The Red Hot Chili Peppers have brought the opening day of the Big Day Out to a fitting finale as Sydney sweltered in record heat.
With temperatures at the Sydney Showground topping 45 degrees, many festival-goers concentrated on keeping cool.
But that didn't stop a huge crowd from cheering on the veteran rock band who dazzled with a 90-minute set of greatest hits.
The show began with frontman ANTHONY KIEDIS bounding onto the stage, clad in a long black trench coat and baseball cap, and breaking into the disco-flavoured Monarchy Of Roses from current album I'm With You.
Set highlights included the ever-breezy Scar Tissue, an epic sprawling version of Snow (Hey Oh), the customary crowd singalong to Under The Bridge and an extended version of Californication.
Fellow American rockers The Killers justified their tag as co-headliners with a blistering high energy set.
Material from the current album Battle Born was kept to a minimum in favour of the well-trodden hits.
Other highlights from the day included Vampire Weekend playing a blissed out set. Foals returned to Australia with their third album Holy Fire and Crystal Castles tore it up in the Boiler Room.
