Monday, August 2, 2010

Splendour in the Grass

We had high expectations for the Splendour in the Grass music festival. The mix of fantastic people, a beautiful venue and a stellar lineup surpassed anything we could have imagined. The huge natural amphitheatre is the most amazing outdoor venue I've been to, especially with the addition of 25 000 people jumping as one. Here's my list of 10 things which made Splendour awesome for me:

1) A life-sized inflatable zebra bouncing over the 25 000-strong crowd during Mumford & Sons. When the zebra got to the stage, the lead singer declared “Does anyone have more inflatable animals? It’s an emergency”.


2) Our friendly neighbours from Perth and Hobart. They lived on a steady diet of cigarettes and vodka.


3) The Moroccan Wine Bar was a great place for meeting new friends. We sang “The Sound of Music” with some flamboyant people from Newcastle.


4) The morning yoga class. There were yoga fanatics with great posture alongside hungover bearded men who were pickling in their own blood alcohol.


5) Wil Anderson’s drunken rant about teenage masturbation.


6) The very impressive rock star stories from Sam Cutler, tour manager for the Rolling Stones. One involved a $100 000 cake fight.


7) Florence’s voice caused a few hearts to explode.


8) Most of the security guards were modeled on He-Man, complete with chest straps. As Claire, myself and a few strangers scrambled through a short-cut, a guard ran at us screaming with his arms flapping in the air. I think he had a bit of an accent, but he seemed to be yelling “LANDMINES”. We responded with the appropriate panic.


9) The Woodford venue was far better than the previous site at Byron Bay. More space, a natural amphitheatre and better amenities - perhaps Splendour has found a new home?


10) Of course, the big three contributers to music festival awesomeness were present: meeting old friends, making new friends and the music.



Start with a little bit of tai-chi...

hang out with some Tibetan monks...

check out some art... then...



Florence and the Machine


Passion Pit


Mumford & Sons - look out for the bouncing zebra near the right corner of the stage

2 comments:

  1. In Point 2, you missed out the cheezels that went along with breakfast and turning down home cooked goodness(Well one of the guys anyway)!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What would we do without neighbors?

    ReplyDelete