Day Two
Click here for your day one report. Day two of Splendour dawned early, despite the night’s party lasting well into the early hours of the morning.
The earliest act of the day was the Gyuto Monks Chanting, an intoxicating half hour in the Global Village that seemed to go on forever yet was over in a snap. Heady days.
The mud, which was quirky and fun to slip around in yesterday has officially become a killing machine (killer of clean clothes that is) and the white lace and light paisley of Friday has given way to tracky dacks and sweaters as punters accept the inevitably of a mudslide at some point throughout the day.
Kicking off the Amphitheater action for the day was Skeggs, a Byron Bay local act who have recently recorded an EP in New York. These guys have a cool, and unique sound amongst the industry, and are a group to keep an eye on.
Meg Mac smashed her performance in the GW McLennan tent; sharp, clean, witty, and awesome lyrics, she’s basically the embodiment of everything you want in a music festival set.
With so much going on every moment of the day, Splendour is a music festival you could spend a whole weekend at, without seeing a musical act. Once again the Guardian Lounge hosted a litany of clever and interesting segments through-out the day, Splendour in the Craft put on wildly popular craft workshops, and Global Village was a constant stream of circus, cabaret, dancing, and art.
The Dandy Warhols, who compared with a lot of the younger acts of the weekend are practically the grandfathers of festivals (ok maybe the dads), but for an almost fifty year old, Courtney Taylor-Taylor is still up there with the green thumbs with his uber high energy and stage antics. Playing through the anthology of their classics, ‘Bohemian Like You’ went off in the way a that only nostalgia-inducing numbers can.
You C*nt Stop the Music tent is no more understandable after a few drinks, but perhaps a little more alluring, with punters getting on stage to join in the dancing.
Taking out the night was Florence and the Machine, whose ethereal and soaring highs had the thousands-strong crowd in awe their entire set.
Day Three
With the mud making news across the country (some hyperbole, seriously though it was just so. much. mud) , day three of Splendour in the Grass (mud) proved too much for some people, who departed early, fleeing like refugees with their soaked tents and filthy clothes bundled on their backs.
But for most, it was an opportunity to embrace nature – physically, as stacking it was no longer a ‘hehe whoops’ so much as a ‘third time this hour’ event.
Meanwhile, those Amish people we kept seeing all weekend thinking huh nice costume collab? Yeah, real Amish. Who knew.
Sunday felt kind of lazy. Apparently the mud and the distance between stages was too much to put up with for most of the day, because outside the Amphitheater stage, sets were sparsely attended, and the frenetic energy of Friday and Saturday had given way to half hearted swaying on the spot (as feet had mostly been glued ankle deep into the ground).
Last Dinosaurs put on an admirable show, followed by British crooners The Vaccines who saw the last day morph into night.
Stars of the GW McLennan tent were Kitty Daisy and Lewis followed by the always fabulous Megan Washington.
Pop DJ Alison Wonderland was decent filler until Tame Impala arrived with a performance that stirred even the tiredest, most sleep deprived attenders into one final dance party, serving as a great warm up to the final players of the weekend, classic rockers Blur who saw the night out.
Song 2 went off exactly as you’d expect, making everyone forget just for a few minutes that they are so tired, and so god damn done with festivals at least until summer.
Photos: Mikki Gomez and Liam Cameron
