Splendour 2015: dedicated to the countless trees who sacrificed their lives to become wood chips so that people didn’t fall on their asses stumbling from the Captain Morgan Pirate Ship to the Smirnoff Cocktail Bar.

Early player Harts rocked the debut act for the GW McLennan tent, giving a performance that blew away the crowd despite the early play time.

Meanwhile dwarfed by the giant Amphitheater stage, Ecca Vandal was her usual amazing self, a huge voice and ball of energy dancing and leaping about.


1pm might have been a little early to check out the show in the You C*nt Stop the Music tent. Seeing a man with a five foot beard lazily whipping a guy wearing blue striped pyjamas humping a giant stuffed donkey whilst cranking Devo’s ‘Whip It’ was… A little much to handle sober. We’ll try back after a drink or several and see if the show makes more sense then.

For between performance intellectual discourse, (and a chance to sit on a chair and not in a mud pat) The Guardian Lounge tent hosted a bunch of cool and clever forums through-out the day, with festival artists and industry heavy-weights weighing in on a bunch of topics.

Festival staples San Cisco played a great set, with ‘Awkward’ still goes off like it did back when it was first charting.

Across the other side of the festival Adelaide rocker Tkay Maidza was rocking up the Mix Up Stage

Meanwhile over at the Tiny Dancer stage it was less a dance party and more a groove fest with Aussie-English collab Seekae.

Firemane played to a modest crowd in the Global Village, but proved there really is something for everyone at Splendour, a quasi-interactive Peruvian/Australian singing and dance act preaching love and empowerment for self.

The Rubens smashed it out of the park with a brilliant performance, followed by Death Cab for Cutie, their first time back in Australia in several years and sporting a couple of new players in the lineup giving them a rich sound they’ve never quite managed live before.

Seeing in the first evening, Of Monsters and Men played a packed out gig, with torrential rain not being enough to dampen spirits, and the whole crowd singing dancing along to their hits.

Ryan Adams drew a decent crowd despite topping and tailing his set with two serious clashes, but nonetheless rocked the GW McLennan tent with his country stylings.

Finally, closing out the first night’s main stage performances was Mark Ronson whose wicked groove was enough to keep people dancing through the set and all the way back to their busses and tents.

Photos: Mikki Gomez

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