Steve Bell, Hannah Story, Bryget Chrisfield and Roshan Clerke bring you all the action from day three at Splendour In The Grass.

Pics by Peter Sharp.

Holy Holy

Holy Holy are going full-biblical this afternoon, imbuing the songs off their debut album, When The Storms Would Come, with monumental gravitas. Lead singer Timothy Carroll's voice cuts perfectly through the five-piece band as they open with If I Were You and Sentimental And Monday. There's a sense of purpose to his singing and an urgency in his voice that carries through History and House Of Cards. Possibilities fly through the air in his songwriting, as large natural landscapes and the concept of history are thrown around in a whirlwind. Their cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart is an equally dramatic and ambitious choice of song for the band, but the match feels right as they launch into two formidable closing songs of their own, Impossible Like You and You Cannot Call For Love Like A Dog.

Wolf Alice

Later on the Amphitheatre stage, Wolf Alice are edgy and urgent. Drummer Joel Amey, whose style is transfixing with its constantly changing patterns, has some early issues that require a tech's assistance, but the sounds Wolf Alice create with shifting tempos galore are impressive! They're also beautifully brutal when necessary. The poor things are absolutely melting up there; sweat is regularly wiped off brows. An outfit bound to explode if they keep this up.

Oh Mercy

Alexander Gow of Oh Mercy is wearing a black outfit for the first festival showcase of his new material from When We Talk About Love. It's a departure from the sequined clothing and voyeurism of his third album, Deep Heat, although he finds ways to keep the older songs relevant. Playing with his six-piece touring band, Gow takes the opportunity to blend the aesthetic of songs like Keith St. into the lush new compositions I Don't Really Want To Know and Without You. He pays tribute to the late Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens by covering the band's Love Goes On while Robert Forster watches from the crowd, and finishes the set with the imploring Can't You Hear My Body (Calling Out To You).

Last Dinosaurs

They've been extinct for a while, but now Last Dinosaurs are back with a promising single that's being given a fair amount of triple j love. One of the guitarists struggles to hear himself/get things going for the majority of their opener. They're nice enough to listen to at this time of day, but there's not enough momentum yet to make us wanna stay beyond a coupla songs and that's a minimum requirement at a festival when there's so much competition on other stages. They bring laid-back funk, but we're restless for dancing. 

The Districts

Young Pennsylvanian four-piece The Districts have been making a bit of a buzz abroad of late, and as they start belting out their slightly bluesy indie rock with great gusto to kick off their first ever Australian show it’s not hard to see why. Songs like Chlorine and Rocking Chair feature cool guitar lines and some nice harmonies, although you have to question frontman Rob Grote’s sanity as he leaves the solid, dry comfort of the stage to cavort in the mud with his new friends during Long Distance. They stretch out a bit during Funeral Beds and elicit a lot of dancing amid the sizable crowd, and after ripping through the catchy I’ll Try Anything Once they finish with a discordant fusion of 4th & Roebling into Young Blood. Expect to hear more of this band moving forward.

CW Stoneking

Walking anachronism CW Stoneking enters the fray at the GW McLennan stage to a warm reception — clad all in pressed white offset by a black bowtie — and early on his set focuses on his most recent album, Gon’ Boogaloo, tracks like How Long, Get On The Floor and The Thing I Done all translating really well to the live realm. It doesn’t hurt that he has the immense talents of the Bull Sisters — Vika and Linda — flanking him on one side, and an adroit drummer and double bass player fleshing things out as well, although much of his power comes from his croaky, emotive voice and strong storytelling narratives. He tries a lot of styles on for size — albeit all resolutely old school — and he completes his allotted stint with a swag of strong tunes including I Heard The Marching Of The Drum, Jungle Blues and The Jungle Swing.

The Vaccines

Despite handsome frontman Justin Hayward-Young’s best efforts, The Vaccines are a bit of a lull. The very young fans close to the stage are lapping it up though, singing along to pretty unoriginal indie-rock songs. We’re on soft-rock territory here, with a little bit of squealing guitar from Freddie Cowan. It was always going to be tough to be a Brit playing indie-rock when Blur is on the bill too: they’re the masters and Vaccines maybe need a longer apprenticeship. Set highlight: All In White.

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis are a family band, and seem about as complacent with each as the last time they visited the country. Their song transitions are still awkward and stunted, each member seeming as though they'd rather be somewhere else. Their hillbilly style is a reminder of everything that's been easily forgotten from that era, as they try to revitalise a sound no one particularly wants to hear. The festival crowd enjoys the novelty, but the outfits and instrument changes are no replacement for strong songwriting, which they still fundamentally lack.

Mø

Danish singer Mø slinks on stage with a drummer, guitarist and electronic instrumentalist. However, she's not completely alone as her backing tracks are accompanied by a synchronised audiovisual show that's ultimately more distracting than anything else. The singer is responsible for some of the best pop songs from the last few years, among them Don't Wanna Dance and Walk This Way, and while she performs them well, it's the elegant New Year's Eve that transcends the rest. She soon switches from sounding mournful like Lana Del Rey right back to her role as Denmark's latest pop princess for the year's biggest dance song, the mammoth hit, Lean On. There seems to be more people on shoulders than in the mud, which can only be a good thing.

Alpine

Not sure we should’ve bothered with Melbourne’s Alpine: the set felt a bit lacklustre until obvious crowdpleaser Foolish. Sparkling, literally, vocalists Phoebe Baker and Lou James try and bring the vibe back with awkward stage banter. Best to stick with the distribution of pink inflatable flamingos to cheer up a crowd that’s trying real hard to keep their energy up after two-and-a-half full days. Slow, meandering songs don’t help, but there are some feelgood electro moments for a big, big crowd.

