The Five Best And Worst Things From Splendour Day One
"That's not a 'teething problem', it's a disaster"
While much of Splendour's first day was a veritable shitfight of poor organization, there were a few highs and lows that are worth singling out.
WHAT WAS GREAT ABOUT DAY ONE
1. Police turning a blind eye
With a wait to get on the bus from Byron Bay to the festival longer than it takes to drive to Brisbane, something had to be done to keep the peace. Byron Bay Police's decision to relax enforcing laws against public drinking was brilliant.
Sadly there will be a litter issue, but besides that, having a couple of beers was probably the only thing that prevented the mob of what appeared to be over a thousand people from angrily protesting.
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2. Clairy Browne & The Bangin' Rackettes
There was no doubt this sultry soul outfit would work brilliantly on the Splendour stage, but the power and clarity of their performance was world class. A triumph.
3. Patience:
There was a lot of lining up to be done on day one, and the crowd ought to be commended on the way people kept their cool under duress. It's not often one can say that of a festival crowd.
4. Tim Rogers' anti-rape diatribe.
Rogers was in sterling form with both songs and banter as You Am I slammed through their Sound As Ever LP. After the brilliant Ordinary (which ends on the line “nobody can be that small”), Rogers made a simple but powerful statement to the men in the audience.
“No means FUCKIN' NO,” he said. “That's someone's mother, daughter, sister.”
We can never have enough voices hammering this point home. Rogers' voice is a particularly strong one.
5. TV On The Radio
Splendour have championed this band for years and certainly weren't let down with their return performance on the first night of 2013's event.
That a band this experimental and unique can reach such a large and diverse audience is thrilling and given their live show is up there with the best of them, we are sure there were plenty of converts after their set.
WHAT SUCKED
1. Waiting to get in
It should not take five hours to get into a festival of this size. That's not a "teething problem", it's a disaster.
2. Frank Ocean cancels
The mood on ground didn't seem too low about the headliner's cancellation – maybe people hadn't heard yet – but it's an incredible blow to be dealt. His absence hurts the quality of this bill considerably.
3. The new site:
Forgetting about the mud (if that's possible) the layout of the site does not allow for free flowing foot traffic. Commerce is thrust in your face no matter which way you go from stage to stage and having to dodge people lining up for food as you make a run to the McLennan stage makes things very tricky.
4. Where was Splendour?
With no official word given to us in the hours we waited to get into the festival, it felt as if we were being ignored. That's not fair.
5. “Go back to where you came from”
Some faux hippy Byron local (who was taking pictures of us on his iphone?) actually said that to us as we waited to board a bus in Byron. An interesting choice of phrase...
theMusic.com.au's Splendour In The Grass Coverage
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