Splendour In The Grass 2012 Line Up Announced

19 April 2012 | 8:11 am | Staff Writer

The line up for this year's Splendour In The Grass has been announced with Jack White topping the bill.

This year's Splendour In The Grass line up has been announced, with Jack White, Bloc Party and Smashing Pumpkins headlining the three respective nights of the festival.

FRIDAY 27 JULY 

JACK WHITE, AT THE DRIVE-IN, THE SHINS, EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY, THE AFGHAN WHIGS, KIMBRA, SPIDERBAIT, GYPSY & THE CAT, DZ DEATHRAYS, HOWLER, LANIE LANE, BIG SCARY, MICHAEL KIWANUKA, YACHT CLUB DJS, BERTIE BLACKMAN, YOUTH LAGOON, POND, BEN HOWARD, HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE, KATE MILLER-HEIDKE, EMMA LOUISE, CHET FAKER, TRIPLE J UNEARTHED, CANYONS, NICE AND EGO, ALISON WONDERLAND, FLUME 

SATURDAY 28 JULY 

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BLOC PARTY, HILLTOP HOODS, MIIKE SNOW, DIRTY THREE, 360, LANA DEL REY, TAME IMPALA, LADYHAWKE, MUDHONEY, BAND OF SKULLS, LAST DINOSAURS, MUSCLES, SEEKAE, FRIENDS, JINJA SAFARI, THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, TIJUANA CARTEL, BLEEDING KNEES CLUB, SHIHAD, HERE WE GO MAGIC, MOSMAN ALDER, THE CAST OF CHEERS, WOLF & CUB, DANNY T, SAMPOLOGY, GLOVES, LUKE MILLION

SUNDAY 29 JULY

SMASHING PUMPKINS, THE KOOKS, GOSSIP, AZEALIA BANKS, WOLFMOTHER, MISSY HIGGINS, 50 YEARS OF DYLAN, METRIC, DJANGO DJANGO, SAN CISCO, ELECTRIC GUEST, ANGUS STONE, FUN., BLUE KING BROWN, YUKSEK, BALL PARK MUSIC, THE RUBENS, ZULU WINTER, THE MEDICS, HUSKY, FATHER JOHN MISTY, PARACHUTE YOUTH, GOSSLING, NINA LAS VEGAS, BENI, ALLEY OOP, HARRIS ROBOTIS

Returning to Byron Bay's Belongil Fields, Splendour will take place Friday 27 to Sunday 29 July.

Tickets will go on sale Friday 27 April through Moshtix, and three day tickets will be going for $350 plus booking fees. That will grant you entry into the festival while camping tickets cost $99, plus booking fees. Single day tickets will go for $135 plus booking fees. For $3 more (each) you can carbon offset your ticket.

For Bloc Party, At The Drive-In, Explosions In The Sky and The Kooks, the festival will be their only Australia show.

Regular festival areas the Global Village, the Tipi Forest, the Very Small Mall and the Splendour Day Spa all return in 2012.


Jack White, formerly of The White Stripes, makes his first jaunt to Australia for the festival. Australia has always been very kind to his former band and we're pretty sure he'll be warmly received with his new endeavours as well. Sydney chanteuse Lanie Lane recorded a couple of tunes with him for his Third Man Records label recently and she's on the bill too... Not that we're suggesting anything so ridiculous as a potential collaboration.

Bloc Party have a pretty nifty relationship with Splendour. They first graced the stage of the festival way back in 2005 when they were the hottest young band in the world. They then played in 2007 when they were even more popular and again in 2009 when they weren't really young anymore but probably considered world-beaters even moreso than ever before. Their frontman Kele had Woodfordia's main stage in awe last year, this year he'll have them going ballistic, you mark our words. It's a massive coup for the festival getting the band – who had been dormant for some time – back over our way and one which many will appreciate.

