From a surprise Tony Armstrong song to the return of Flume, Splendour felt back
By Mick Radojkovic
The rain was (mostly) gone, the grass had regrown, and the vibe was back.
As a result, the future of Splendour in the Grass, Australia’s only remaining large-scale outdoor music festival, is assured according to Secret Sounds Co-CEO and festival organiser Jessica Ducrou, following a washed-out event last year and concerns of low ticket sales leading into this year’s festival.
Joey Walker and Stu Mackenzie of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.Credit: Matt Jelonek/Getty Images
“I don’t think it was unexpected,” she said, referring to lower-than-hoped-for attendance. “After last year’s event and coming out of the pandemic and the economic climate, we weren’t surprised. The upside is that everyone here is having a brilliant time and reconnecting with Splendour.”
With 10,000 to 15,000 fewer people on site this year than last, the question is: does Splendour need to go back to a larger format?
Before this year, queues were only getting longer and the amphitheatre more clogged, with disgruntled and cold patrons having to wait 30 minutes in the toilet queue or four hours for a bus at the end of the night. This time around, the size of the crowd felt just about right for the site as it stands.
There are moments that stand out at a good Splendour. There’s that feeling of bliss lying on the amphitheatre hill in the sun.
That first slice of sound coming from the stage for an artist you’ve been dying to see. That swell of panic when you think you’ve lost your phone. With so much investment (both financial and emotional) going into attending a festival, all you really hope for are positive memories that you can look back on in the years to come.
This year’s Splendour was a redemption story but also a reminder that persistence is key. Fans who were unable to, or chose not to, attend the 21st birthday of Australia’s biggest youth music festival, held in Byron Shire, NSW, missed a chance to witness the rebirth and reset of something that is vital to the live music scene in this country.
“It’s really difficult to explain to people how abnormal last year was,” Ducrou said. “We had nine months of rain in the region, it was soaked already, and then trying to put a big show on top of that out of the pandemic when a lot of our suppliers were new – the challenges were extraordinary.”
Lizzo’s headlining set on Friday night was full of self-affirming reassurance from the Bad Bitch herself, who created the party atmosphere that we all desperately needed.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs perform at Splendour.Credit: Matt Jelonek/Getty Images
For the front-row fan whose rear end was signed by the artist (and subsequently tattooed) in a pure and hilarious highlight of the set, there is a permanent memory of a joyful night.
The crowd figures for up-and-coming Australian acts were noticeably high. Mia Wray, Teenage Dads, Royel Otis and Full Flower Moon Band all attracted numbers that would probably track as their largest ever.
On-stage surprises are a big part of any festival show, and this year was no different. Flume brought out no fewer than five guests to accompany him on stage. His set, spanning the ten years of his stunning career, was attended by a large proportion of the audience on Saturday night, with the rest of the site feeling like a ghost town.
Flume’s Splendour set spanned 10 years of his work.Credit: Matt Jelonek/Getty Images
In other appearances, Budjerah jumped up with Meg Mac, Allday with Memphis LK and, perhaps most curiously, ABC personality Tony Armstrong with Jack River. Splendour, as with many festivals, has been rightly called out for its lack of female representation in the past, but credit has to go to the decision to book a strong list of women performers.
Jack River and Tony Armstrong perform ‘Endless Summer’.Credit: Triple J
Sudan Archives, Little Simz, Pussy Riot, BENEE, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Tove Lo, as well as Lizzo, brought a strong, and sometimes radical, energy that reverberated throughout the weekend.
“It’s quite a diverse lineup for us,” Ducrou said. “I can’t just keep doing what everyone expects, because that would be damn boring.”
Despite the addition of some genuinely interesting and diverse artists, like Colombian reggaeton sensation J Balvin and K-pop artists Balming Tiger, the festival lineup took very few risks. The returns by Mumford and Sons, Hilltop Hoods, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Pnau, not to mention Flume, were some of the safest options organisers could have taken to lure mainstream audiences back after last year.
But when Marcus Mumford’s refrain of “I will wait, I will wait for you”, rang around the North Byron Parklands, it felt like an apt and comfortable reward for those of us who had waited for a return to the glory days of Splendour in the Grass.
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