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| supplied from Splendour In The Grass - Stephen Booth |
Day three is all about good old rock music, and I couldn’t be anymore excited to wake up in the morning. Though crowd behaviour was a bit ordinary today, the music was extraordinary and really that’s all that matters.
Bad//Dreems had the drama of the mulching of the horrid mud during their set - fans were pushed back to allow them to fix the mosh area that has been demolished after an intense last few days. Once they got the all clear, fans rushed back towards the lads on stage. Considering the distractions, Bad//Dreems still killed it - massive pat on the back to them.
Next up on the Amphitheatre were local favourites The Delta Riggs. They're the hype around the streets and it’s easy to understand why. With their Oasis-esque confidence, except with more energy, they can dominate any stage. An obvious crowd favourite was psychedelic tune ‘Supersonic Casualties’. If you were in your tent recovering from a hard Saturday night, then you missed out on one of the best sets from the festival.
Local talent is dominating Splendour In The Grass this year, Oh Mercy were no exception. Oh Mercy were one of the acts I was most excited to see this Splendour, and I wasn’t let down. It was a treat to hear the sounds from When We Talk About Love brought to live…Alex Gow, take a bow.
Again, we found our way at another incredible local band, this time Last Dinosaurs at the Amphitheatre. If you don’t know much about these legends, they’re Australia’s answer to Vampire Weekend. Not only are they in the process of creating a brand new album, they’ve been busy playing sold out shows around the country, with more to come in September. They’re one of the countries most dynamic live acts, and the performance of such hits as ‘Evie’, ‘Andy’ and the very tropical ‘Honolulu’ - it’s difficult not to become absorbed in their live set. An obvious crowd favourite was their exciting fusion of the groovy ‘Poison Arrow’ by ABC, ‘Da Funk’ by the legendary Daft Punk, as well as the iconic ‘Music Sounds Better With You’.
I finally got to catch some internationals on the bill during Day three, the first being The Vaccines late in the afternoon. It doesn’t matter if The Vaccines play a small intimate venue or in front of a massive festival, they always present to goods. The best thing about witnessing them in action is that they have just as much fun on stage as their fans in the crowd. Whether it was them playing unheard new material or more well known tracks such as ‘Norgaard’ and ‘Teenage Icon’ - they always have the crowd pumped up. A highlight from their set was the sing-a-along during the ‘Wetsuit’. After their set, I checked my phone to see if I could catch them at their sideshow in Melbourne, unfortunately my plane doesn’t get in until night - but if you are in Melbourne on Monday night or in Sydney on Tuesday, then do yourself a favour and catch them at their shows (plus Palma Violets are support and their badass too).
If it wasn’t locals dominating this Splendour, it was acts from the UK - Jamie T was another Brit who brought his all to the main stage. His ability to sing, then switch to rapping, is dynamic live. Last year he made his comeback in mighty style after a long four years away from the stage (five from his album). Let’s hope he never disappears for such a long time again, we need him.
Royal Blood are beginning to become locals in Australia after their exclusive appearance at this years festival, and their exclusive appearance at Laneway much earlier in the year. Frontman Mike Kerr is pretty much a local anyway. During their set, he admitted that he used to live in Australia and has attended Splendour In The Grass, plus he worked at a Mexican restaurant. The confident duo met all expectations and brought power and grit to Splendour, and it’s only a matter of time before everybody knows their name. Watch this space.
Psychedelic gods Tame Impala brought the masses to the Amphitheatre and could of easily closed the festival. If there is one thing they specialise in is possessing the ability to transport you to whole other head space even amongst a large crowd. Like the previous night, someone in the pit let off a flare - tisk tisk.
It has been 18 years since Blur have appeared in Australia. They were supposed to be here for Big Day Out last year, but that fell through. Damon Albarn’s energy levels were at peak tonight and he even found himself in the moshpit after three songs. Their epic set came to a closer with an oldie, ‘The Universal’, bringing to an end to a killer weekend.
After an incredible three days of horrendous amount of mud, but the best of the best in music, we can only thank the organisers of Splendour in the Grass for a brilliant festival. What will next year have in store? I can barely wait to find out.