Jamie T

Jamie T’s indie-rock with synth elements is more diverse than sets earlier in the day. British singer-songwriter Treays deserves the crowd he gets, especially when dropping songs like Emily’s Heart. He delivers his songs with full conviction: you can hear the pain in his voice. There’s a range and sense of dynamics to his setlist that covers a lot of ground and keeps the punters happy.

UV Boi

Excited by the prospect of UV Boi, we make the trek to the Tiny Dancer stage only to find the atmosphere is flat. People dance under the red and yellow-striped marquee facing each other in circles, not finding enough to look at behind the consoles. Yep, it's time to move on again. 

MS MR

MS MR have come all the way from New York, and the MS part, Lizzy Plapinger, really tries to give the set all she’s got. She almost manages to set up a rapport with the crowd, playing tracks like Salty Sweet, but their vibe is a bit too down-tempo for a pumped-up festival crowd. The Mix Up tent showcases high-energy DJs between sets, so playing a slower set does no buzzed punters any favours. It’s fun electro-dream-pop, but probably not worth the extended game of Stuck In The Mud required to get there.

Megan Washington

Megan Washington is a festival favourite. She hasn’t crowded out GW McLennan but she does draw an enthusiastic crowd. The stage is set up with silver balloons, many of which end up in the Amphitheatre later, including a pair for her initials. She comes out to cheers in a sequined jacket to the opening lines of How To Tame Lions, which her keys player later has to help yank off her. Our Washo is a born performer: you can just feel the joy there as she dances on stage and grins at her band. They play an upbeat mix of songs from across her two records, weighted towards debut I Believe You Liar. Limitless and Get Happy deserve a louder singalong. It’s closer Sunday Best however that seals the deal.

Royal Blood

Royal Blood. Fast and so loud you can't chat with your plus one while they play. Sign language is required and all you really wanna say anyway is, "Holy crap, this is aaaaaaace!" The Brighton duo are the UK's answer to our very own DZ Deathrays and bring their gnarly goodness our way. When a two-piece rock this hard they're invincible. Soon to play an arena near you.

Cosmo Midnight

The two frizzy-haired brothers behind the Cosmo's Midnight project are playing their brand of gentle and chirpy dance music at the Tiny Dancer stage. There are more bleeps and bloops than in a cartoon submarine as the Sydney twins lead us through a sonic journey of textures and colours. They bring Kucka up on stage for some ethereal live vocals on Walk With Me, before they finish the set with their hypnotic and graceful single from last year, Snare.

Alison Wonderland

We pop in on Alison Wonderland starting up her set in the Mix Up tent on our way to catch national treasure Tame Impala. It’s fun to peek between Sam Songailo’s Program 1 as it glows in the dark, watching Wonderland on her AW decks (it helps that Songailo’s work is on a platform, or we’d be knee-deep in mud that’s thick like butter). The crowd, spilling out at the sides, are crying out with joy to Wonderland, who drops Take It To Reality, featuring SAFIA, early. The light show and video projection are impressive too, perfectly matching the beats. Cue: GLITTER BOMBS. Thank you Alison Wonderland for bringing up the vibe.

Thundamentals

Thundamentals are Australia's most thoughtful hip hop group. Tonight the mellow crew are performing with a trumpet player, who gets a chance to shine early on during the euphoric Got Love. Things stay bright, if not tinged with a little bitterness, for Quit Your Job, before emotions run wild and a few tears are shed during Missing You and the group's evocative reinterpretation of Matt Corby's stunning Brother. Smiles Don't Lie is one of the loveliest songs in the genre and lifts the mood perfectly for closer Something I Said, ending a memorable and landmark set from the Blue Mountains crew.

Tame Impala

You always know exactly how you're gonna feel watching Tame Impala at a festival and there's something extremely comforting in that; you just expect they're gonna kill it before you even circle them on your timetable. Such is the strength of the band's multi-album catalogue these days that you can't be sure of hearing all your faves, but we're thankful Elephant marauds right on through the set with its filthy bass line swinging out among the crowd. Kevin Parker's bleating lost lamb vocal twists our heartstrings and these national treasures make us swell with pride.  

Blur

The hill sadly empties a fair bit just before Blur. Those who remain are intrigued by the prospect of checking out whether, in fact, the band members hate each other a little less these days after the release of their latest, The Magic Whip set, the process for which was said to help mend fences. After a medley of Mr Whippy truck favourites by way of intro tape, frontman Damon Albarn gets right up in people's faces a la Nick Cave during Lonesome Street. He sports a navy polo tonight, for those interested. From Alex James' mouth dangles trademark ciggie and it's bloody exciting to see them all sharing an Australian stage after (almost) losing hope. Guitarist Graham Coxon's tones are nostalgic, wistful and unparalleled; his geek-chic the perfect vehicle for Coffee & TV. Albarn and Coxon write melodies that kill us softly from within, no doubt about it. Song 2 is spectacularly executed despite Blur having brought a scaled-back production — simple backdrop rather than visuals and Mr Whippy van — to our shores. After a sequence of pogos, Albarn falls but covers it with a backward somersault to standing. The man is perpetually agile. The songs sound spectacular, but there's still a coldness between the band members on stage; they're not exactly having a blast up there this evening. Unfortunately Albarn feels the need to rouse the crowd and make sure we're still awake before Parklife. Then "aaall the people" definitely get into this stomping song as Albarn sprints from stage left to right ably taking on spoken word verses in Phil Daniels' absence. The fact that there's a percussionist as well as drummer Dave Rowntree seems a tad weird, but a brass section and four stellar backing vocalists add major impact. Girls & Boys is just the track we need to hear before bidding Splendour In The Grass farewell for another year. 

Day One

Day Two