Loyal punters enjoy downsized day out

The Big Day Out wasn't as big as usual yesterday but it was still a great day out for 12,000 Perth music lovers.

The summer institution used to pull crowds of 40,000 each year but attracted a fraction of that to new venue McCallum Park.

Festival chief executive Adam Zammit said the decision to cut superstar rapper Kanye West from the Perth bill had hit ticket sales.

"We took away one of our headline acts and we got a smack on the bum from the Perth punters," he said.

While West did not head west, more than 50 bands did, performing over seven stages.

Kiwi-born pop starlet Kimbra pulled a big crowd at the same time as Perth rapper Drapht filled the Boiler Stage tent.

Aussie festival stalwarts The Living End invited Matt Caughthran, lead singer of LA punk outfit the Bronx, to the main stage to belt out Breed by Nirvana, who played the first Big Day Out 20 years ago.

ARIA Award winners Boy & Bear surpassed Kimbra's audience on the green stage before the crowd caught Fremantle popsters San Cisco.

US dance pop outfit Foster the People celebrated their debut album, Torches, topping the Australian album charts this week with a fired-up performance on a packed green stage. Grunge and BDO veterans Soundgarden headlined the main stage and ex-Oasis star Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds closed the green stage.

Police gave move-on notices to 19 fence jumpers and made 17 drug seizures.

Picture: Lincoln Baker