As always the first couple of hours were a bit of a blur as far as bands were concerned. The priorities were simple - arm yourself with a plentiful supply of drink tickets (no limits, yay!), buy as many drinks as you can carry, find a spot in the already crowded grandstand, and take in the atmosphere. Brisbane's Not From There were churning out some of their trademark industrial noise on the main stage, but their newer material shows some more dance-oriented leanings, with one track in particular carrying some samba flavourings which wouldn't have been out of place at the Ricky Martin extravaganza later that night. The Livid Lounge Bar was the designated meet-up point for Reddog and crew, and first on the musical menu was Brisbane producer Grant Wallis AKA Pharmacy. This man is one of Brisbane's busiest (not to mention most diverse) musos, and his concoction today was dark and dirty, with plenty of up-tempo breaks, creative scratching, and general electronic weirdness.

If the hordes of people streaming into the Annex were any indication, it would seem B(if)tek have almost reached the summit of their long climb from the underground to the peak of Australian electronica. The term "First Lady of Australian Electronica" is often bandied about, but Kate Crawford and Nicole Skeltys are clearly the reigning Queens. From tunes that combine kitsch and killer beats with basslines that rumbled throughout the cavernous Annex, to a well-honed stage act which included synchronised windmill arm movements and scissor kicks, these girls have it all. There's no other way to say it - B(if)tek rocked in a big way. See 'em before they go overseas.

Back at the main stage, Regurgitator were busily working the moshing youngsters into a frenzy with their satirical slant on pop culture. Despite becoming something of a caricature of their former selves in recent years, the Gurge still know how to deliver a cranking live set, and today was no different. A new tune which saw Ben Ely take the mic for some hardcore rapping even recalled the glory days of the Hamburger EP. If the Gurge represent the beginnings of Brisbane's musical renaissance, then Rollerball signal the arrival of the new breed. Although travelling through the same musical realms inhabited so brilliantly by Black Sabbath and Kyuss in the past, the 'Ball sound anything but derivative. Indeed, tunes like "Jonathon E" and "Lake of Life" (with an intro which recalls Golden Earring's "Radar Love") weigh in on the higher end of the Richter Scale, and their sizzling take on Stevie Wright's classic "Evie" all but makes the song their own.
	What more need be said about The Bird. They came, they saw, they tore the Annex apart with a selection of tunes which beat you around the head with their sheer power, and they had everyone within earshot dancing like freaks. If only they'd been afforded half as much volume as B(if)tek, it would have been yet another classic Bird performance.
Of all the internationals on this year's line-up, none had me frothing at the mouth with anticipation as much as British three-piece Muse. Their debut album Showbiz is one of the year's best, and despite a soundcheck which cut into the length of their set, they delivered all I had expected and so much more. Waif-like vocalist Matthew Bellamy is one of those singers who can soar to the highest of notes with ease, and then push even further through barriers which defy the crowd to sing along - and sing along we did. Tunes like "Cave", "Fillip" and "Showbiz" have a sense of theatrics which seemed to be heightened in the live environment - the quiet interludes were quieter (even without the shimmering piano runs which dominate the album), Bellamy's voice seemed even more tortured, and when they kicked in with one of those big riffs, the crowd entered pogo territory. What a band. What a performance. Radiohead better start watching their backs.

We wandered around in a daze after the enormity of the Muse performance, and somehow managed to find our way to a Vege Burger and a Bar (of course) before heading over to the Zoo Stage for Brisbane's pre-emminent dub-meisters Broken Head. As tends to happen at these festivals the rest of the crew materialised out of thin air and began regaling eachother with tales of musical brilliance ("Aww man, you should have seen Magic Dirt!" "Did you see Muse?") and lost opportunities ("I saw the first song but went and watched No Doubt", which met with much shaking of heads). It was a shame that Broken Head had to contend with the dinnertime crowd and the arrival of the big names on the other stages, because their set tonight proved yet again why they are developing a solid following. A Brisbane supergroup of sorts comprising Ben Ely of the Gurge on drums, and Skritch of Gota Cola fame and Guy Webster alternating between guitar and bass, Broken Head fuse dub-heavy basslines with jazzy drum n bass rhythms, at one stage prompting one of my crew to suggest they sounded a bit like the golden age of The Orb. And he's not too far off the mark, though one feels that these guys are looking to fill dancefloors rather than chill rooms.
	Royal Crown Revue were clear winners of the best dressed band award for the day, and from the frontman's opening joke quoting Dean Martin, it was apparent we were in for a show with a difference. It was like a small pocket of musicians from the Big Band era had been frozen in carbonite ala Han Solo for a few decades, then thawed out and thrown together on stage for the amusement of the young punks in the crowd. But the Big Top was filled with plenty of big smiles and dancing couples as Royal Crown Revue displayed their awesome musical chops to the delight of the crowd. The swinging final track was a showstopper in true Las Vegas style, with the sax player, trumpeter and guitarist each taking a solo before vacating the stage to leave only the stand-up bassist and drummer behind. The drummer got up from behind his kit while keeping the beat with his sticks, then proceeded to beat out a rhythm on the bass strings while the bassist fingered the notes. Un-fucking-believable! He then took a breathtaking solo of his own, before the rest of the band re-joined them on stage for a grand finale which had all and sundry joining them in the catch-cry of "Hey!" Even the coldest of hearts would have found it hard to deny the infectiousness of their performance.
The Dandy Warhols were always going to struggle to match the energy levels of Royal Crown Revue, but they didn't even bother trying. In fact, their set was a laidback dirge of the psychedlic variety which made you wonder if they'd spent much of the day curled up in their trailer sampling the local herbal and chemical delicacies. The triple guitar and keyboard attack channelled an almighty wall of sound which attmepted to beat the crowd into submission with it's immensity, though the Dandy's were clearly at their best when they upped the tempo on the Stones-esques boogie of "Bohemian Like You" and "Get Off". Massive kudos to keyboard playing vixen Zia McCabe, who is so rock n roll she can play keys with one hand while smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer with the other. Any self-respecting Aussie bloke would be proud to call her his own.

A quick bout of R n R of a different variety was needed, so it was back to the main arena where The Cure were showing that Pink Floyd style Prog Rock is alive and well. It's not that they weren't good - I was actually quite impressed by some of their more powerful sonic moments - it's just that their set seemed directed solely at the dedicated Cure fan rather than the punter in the street. Still, they had most of the crowd mesmerised, which was surely their intention. Lou Reed knew that the punters wanted dirty rock n roll, and he delivered it in spades. Clad in more leather than you could possibly need, Lou and band pumped out the classics ("Waiting For The Man", "sweet Jane", "Small Town" et al) to rapturous applause, and even some of the techno crowd could be seen happily grooving away at the back of the Big Top. Only at a festival......

A crush of people was swarming towards the exit gates, but there was still time for one last glimpse of festival madness with The Jungle Brothers. By this time it was standing room only at the Annex, and unfortunately most of the vibes had been sucked out of the tunes by the time they reached the back of the room. But it didn't matter. Once again, another festival had come and gone, and despite my initial reservations about the line-up, Livid 2000 more than lived up to expectations. I'm sure most of the 40,000 strong crowd went home with the same feeling - a sweet combination of exhilaration and complete exhaustion.