARTHED WINNERS, MY SCHOOL ACT WINNERS plus TONY HAWK VERT JAM, THE KINGS OF VERT AND LEGENDS OF VERT

For further details on Big Day Out, click HERE