Splendour In The Grass Recap: What Went Down?
Annual festival Splendour in the Grass came to Byron Bay this weekend and served up some major acts with killer food, art, fashion and an all-around good time for Sydney's Northshore millennials, freshly 18 and ready to experiment with recreational drugs. Let's get into it!
The Festival
Splendour pulled out all the stops for 2018, with art installations including giant inflatable Snoop Doggs at the entrance, a stage with UFOs and more. When the sun went down, the temperatures dropped to well below 10 degrees and saw the more compromising outfits covered up with Teddy Jackets (I swear, if I see one more I might throw up). A giant chilli sign was the biggest of the mosh accessories, with some bright yellow pool noodles and balloons wrapped with fairy lights making up the rest of the "how to find your friends in 35,000 people" gear. The food, as always, was overpriced but delicious, with this year seeing loaded fries and loaded mac and cheese being the pick.
The Fashion
For the men, the go-to look was "80s speed dealer", with long hair, blacked out sunnies and a seedy moustache taking the reigns of most sought-after style. Notable mentions included the guys who rocked up in Centrelink uniform and those who dressed as the Teletubbies.
As previously mentioned, this year of Splendour was officially the year of the women's Teddy Jacket. If you're unfamiliar with this term, a Teddy Jacket looks like this, and although it may look warm and cosy, it's definitely not the way to combat a clear Byron night in the middle of July.
Image from Depop.com
The Music
Now, what we're all here for - a recap of the music! A special shoutout goes to Murray the Red Wiggle for his performance with DZ Deathrays, taking the set to a whole other level. A banger of an artist for a banger of a festival.
Headliners Kendrick Lamar, Lorde, Miguel and Khalid were all absolutely fire acts that sent the crowd wild. Kendrick's set was by far the biggest and best, opening with 'D.N.A' and ending with both an acapella and live version of 'HUMBLE'. Kung Fu Kenny also brought out some dope martial arts demonstrations.
On the Friday, Lorde, Miguel and Khalid were all great acts that made the 3-day pass worth the purchase. The let down of the weekend was the Saturday, where bands Vampire Weekend and Franz Ferdinand were perhaps ill-chosen. Big three years ago but not so much now, these acts don't really represent the music of the moment which meant the crowds were a bit lacklustre at times, despite these bands being headliners.
The Sunday saw the best lineup of the weekend, with most bands going above and beyond to deliver crazy sets despite the cold. Honourable mentions go to The Wombats for winding the crowd up before Kendrick and PNAU who simply went fucking off. Ball Park Music were perhaps a little hardly done by, pushed to the third stage on the final day despite their intense Australian popularity. MGMT were also a disappointing one; again ill-chosen, the set was more of a psychedelic jam sesh with some 2000s bangers thrown in. Sounds good in theory, a little boring in practice for the young demographic.
Culture Kings Splendour Awards
This is not an official thing, I just want to keep writing about Splendour because the post-concert depression is real.
Best Stage: Mix Up
MVP: PNAU
Best Act: Kendrick Lamar
Biggest Letdown: MGMT
Best Day: Sunday
We hope you're all recovering from the weekend that was and already planning your outfit for next year. Enough with those Teddy Jackets though. Please.
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Header image from ExpressDigest.com