New year, new thread.
SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS will return this winter, Saturday August 2nd and Sunday August 3rd, to the beautiful sub tropics of Northern NSW's Byron Bay.
And despite efforts to stage the forthcoming event at the proposed new site of North Byron Shire Parklands, organisers can confirm that SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS will for this year be held at Belongil Fields in Byron Bay, where it has been staged successfully for the past 7 years.
Now in its 8th year, SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS will continue to deliver performances by some of the finest music acts in Australia and around the world.
Tickets for the 2008 SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS will be on sale in May with the first artists on the line-up to be announced late April.
wondering who might be on this bill.
The Wombats?
Band of Horses?
Doubt the Wombats would beback so quick.
I think band of Horses would be a good chance.
Maybe The Verve? Spiritualized if we're lucky?
Also, Stephen Malkmus seems likely.
The rumours are:
The Hives
Radiohead
Vampire Weekend
Hot Chip
Regina Spekor
These New Puritans
Nick Cave
Pendulum
Presets
Gyroscope
Pnau
Bluejuice
Bridezilla
From where. nyx?
Triple J message board.
I just had a read. Someone posts an 'official' line-up with no explanation of how they know it and everyone on the forum believes him/her, no questions asked? Crazy.
i heard it's definitely vampire weekend and devo
Pixies.
DEVO?!?!?!
I would fucking love to see Devo. They were here about 10 years ago weren't they? Livid? That'd be so ace.
If someone got Madness out of retirement and put them on I reckon I'd just sit in the middle of Belongil Fields and pee myself.
i'd probably put money on the hives coming out.
Yeah I kinda hope it is not true Blake. I want the Hives to just tour here on their own not go to Splendour.
they'd most likely sideshow, don't recall splendour having a exclusive festival only band...
They fucking better. I am not really all that keen on Splendour.
if they get the hives and malkmus, and if going won't mean i'd miss the sideshows, and if the rest of the lineup doesn't suck too much, i'd consider it.
maybe too many ifs. we will see.
That would be tops!
vampire weekend
devo
sex pistols
verve
PAUL WELLER
silversun pickups
pretty please
That's be SHIT!
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thought it was the judging panel of so you think you can dance
...so....anyone going this weekend?
me, me!
In Patience Grates' dress?
I am going...
But if anyone knows of anyone with a spare seat in their car for my other half who scored a ticket yesterday... please message me. It's all seeming a bit impossible atm.
so, how was it it?
slot machine were amazing
little red very good
vampire weekend great
even excellent
yves klein blue melodramatic
british india very good
sugar ray different
presets quiet
wolfmother sloppy
living end tight
devo funny
sigur ros?? the music??
what's that feeling of empty dread and disappointment? missing out on splendour 08, that's what.
Sniffer dogs?
Oh goody.
From the reports it sounds like there were a LOT of sniffer dogs!
Thats me!!!
In the Wombats tee!
Looking like LSC! I had never seen or heard him before the weekend.
i <3 you rhys :)
This is my view of day 1:
Art Vs Science: Enjoyable. Good start!
Bluejuice: Maaad Fun
LightSpeed Champion: Going to buy his records
Operator Please: crowd loved it!
Hadouken: Rad! Great cover of 'Firestarter' by The Prodigy
The Music: fine. Was moreinterested in picking up cans to get free drinks
Gyroscope: Sounded good... was too busy eating lunch.
Fratellis : Boring, Overrated.
Cold War Kids: Reallt Great. Lots of passion. One of the loudest crowd sing-a-longs saw/heard
The Living End: 4 people from the front, dead center. Most intense non metal mosh i have been in! Check out Chris Cheneys beer bottle solo on youtube. Knew all the songs. Plus the three new ones.
The Polyphonic Spree: Didnt see enough. Could have watced them all day. Great nirvana cover.
Well im out.
That was a simple rundown of my splendour saturday.
More to come.
Jason
(myspace.com/jasonmorrisonmusic)
btw: i only saw one dog the whole weekend...
did you see any good bands athens co?
lol
All I've heard about The Polyphonic Spree is that it was really cold in the tent they played in.
Any more info?
band of horses were really good. ditto sigur ros and the vines (weird I know)
the drones were brutal.
c'mon you bums. didn't anyone notice the handful of us raving here about the Tricky sideshows?
Cool! I was standing about 3 people away from you AthensCo and saw you leav the crowd by the front a few songs afterwards, saw Question Mark take your photo too. This is my review of Splendour. In short, highlights were Sigur Rosw (below par but still great), Devo (fantastically entertaining and on form) and The Music (mad, a bit samey after a while but still good), The Grates and Lightspeed Champion were also fantastically exciting. Tricky was boring though, sorry tinyman.
