YouTube Video by JonHawaii2003 Tool - Cold and Ugly live 1993.
The Big Mele took place in Hawaii at Kualoa Ranch which faced scenic "China Man's Hat" in the beautiful backdrop of paradise. The outdoor festival took place from sunrise into the starry nights from 1993 till 1999. The music genre was: grunge, hip hop, punk, dance hall and rock provided by Goldenvoice and other sponsors such as T&C Surf and Streets of Madness, where I worked as a teenager at the time. As far as I can remember, the festival also included food, piercing, tattoo artist and much more vendors. I really wish I had taken pictures of this memorable time for many of my generation's high life living on the rock. The Mele's were always hot, dusty and outright bitchin'. People would all gather to watch their favorite bands under the Hawaiian sun; enjoying good music, friends and people watching. Along with the music of the time period, skateboarders were on a ramp skating to live performances by:
- 1993 (Inaugural): The Violent Femmes, Stone Temple Pilots, Tool, Fishbone and Primus
- 1994: Porno for Pyros, Blind Melon, Social Distortion, Chokebore, NOFX
- 1995: Tool (Canceled and mocked), Rancid, Down By Law, Face to Face, Guttermouth
- 1996: Cypress Hill, Presidents of the United States, No Doubt, Dance Hall Crashers, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Dishwalla, and CIV
- 1997: Wu-Tang Clan, 311, NoFX, Save Ferris, and Incubus
- 1998: Matchbox 20, Blink-182, Candlebox, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Homegrown, and the Long Beach Dub Allstars
- 1999: The Offspring, Bad Religion, Fun Lovin' Criminals, The Vandals, NOFX (surprise 3 song set), and The Flys (Held at the Turtle Bay Hilton)
Gosh, I miss those care free days as a youngster in O' Hawai'i nei. Those days really feel like faint dreams now. I only attended the Big Mele's from 1993 till 1997, then the music started to change and so did I. I guess all good things must come to an end and so did the Big Mele's in 2000. Radio Free Hawaii had a lot of influence in diversifying Hawaii's music culture. They had a system of submitting music/song ballots every week which were collected from ballot boxes at retail locations. Each week they would tally up the ballots for the top requested songs of the people. They also showcased new music suggestions by their listeners & gave them their due glory on air. You can check out Radio Free Hawaii's Chart Archive also if you want to see and hear more about the Big Mele 1997 from the Honolulu Starbulletin Archive.
