Splendour In The Grass: Part II

When you're at a two day festival and you're going hard, you can't expect to be first one up in the morning to catch the band with an 11 o clock slot. No way. 12 o clock? Maybe. But thanks to chemical excesses, general lethargy and not wanting to see anyone in the morning we didn't end up arriving at the site till about 1230. And it looked like we weren't the only ones, the place was pretty much empty. Walking into the Supertop got you pretty much straight to the front, but all of that was about to change with the arrival of Airbourne.


Walking into the tent and seeing 4 massive Marshall head/stack combos either side of the drumkit left me with one expectation - fucking ROCK. The lads burst out on stage all with a beer or a bottle of Jack Daniels in hand and from the word go it was a non-stop ride. It's rare that you can see a band exude the energy that these guys did, and it wasnt just every now and then, it was start to finish! Hair everywhere, cock rock solos, alcohol sprayed all over the crowd and to top it all off, vocalist Joel O'Keefe running everywhere like a madman, first to the side of the stage in front of the big screen (if you cant see that photo for some reason) and then climbing up the scaffold at the side of the stage, hanging off with one leg and playing a guitar solo. Considering the tent was empty on our arrival I decided to look behind me again to see the place PACKED, and every single punter with an ear-to-ear grin and banging their heads in approval. Finally it ended to the deafening chants of 'Airbourne! Airbourne!' and all I've got to say is - if these guys are coming to a town/pub/whatever near you, get your ass down there for rock at its finest.

While Gotye didn't really interest me, and I would liked to have seen OK Go it was at that stage in the afternoon I decided to go with the part of our group that was checking out Midnight Juggernauts (or as we liked to call them - the Juggers) who I hadn't seen since their mildly impressive display as a backup band for Electric Six. With a bar just outside the stage and the sun shining brightly we watched the band al fresco. They played a great set, with the usual highlights but unfortunately they had to suffer the worst sound of the festival. Not that is was shit the whole way through, it just took the longest to get all the levels right out of the other bands. Still an absolutely mouthwatering performance though that led the crowd gently into the final evening.


With not as many bands to see on Sunday it wasn't until a bit later in the evening that we made our way back to the Theatre to catch instrumental trio The Dirty Three. I knew virtually nothing about these guys before we saw them. The name rang a bell but that was pretty much it. Walking in I heard what I could have sworn was a double bass until I got in position and saw that it was frontman Warren Ellis on a violin! I've never seen a violin played in as many different ways as I did that night, with a bow, plucked, strummed, hit, everything. The story with these guys is that they started in 93, recorded a bit and now basically just travel everywhere and record individually, coming back every now and then to release a new record and do a tour. You can tell that they're session musicians and while folk-sy kind of music normally isn't my thing I couldn't helped but be moved by these guys. Considering they don't sing, their music certainly says alot. Any instrumental band that can call a song 'Everythings Fucked' and get away with it are geniuses anyway.

Last but certainly not least it was over to the main stage again to see Arctic Monkeys take up the challenge of proving that they're more than a fad. I never used to be into these guys until a few months ago when I heard a Triple J live recording and understood that these guys weren't pretending to be more than they are, they're actually pretty damn good. The place was absolutely packed, I'm talking 4 or more people per square meter and when 1. You're rugged up cos its fucking freezing outside and 2. You're on drugs and want to dance around it got a little crazy in there. Out they came and they played pretty much everything. These guys easily take the plaudits for best sound of the festival (and thats saying something), it was impeccable. Kudos must be paid for penning the phrase 'Cowabunga Motherfuckers' before launching straight into 'Brianstorm' and for a band from Sheffield the singer certainly sounds alot like Liam Gallagher. An absolutely flawless performance that sadly brought two amazing days to an end.

So whats left to be said about Splendour 07?

Pros:
The lineup - Absolute quality of the highest degree. Bands I knew, bands I didn't, either way every single act I witnessed now holds a very special place within my tenderloins.
The weather - After last year, and hearing the horror stories of years before that, two absolutely beautiful days of 28 degrees or so
The stages - The Mixup tent was bigger this year, a great call by organisers.

Cons:
Timetable Clashes - With so many good bands, it was hard to see them all and the 4 o clock Sunday slot left most people divided.
Food and Drink costs - Ten dollars for noodles? Without a drink? Get fucked.
The Crowd - As far as I'm aware there were the same amount of tickets this year and last year. That didnt stop this year feeling a hell of a lot more crowded than last year

Best Band: Its a genuinely hard choice given the quality of acts but I'm gunna throw my vote in for Airbourne. Im not kidding you, do not miss these guys, or I'll come to your house and bash you.

Biggest Dickhead: The guy that climbed the pole during the Cat Empire on Saturday night. The collective cheers of the crowd as he made it up the girder in the middle of the tent soon turned the other way and people started worrying 'holy shit this guys gunna fall'. You could see the band casting glimpses too. Had he fallen he would have died, hurt or killed the people he landed on, Splendour would have been cancelled and that was it. You're not a legend mate, you're a fucking dickhead. Oh.. and the 69% of people who couldn't afford an extra three dollars to get a green ticket and neutralise your carbon emissions. Tightasses.

Next Year?: For all the whinging the locals do about Splendour patrons I find it pretty stupid that Belongil Fields (site of the festival) is being turned into housing development. That sickens me, it really does. With Splendour buying their own land and waiting for approval to hold the festival there next year is still slightly uncertain (although does anyone else think itd be incredibly stupid for them to deny a festival site but approve all this housing in Belongil?) but if its on, I'll see you there!

Thats all from me for this years Splendour boys and girls. Stay tuned for my overseas adventures in the near future, including coverage of the V Festival live from London. Until then..