Following Delta Spirit, the GW McLennan Tent becomes a love-in for the brightly-shining charisma of the knobbly-kneed and mouth-agape Dev Hynes and his splendid backing band. Hynes' cascading guitar solos and smart songwriting turns of Tell Me What It's Worth and No Surprises are only outdone by his Aussie-flag-in-mouth take on the Star Wars Theme and a version of Everyone I Know Is Listening To Crunk that classifies as haunting, even at 3PM on a sunny day.
Meanwhile Bliss and Eso are busy turning the Mix Tent into a dutch oven. The joint is heaving with happy punters and a pall of smoke gathers during their set. Their unshowy visuals and absence of dynamics force the focus back on their inspired rhyming again and again; it's phat. 'Listen to Triple J' they shout. It seems we do.
Starting with a storming Mistress Mabel The Fratellis' set then takes a downturn. Their newer, less-immediate songs are largely lost on a crowd clearly there for the incredibly immediate Chelsea Dagger (or the following Cold War Kids) which does the job nicely. Melodic lout-rock chants may work better on English football terraces, but the choppy feelgood vibe still shines, if weakly.
Disappointment of the festival is Tricky. An artist all about atmosphere, stratospheres of dry ice and moody lighting can't hide the feeling that the music (and most notably his voice) sounds forced. Black Steel should shimmer violently but comes across as mid-90s digitised metal with breakbeats (which it was...time has not been kind) and leaves most punters unmoved, bar those who do leave and move to Devo.
DAY TWO
Make up, hair and clothes are still fresh on the girls who line the barrier for Yves Klein Blue, though the band has a lot more going for them than the boundless showmanship of singer Michael Tomkinson something the girls celebrate vocally. One of the weekend's revelations, YKB use the stage for all it's worth, shifting between Suede-rock and a furious indie buzz.They pull punters and keep them, right until Tomkinson is dragged bodily offstage after a theatrical collapse. Great fun.
The Supertop crowd crush reaches maximum intensity seconds into Let's Dance To Joy Division and Leaving For New York midway through The Wombats' set. Though it's unlikely the band have the songs to forge a several-year career, they have energy to burn and excel at sending the crowd bananas, even if the misogyny wears thin before their sweaty set ends.
Few images will burn brighter in the mind than that of Patience Hodgson of The Grates bursting onto stage as Batgirl, Batman theme blazing overhead. Kicking into a blinder of a set that balances the exuberant new album with crowd-rousing faves, the size of the stage makes the other members seem like a backing band as she twists, kicks and jumps with glee, rending the show a highlight, even before the confetti cannons detonate during 19 20 20 etching joy into the upturned faces.
Even playing below par, a band like Sigur Ros are operating on such a different musical, theatrical and creative level that they still impress mightily, despite their unfortunate scheduling between The Vines and Wolfmother. Several miscues and mistakes may prove they're human but bring the usual cloud-configuring orchestrations back to earth. Still, the band's militaristic-Tim Burton getup is glorious to behold, and many songs off the new album shine magnificently while the tracks from Takk and Jonsi's bow-breaking guitar playing burns more furiously than ever.
OTHER BANDS I CAUGHT BUT DIDN'T REVIEW
Band Of Horses were also a highlight, they seem to craft moody Neil Young-style paeans from the very air, and the reception they got was incredibly vocal and passionate, almost more befitting an emo band.
British India, though full of energy and in possession of one of the more charismatic frontmen working the country at the moment were a little predictable and relied a lot on boring bar chord riffs and flustered hands running up and down the guitar neck in lieu of ideas. That said it was good to see the crowd loving them so much.
Devo were a clear highlight of the weekend and they still know how to put on a show. With a great selection of songs - 'Peek-A-Boo', 'Uncontrollable Urge', 'Mongoloid', 'Gates of Steel', their dynamite cover of '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' and the set-closing 'Beautiful World' as sung by Booji Boy, there was little you could fault. incredibly tight players, the sort of connection only musicians who've been playing together as long as they have and a real sense of showmanship ensured that no one left disappointed and many left to hunt down their old records.
Vampire Weekend showed that they can play as tight as they can on record, and that's pretty much all they did. 'This is out first time to Australia.' says keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij . We know. 'We're really glad to be here.' Really?
Though they seem a little surprised at the reception they get, little emotion is spared and though the songs are well-written, there are no real surprises and it's a merely perfunctory show.
good review! feels like i was there