The sun was out as more than 17,500 punters descended on North Byron Parklands, the permanent Splendour in the Grass site for the first time, for a day headlined by past festival favourites Mumford and Sons. Situated about 20 minutes north of Byron Bay, this is the site the Splendour organisers bought to be the event’s home quite a few years ago, though has been caught in council approval hell ever since. This resulted in two glorious years in Woodford and a brief return to Belongil Fields down the road last year. But, much like Bluesfest before it, we now have the chance to get used to a brand new site, which will no doubt grow and develop in the years to come; as it will do by pure capacity alone. As part of the deal with council, the festival is starting off with a reduced capacity this year, and will add more patrons gradually (by the thousands) in the years to come, with 25,000 being the reported capacity that will be allowed in 2014. We’ll even be seeing a series of other events on the site, such as the recently announced Byron Falls Festival over New Years.
So how did the site turn out? It was muddy, but well organised: the setup is something of a square, meaning getting from one stage to the other is pretty straightforward, and the surrounds are beautiful! There were a lot of complaints from long queues to get into the festival site, though this is an expected teething problem. Still, a little disappointing considering how long they’ve had to organise the new site. In spite of a reduced capacity, there are more food options than I’ve seen in the past. I like how the Asian selections have been put together in a “hawker market” space, and the selection of food trucks near the Mix Up tent is very generous indeed. Having a screen at mix up was a long awaited edition, meaning those wanting to see artists like Flume later in the weekend might actually get the chance to without getting crushed to death! The Amish group building what we’re told is a church was… random? Will be interested to see how that develops over the weekend (pics to be posted later). And finally, the sound at this festival is LOUD and we very much appreciate it. Speaking of which, let’s get to the music…
Rock and roll hit the main stage early with Baptism of Uzi kicking things off in style, pushing through an early guitar stuff up to wake up the crowd. Things thing got nice and baked for Brisbane globetrotters Dune Rats, who helped pack out the Supertop early, ending with “Red Light Green Light” (aka the bong song!). They kept things plenty classy as the set was live to air on triple j, with shout outs to their mums and plenty of fbombs. Xaphoon Jones was getting some of the earlier punters dancing meanwhile at the Mix Up Tent, though it was definitely Dune Rats who had the early arrivers most keen.
There were always interesting things happening at the Splendour Forum, and this year things is no exception. I caught Kram singing and talking about songwriting, alongside Dan Mac from Art vs Science, Sarah Blasko and moderator Robbie Buck. Over on the GW McLennan stage, our good friends Cub Scouts played to a growing crowd, typically attracting the younger punters and getting them all bopping along to their catchy tracks, including a few newbies off their brand new EP, released next week. LA based duo Deap Vally rocked out in their second visit to our shores, bringing a sizeable growth to their audience along the way. Ah, that Splendour pre-trip does the trick doesn’t it? Wavves continued the good stoner rock vibes but having already seen Dune Rats winning at life, which ticked the same box, I checked out buzz artist Daughter instead. I was immediately hooked by the haunting atmospheres, layered by the fuzz of their guitars, and the beautiful lead vocals and exquisite lyrics of Elena Tonra. A must see act.
Changing pace again, I caught Robert DeLong at the mix up tent (who recently stopped by our offices). The reasonably popular single “Global Concepts” saw Robert jumping between the African drums and a pile of remixing gadgets over his live vocals. He is an impressively active man on the stage to say the least and the sound is SUPERB. Talk about getting everyone dancing! And that song in particular had everyone dancing, with the song ending with even more drums. “Survival of the Fittest” was another highlight, with a wii remote being pumped into the air; let’s call that his remix fist. His music and the corresponding dancealongs inspired memories of Foster The People on the same stage a few years back. A fantastic set and an easy highlight of the day.
One of the most anticipated sets of the festival was of LA’s Haim, who walked on stage to Jay Z’s “99 Problems”, emerging with high energy, beating their guitars and their extra pairs of drums. Their set was an impressive one, with the young girls shredding, rapping, jamming (often with many drums at their disposal) and showing off their powerful vocals. “Falling” killed it, as expected, but the show was solid from start to finish; these girls know how to put on a good show and it’s going to be great to watch them grow and develop in the years to come.
One of my “must see” sets of the festival were five piece Portugal. the Man, who thanks no doubt to signing on with a Summer festival, became one of the event’s exclusive acts. “Purple Yellow Red and Blue”, one of the singles off their Danger Mouse produced record Evil Friends opened up proceedings, followed by “All Your Light” with some sweet extended jams. The set continued as one that jumped between their latest album and earlier material, primarily off 2011’s In The Mountain In The Clouds, including popular numbers like “So American”. It was great to see the band so well received, with the crowd singing along to most of the tracks, as the band flowed one song right into the next, fitting in as many songs and jams as they could in their hour slot. They did not disappoint.
Much of the rest of the night involved bands who are between album cycles, meaning we got a taste of new and old amongst their set. This was the case for Boy and Bear, who packed out the main stage, as well as Babyshambles, who followed. Both bands were exactly how you’d expect them to be – solid, entertaining, though for the latter it was a bit more “unknown” than “known”. That said, their set included classic tracks like “Fuck Forever” and “Albion” was an earlier highlight, thanks to some sweet harmonica.
TV on the Radio were next, returning to Australia for the first time since Harvest Festival in 2011, also giving us a taste of some of their forthcoming material; although the rest of their set was much the same as their last visit. With “Thank you for taking my hand”, “Wolf Like Me” and set closer “Staring at the Sun” among the highlights. One of their new tracks was upbeat with a tonne of brass, while the other was something of a lullaby… Both promising indeed. Klaxons, meanwhile, closed out the Mix Up Stage, getting people dancing with tracks like “Golden Skans” and, indeed, a few new ones too. One band that aren’t between album cycles at the moment are headliners Mumford and Sons, and it would be hard to argue that everyone in attendance wasn’t here to see them, with the main tent overflowing for the first time of the day. It may be that they were essentially classless for the majority of the set – but I digress….
Between Splendour 2010 and 2013, Mumford have become one of the biggest bands in the world, working their way from a humble band stunned at their own success and their crowd receptions, to a well oiled touring juggernaught and a successful brand. From the never ending growth of Communion to their own festivals, their brand has become big business, tonight no exemption with lights draped over the crowd, confetti, great lighting, three backing male vocalists and plenty of the best tricks of the business. The magic in it all though is that they manage to make you forget all that when they perform. They remain humble, they seem to still genuinely love what they do and put on a fantastic show in the process. The loss of naivety, perhaps, has lost a little of their charm, though they still have a crowd who will sing along in harmony without so much as a request, and there’s something to be said for that. Speaking of great singalongs, “Little Lion Man” came second, after a declaration that they had come to party. And for the thousands singing along to their set – a good balance of new and old – they happily agreed.
I know it’s not “cool” to like a band like Mumford and Sons, and I’m as skeptical about the musical longevity of a band like this as much as the next guy, but why does it become unfashionable to like a band just because they become popular? Even though I’m sure there are many who at Splendour who are all part of that bandwagon, I guarantee you they were all singing along tonight. After all, with 15,000 other people are singing and clapping along with you, it’s hard not to let yourself be a part of it. Isn’t that what live music and in particular festivals like Splendour is all about? And few suit it better than this band…
