Splendour Diaries: Day 1

Day one: JULY 27th, 2012.

Ahhh the time was finally upon us! Excitement filled our veins as we walked across the Gold Coast tarmac, with many other festival goers, and breathed in the humid Queensland air. We had arrived and Splendour was only a rental car trip away.

We hopped into our Micra (affectionately named Misty) ready to go! It was me in passenger, Nat in the drivers seat and the open road ahead of us..."um Nat, can you drive manual?"...it was Nat in the passenger seat, me in the drivers, and the road to Byron Bay ahead of us!

So far the city of Byron Bay has been nothing but welcoming to festival goers. Shop fronts have wellies on display, ponchos available and shuttle busses available to the festival from town in every form, including a bathtub on wheels behind a gentlemen on a push bike.  The love for music is in the air and everyone is here to have a good time.
Whilst no SLRs are allowed within the venue, we eventually made it through ( thanks to the lovely festival worker Joe Contin) - small cameras and iPhone with instagram handy. Who needs SLRs when you have old mates hefe and low fi in your pocket anyway.  The sun was shining and the bass of the acts within was all that we cared about at this point in time.

First act of the day was Australian hip hop act Platnium Pen catching the eyes and ears of festival goers walking past. The boys were using classic beats from hip hop acts such as Snoop Dogg, Hilltop Hoods, Jurassic 5 and Kelis putting a new flavour on it with their own lyrics and attitude.  The boys were nice enough to give us a copy of their album - I smell our next interview for the blog!!

After realising that we were at the wrong stage for Chet Faker, we shuffled out way to the other side of the festival to catch the second half of the set by the man with the furry furry beard.  Taking his tracks to the next level with extended instrumental breaks, Chet was charming, clearly humbled by the massive crowd and sang to perfection.  Finishing with his own (well known) interpretation of "No Diggity", if you weren't a fan of Chet Faker before, you definitely would have been afterwards.

A gap in the afternoon meant a while to check out the other side of things that Splendour had to offer.  This included getting involved with the drums workshop help by Samba Bellista, a spot of shopping and tarot cards. It was at about this time where the weather turned around, realised (almost) everyone was gum boots and took it as a cue to make it rain. - no wait - hail??? For about 20 minutes there was nothing but stormy weather turning Splendour into sight which could have been easily confused for Glastonbury.  And although the rain did cease eventually, it set a muddy muddy scene for the rest of the day and night.

Other acts we caught throughout the day were AV show DJs Nice and Ego, the incredible Bertie Blackman, Gypsy and the Cat,  Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Lanie Lane, which featured a surpise one off Nick Cave cover duet with Krum from Spiderbait (yes I have it recorded, stay tuned), The Shins, Kimbra and yes - Mr Jack White himself.

Kimbra was a particular highlight for me.  Freshly back in Australia after touring Europe with Foster the People, the little kiwi's performances and stage presence has come an incredibley long way since Falls Festival earlier this year.  Although having always been an amazing singer, Kimbra now has mastered crowd interaction, oozing confidence that was most noticeable in her band's new rendition of one of her first hits "settle down".

The entire festival was present for Jack White.  We perched ourselves up on the balcony of the festival's Strongbow Bar and listened to the seasoned rock star play hits from his latest album "Blunderbuss" before taking the crowd back in time.  It's safe to say pretty much everyone lost their shit when the bassline for 'Seven Nation Army' started up.

Today - Ball Park Music, Bloc Party, Last Dinosaurs and The Kooks to name a few.  I have some amazing photos and video footage which I cannot wait to share with you.  Here's to two more days of great music, beer and mud!

Ran xo