Annually heralded as both the benchmark of things to come and a summary of just how great the year before was for music, this year's Big Day Out looks pretty darn special (to the point where we looked at the price of flights before writing up this news piece). Last year's festival saw the return of PJ Harvey and the cementing of her relationship with the Queens of the Stone Age guys, after which she ended up singing like she'd been getting more than technical advice from Josh Homme in the studio whilst working on the 'Desert Sessions'.

The 2004 line-up announced so far includes: Metallica, The Strokes, The Flaming Lips, The Mars Volta, The Dandy Warhols, Aphex Twin, DJ Luke Vibert, Basement Jaxx, Black Eyed Peas, Peaches, The Hoodoo Gurus, Something For Kate, Trey, Downsyde, Gerling, Jet, The Butterfly Effect, Magic Dirt, The Datsuns... and there are many more to be announced.

And it takes place...
Fri Jan 16th Auckland, Ericsson Stadium
Sun Jan 18th Gold Coast, Parklands
Fri Jan 23rd Sydney, Sydney Showgrounds
Mon Jan 26th Melbourne, Melbourne RAS Showground
Fri Jan 30th Adelaide, Royal Showground
Sun Feb 1st Perth, Claremont Showground

Tickets are on sale now.

DiScuss: Anyone know how to get really cheap flights? Anyone know who some of those Aussie bands, like Something for Kate are? Can you name the three albums Jet own?