Splendour In The Grass 2008: Review

For the third year in a row I made the pilgramige last weekend with thousands of others to Byron Bay for the one, the only, Splendour In The Grass. Saw many many good bands, missed some others and had a great time (hmm.. that sounds like a postcard). I'll try to do my best to make this interesting but you may have already read all the reviews and be like 'pfft.. this is older than the wheel' in which case SHUT UP.

Day 1

Arriving to the sounds of The Galvatrons playing from inside sent the tingles running on the kilometre long walk to the entrance. Not because they were particularly good or anything but just because of the excitement that comes along with the two-day experience. First band on the agenda was Bluejuice even if it was only for one song. The place was considerably more packed than I thought it would be and upon coming out the fun started. I dont know much of their other stuff but they kept me entertained with a high level of energy, crowd interaction and comedy. Needless to say that when 'Vitriol' came on the place went bananas.


Afterwards I returned to the car to get things, take things, do whatever. Unfortunately on the way back into the grounds I realised I forgot to take my keys with me. Whilst it didnt bother me too much I unfortunately missed The Music who I was told were amazing. Triple J's coverage of Splendour helped me catch some of the set on someone elses radio but it just wasnt the same. After an hour and a bit the NRMA finally came, and the festival experience resumed.

Next band on the agenda were Scotlands own The Fratellis but unfortunately seeing them also meant having to listen to the end of Gyroscope while they played a cover of Midnight Oils 'Beds Are Burning'. It was a bit tedious for my liking. The Fratellis took to the stage and if you asked me, they fucking rocked. Straight into it with 'Miss Mable' and carrying through a fantastic set featuring all the old songs with a good mix of the new ones. The noise of the crowd during the 'da da' bit of Chelsea Dagger was like nothing I ever thought I'd hear at a festival. It was deafening and completely amazing. Ive since read alot of bad reviews and quite simply I dont know what the hell these people were expecting. These guys arent a punk band and if you didnt have the patience to wait for the song you wanted you shouldve gone and done something else anyway you dickhead.


Whilst waiting for my last band of the day I caught the end of Clare Bowditch and then Cold War Kids who I was relatively interested in seeing. They had a fantastic sound (although I learnt at the end of the festival that EVERY band did) and played their final song with another few people walking all over the stage playing percussion. Entertaining in a very epic way.

My day closed with The Living End because I personally saw nothing entertaining in Devo and had to choose between TLE and PNAU. While Ive seen both bands a fair few times now I hadn't seen The Living End since they released the last album and was in the mood. If you've seen these guys you know what to expect, and every expectation was met to the highest standard, 'Prisoner Of Society' was as loud as 'Chelsea Dagger' earlier, you couldnt hear the lead vocals over the crowd and the set was filled with hits, jams, elaborate solos, double bass climbing and Chris Cheyneys trademark 'play the guitar with a bottle of VB' trick. Fucking Rock N Roll.


Day 2

Now I know how much of a hype I've placed on Little Red and hey, you guys dont know how much I love them. Did I see them? Unfortunately not. The heavy police presence in Byron led to travel arrangement having to be restructured and unforutunately.. yeah. In the end I got there just in time to hear Laura Marling (who?) fuck up her last song (I think) which was remotely entertaining.

Next up came The Wombats and the place was absolutely PACKED. I dont mind these guys but honestly I don't understand all the hype. Everything they're doing has been done, not just before but RECENTLY. They are fun, and they have energy and they played a decent show but I just dont understand the hype. Thats certainly not to say that they sucked or were disappointing though.

The Grates hit the stage as the evening started setting in and I couldnt help but notice what a difference 2 years can make. Seeing them at Splendour in 06, they were.. well.. great. But on Sunday they were phenomenal. A fantastic set with a great sound, a fantastic crowd vibe and they played every song I wanted to hear, including closing with personal favourite 'Inside Outside'. Patience strutted about the stage in a batgirl suit as a guy dressed in purple spandex got on his mates shoulders. A joke about wearing the same dress as someone else to a party ensued and well, yeah, a brilliant performance from a band that is definately going places.


Because seeing 5 minutes of Sigur Ros was enough to make me want to kill myself I caught another band I wasnt even intending to see - The Panics. When they won the J Award last year for album of the year I couldnt help but think it was a little bit gay. That they were undeserving. They proved me wrong. Words such as hypnotic, mesmerising and haunting come to mind just like I'm sure they do to Sigur Ros fans when they think of that shite. The Panics do it well though, and Im sorry I ever doubted them.

Walking over to the Mix Up field for The Presets was ridiculous. It was a mix between a cattle run and public transport in Japan. One square foot to move in and when we got into the field it was very much the same situation. There was not a bigger crowd for anyone at the festival without a doubt and they delivered. To me though it was pretty much Groovin The Moo with a backdrop. The lights and lasers were the same, the setlist was almost identical. They sounded and performed amazing and the place was packed but, so as not to be caught in the rush of people leaving I left about 20 minutes earlier to catch Wolfmother. I saw these guys as well in 2006 and they were good back then. There are two ways I've seen these guys. Either the mix is fantastic and they sound good. Or the vocals are brought up FAR too loud and they sound like shite. Luckily the sound was great and whilst they were incredibly self indulgent in a way that bordered on making you hate them you couldnt fault the performance. Thats pretty much how it ended. Farewell to Belongil Fields as they've now got the new site (so expect another price rise).

The Pros: Once again the bands were fantastic. Ive got a whole new bunch of CDs to buy and bands to start telling people about. A big thumbs up also has to be given to the crowd, the vibe was pleasant and the people were friendly. Whether this had to do with the the almost seperate community existing in the Tipi Forest I'm not sure. But no matter where you were I'm sure a good time was had. The weather, considering it had rained in the weeks leading up to the festival, was amazing. The Church of Two Hands and a Chicken was back as well.

The Cons: The amount of police was ridiculous. Every road out of Byron was set up. Im not one for teenage euphamisms but they were out to 'kill the buzz'. Missing bands like Little Red, PNAU and New Young Pony Club was unfortunate but nothing can be done about that.


Once again, a fantastic festival. The highlight of the week. With the new site it will be interesting to see how everything goes down next year but you'll hear from me when it does. For a shitload of photos and some live tracks from the festival feel free to head over to the Triple J website.