Splendour In The Grass Day Two

Day two saw many more people prepared and equipped for the sludge war that had taken over the festival grounds, thus the mood was much more hopeful!

Musically, day two excelled far beyond that of day one - well, at least from the bands that I saw.

Seekae began with a couple of quieter numbers, easing the crowd into a set that would surely explode into a million directions from the multitude of electronic samples they use to craft their songs. And as their set progressed, the sound, quality and intensity tripled. Playing a couple of new tracks, fans got a sneak peek at their new material which includes vocals and is equally as spacious, busy and explosive all at the same time.

All the ladies (and a few men) packed out the GW McLennan tent, and it was by far the most jam packed crowd I had been in all day. Filled with hardcore fans, shrieks of "Lana I love you, Lana!" filled the tent as Lana Del Rey slowly appeared from behind the white grand piano. The whole set up was very classic - strings, piano, bass and Miss Del Rey in a backless but short white dress, flowers in her hair and a veil. The question that everybody wanted answered was: will she be any good? And yes, she was magnificent! She had complete and total control of her voice, and utilised her new rehearsed show to prove that she does in fact have a killer voice and a broad range.

Elegantly drifting from the left to the right of the stage she even took the time to prance around the camera pit to get up close and personal with the crowd. Covering Nirvana's Heart Shaped Box and smoking few ciggies on stage, she tried hard to convince the audience of the bad girl image that she's chosen to run with. At times though, she came across as the dopey-eyed, quiet and insecure artist who has dealt with loads of criticism. She thanked the crowd again and again, and was very happy to be here. The Lana-hysteria is bewildering and she seems to have quite an effect on people, especially to the fully grown man standing next to me who was in tears.

And finally, The Dirty Three. The absolute highlight of Splendour so far. The electricity and energy that came from Warren Ellis and co. was astounding and left everyone gobsmacked. His elaborate and ridiculous stage banter that introduced each song was amusing as fuck, and his side kick antics and dancing (which looked more like body spasms) just showed how unique and quirky Ellis is. The amount of sound the three men produced pierced through the crowd in the most pleasant of ways. It's a shame instrumental rock music is so underrated in Australia. The Dirty Three are from a different universe, a universe that I'd like to be a part of.