At The Drive-In were, at one stage, the most dangerous and exciting rock'n'roll band on the planet (around the time the above pic was taken). It was at the absolute height of their powers that everything disintegrated, they split up and 132,782 bands formed in their wake that were aping their steez. Some of them were okay, but nothing was ever going to compare to the original; one of the most acerbic bands you could ever dance to. The band shocked everyone by announcing their return a couple of months ago, proved they were still sounding great, even though they were a little less energetic than the glory days, with their recent set at Coachella, and hopefully at Splendour they'll show us that they can smash their way through a full set and leave everyone who regrets not seeing them back in the day with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

The Shins are also on the comeback trail somewhat, their Port Of Morrow record their first in five years. Actually, we're maybe being a little kind. As you can see by the kinda sad looking picture above (he looks so lonely!), it's just James Mercer who remains in the line up from their last record Wincing The Night Away, so if you had a crush on one of the other members of the band from their last tour then don't go hatching plans to stalk them. But Mercer is the creative backbone of this band and always has been, so don't sweat it. The new record isn't bad (probably needs a bit of time to settle) and there is such a large canon of wonderful Shins songs, so this should at least be a lot of fun if it's not amazing.

The recent reformation of The Afghan Whigs has been one of the most well-received in recent memory. During their initial period of existence they released five pretty awesome records over the space of ten years; their 1992 effort Congregation and 1993's Gentlemen truly magnificent records which were met with high praise, if not amazing sales figures. The band split in 2001 due to the fact that they lived so far apart and apart from a short reunion in 2006, during which they recorded two new songs, there had been little talk of them reforming ever since. The ever-trusty and highly influential All Tomorrow's Parties had other thoughts though and decided that they'd like the band to reform to play one of their events in May. A few other dates in Europe and the US had been announced, but you don't need to fly that far to see them this year! A huge and very welcome surprise on this year's line up.

Lana Del Rey? If you have to ask then you don't need to know. Hype, backlash, sympathy, modelling contract, hatred, love, desire… Let's just hope she blows us away so we can start talking about her music for once.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Azealia Banks is proof that sometimes NME gets it very, very right. She topped their “cool list” last year and for good reason; she's controversial, funny, offensive, palatable, edgy and a great example of how the youth are making hip hop and R&B their own, not relying on replicating what has gone before them. She's also one of the best rappers we've heard in a really long time. The triumph of this year's Splendour announcement, let's hope she can deliver the goods live.

Michael Kiwanuka has had a pretty massive year so far but, even though he's been the subject of a fair amount of hype overseas, Australian audiences are yet to completely cotton on to how incredible this guy is. His debut record Home Again dropped in January and rocketed into the number four spot on the UK Album Charts and sold quite handsomely in other European territories and deservedly so. It's such a gorgeously considered, beautifully layered and diverse soul record that showcases Kiwanuka's rich, warm voice and features some incredible musical arrangements. He took out the BBC Sound Of 2012 award, beating the likes of Frank Ocean, Skrillex, Niki & The Dove and fellow Splendour guest Azealia Banks and now it's time for Australia to fall in love with him.




Howler: Another bunch of NME darlings, recently released a record called America Give Up which has pretty much been received across the board as “okay”. Their slack indie rock with a bit of a garage rock kick is very 'now' and will fit on this bill pretty well.

Django Django let it slip that they'd be on the bill this year and then proceeded to do some of the most ineffective backpedaling we've ever seen. Thankfully they are better songwriters and performers than they are secret keepers and liars; their eponymous debut album has attracted wide praise and we're sure that they've put some effort into their live show, given they're so hot right now and all...

J Tillman left Fleet Foxes just after their recent Australian visit. He's always tried his hand at performing solo work (dude has seven albums under his own name) but shirking the responsibility of one of the more popular indie bands on the planet has given him some time to direct his attention to this work, which he is now releasing under the name Father John Misty. His eighth solo record (but first under this name) is released at the beginning of next month and after a couple of listens we're intrigued at how he'll be delivering it in the festival atmosphere. But the songs are pretty damn good so it has the potential to be quite special.

Zulu Winter were officially announced a few weeks ago, so there are no surprises here. A Dew Process band (one of a number on the bill), they were always a hot contender for the festival.

Electric Guest are another Dew Process signed act making their way out for the festival. Hey, if you had a record label and a festival you'd wanna hope you'd do the same thing. Anyway our people on the ground at some US shows these guys have played haven't exactly been stoked on their live show, but those people could well be idiots.

The Cast Of Cheers is the hot new band featuring Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson, Kirstie Alley and Kelsey Grammar on saxophone. No, not really. That would rule though. These guys are from Dublin (the new Brooklyn?) and play what we would say is “frantic indie rock”. Kids will love it, embittered old people won't.

Friends are a Brooklyn group who we hope are named after the popular '90s sitcom of the same name. Even if they're not, tunes like Friend Crush have us pretty excited about hearing more of their stuff and getting to see them play live.