Yesterday’s Splendour In The Grass lineup wrought equal amounts of jubilation and FOMO upon social media, along with your inevitable criticism that despite bringing together over 100 of the biggest bands in the world and most buzz-worthy up-and-comers, it’s still not good enough.
Oh well, you can’t please everyone (but seriously guys, come on). However, there was another cause for celebration brought by the announcement of Splendour 2015’s eagerly anticipated lineup – the ratio of male to female acts.
The issue was thrust into the spotlight recently after the organisers of the UK’s Reading and Leeds festivals were faced with criticism over a lack of female acts on their lineups. However, promoter Melvin Benn defended his flagship event.
“The facts speak for themselves in terms of female acts that were available at that time and that fit the Reading and Leeds bill. There’s nobody more committed to gender equality than I am, but I can’t make an act that isn’t there,” Benn told NME.
“I can’t pretend we’re not conscious of it,” he said of the lack of women on the 100-strong Reading bill, which featured just nine female acts. “But we can’t put a bill together based on gender, we can only put a bill together based on availability and appropriateness.”
Benn echoed the sentiments of numerous promoters, who insisted that the lack of female acts on their lineups were simply the result of who was appropriate and who was available. “We don’t book based on the contents of artists’ pants,” Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah said on Twitter.
Whether Splendour organisers made a conscious effort or not to feature more female acts on their lineup is up for speculation, but the numbers are certainly promising and could indicate that the tide is finally turning.
This year’s Splendour lineup features a total of 28 female acts or acts with female members. This is out of a lineup featuring a whopping 102 performers, this equates to a 27 percent female representation in the Splendour In The Grass 2015 lineup.
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And it’s not just Splendour who are leading the way for gender diversity on festival lineups. As Tone Deaf reported earlier this year, St Jerome’s Laneway Festival could well be the most female friendly in Australia, with a lineup that was 32 percent female, including several headlining artists.
Splendour’s lineup is particularly noteworthy, however, because there is such a diverse range of female talent on the roster. The bill features many prominent female-led acts like Florence + The Machine and Of Monsters & Men, as well as up-and-comers like Ecca Vandal.
As for how Splendour booked a more egalitarian lineup than its international peers, it could be due to numerous factors, from a conscious decision to do so, to convenient scheduling among the artist pool. It could also be argued that Splendour’s favoured genres feature more female stars.
We’ll leave it up to readers to decide. Regardless, the Splendour lineup, which you can check out below, proves that it’s possible to book a quality festival lineup with a strong degree of female representation that appeals to an event’s core fan base – promoters take note.
Splendour In The Grass 2015
Blur
Florence + The Machine
Mark Ronson
Of Monsters & Men
The Wombats
Tame Impala
Peking Duk
Ryan Adams
Flight Facilities
Royal Blood (Only AUS Show)
Death Cab For Cutie
Earl Sweatshirt
Boy & Bear
Porter Robinson
The Dandy Warhols
(Only AUS Show)
Xavier Rudd & The United Nations
Azealia Banks
The Rubens
Jamie T
Pond
Spiritualized
(Only AUS Show)
Alison Wonderland
Thundamentals
Best Coast
Everything Everything
San Cisco
Ms Mr
Jarryd James
Purity Ring
Allday
Carmada
The Grates
The Smith Street Band
Tkay Maidza
Johnny Marr
Last Dinosaurs
Megan Washington
The Vaccines
#1 Dads
The Church
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
The King Khan & Bbq Show
Alpine
Catfish & The Bottlemen
Paul Mac
Dustin Tebbutt
Mø
Years And Years
Jenny Lewis
C.W. Stoneking
Seekae
George Maple
Elliphant
Client Liason
Palma Violets
Safia
Hayden James
Dune Rats
Wolf Alice
Meg Mac
Cosmo’s Midnight
Marmozets
Oh Mercy
Mansionair
The Districts
Shlohmo
Elizabeth Rose
The Delta Riggs
Circa Waves
Nancy Whang
Eves The Behavior
Urban Cone
Art Of Sleeping
Japanese Wallpaper
Gengahr
Bad//Dreems
Ecca Vandal
Holy Holy
Vallis Alps
Uv Boi
The Babe Rainbow
Harts
Generik
Young Franco
Mickey Kojak
Gl
Benson
Harvey Sutherland
Total Giovanni Djs
Dugong Jr
I’lls
Akouo
Noise In My Head
Triple J Unearthed Winners
Joyride
Post Percy
Ara Koufax
Cc:Disco!
Adi Toohey
Set Mo
Edd Fisher
Mike Who
Shantan Wantan Ichiban
Tickets on sale 9am AEST Thursday, 23rd April 2015
Friday, 24th July, Saturday, 25th July & Sunday, 26th July
2015
North Byron Parklands
, Tweed Valley Way, Wooyung VIC
Tickets: Moshtix | 1300 GET TIX (438 849)
