"Like clockwork the heavens open every year above the three-day music and arts festival, submerging promised grass beneath five inches of thick mud."
- Nick Milligan
Friday, July 24 to Sunday, July 26
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North Byron Parklands
Zeus, the almighty god of rain and generally annoying weather events, dislikes Splendour in the Grass for reasons that remain a mystery.
Like clockwork the heavens open every year above the three-day music and arts festival, submerging promised grass beneath five inches of thick mud.
Such was the case last weekend when Byron Bay’s Splendour was coated in an array of mud types, from caramel sauce-like goo to thicker effluent quagmire.
But this is now par for the course, with the majority of punters arriving armed with comfy gumboots and a cheery, weather-proof disposition.
Warm, sunny weather across the three days was punctuated by two brief and aggressive downpours – just enough to ensure the sun had zero opportunity to dry the ground.
But music, as it does every year at Splendour, won out and festival goers were treated to a host of incredible live performances from both native and visiting musical acts.
Death Cab For Cutie were a stand-out on the first night in the Amphitheatre, opening with the big chords of The New Year, before launching into a set full of fan favourites like Soul Meets Body, Crooked Teeth, ...Cath, a dark extended jam of I Will Possess Your Heart and a powerful finale in Transatlanticism.
Country rock superstar Ryan Adams made a triumphant return to Splendour on the Friday night, ten years after his forgettable 2005 performance that was cut short by sound problems.
Backed by new band The Shining, a rock juggernaut that lacks the alt-country nuances of previous backing group The Cardinals, Adams left jaws in the mud of the GW McLennan tent with blistering extended versions of classics like Peaceful Valley and Magnolia Mountain.
Before his finale of Shakedown on 9th Street Adams playfully poked fun at Mark Ronson, whose clashing show had started in the Amphitheatre, joking that Adams' own music was also created with "beats" on a "laptop".
Rain bucketed down during Adams’ set, leaving Ronson fans to brave the elements to watch his star-studded performance in the open-air Amphitheatre.
The British producer invited the likes of Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker and Miike Snow’s Andrew Wyatt to sing for him, the latter reworking his own hit Animal into a dub jam.
Ronson’s band performed his version of Valerie beneath Amy Winehouse’s original vocal recording, which proved a poignant moment then, to no one’s surprise, closed his show with the monster smash Uptown Funk.
Dune Rats kicked Saturday’s proceedings into high gear with their raucous and aloof rock show, tearing through a wild cover of Blister in the Sun while a short fellow in a rat costume was tossed about the mosh pit in a giant translucent ball.
London’s Palma Violets deserved to be on the main stage, and lifted the roof off the GW McLennan with their Brit-punk-influenced indie rock anthems and on-stage swagger.
Meanwhile The Grates had the Amphitheatre’s patrons dancing in the mud with singer Patience Hodgson, dressed in a technicolour dreamcoat, reminding fans why she’s Australia’s answer to Karen O.
While Hodgson’s lively stage antics and banter remain as effervescent as ever, The Grates now perform as a five-piece – a far louder, and more polished outfit than the shambolic guitar-drum-vocals trio that endeared them to audiences everywhere.
"Then came a performance that slayed everything that had come before it."
- Nick Milligan
Whether this new structure has improved their live show is a matter for debate.
The Dandy Warhols performed a particularly blissed-out set, bathed in deep blue lighting, that rolled across the Amphitheatre in waves of psychedelia.
However the front-of-house volume needed to be much louder, with many of their slow-burning soundscapes losing impact in the cavernous venue.
Surf pop-rock group Best Coast proved a highlight on Saturday, with the GW McLennan’s crowd gazing lovingly at dreamy lead singer Bethany Cosentino.
The Los Angeles band performed a number of tracks off brilliant new record California Nights and finished with their catchy hit Boyfriend.
Adelaide hard rockers Bad//Dreems kicked off Sunday’s proceedings in the Amphitheatre with a loud, blistering performance that culminated in a faithful rendition of the classic God track My Pal.
The rock feast continued with The Delta Riggs and West London’s The Vaccines, the latter bringing classic influences to their big Brit-rock choruses.
The Amphitheatre's steep incline had by now turned into a treacherous mudslide, making even sober patrons appear to have donned the wobbly boot.
Careful stepping was required to stay vertical - anything short of studded footwear failed to gain purchase on the slippery slope.
Skid marks were the norm.
On Sunday evening Wimbledon’s Jamie T drew a massive audience to the Amphitheatre and had them jumping with his two closing tracks, If You Got The Money and Sticks ‘n’ Stones.
Then came a performance that slayed everything that had come before it.
Brighton two-piece Royal Blood, in an exclusive Australian show, lay waste to the Amphitheatre with a blitzkrieg of thundering heavy rock.
Consisting of only drums and bass guitar, which vocalist Mike Kerr shreds as if it were a lead, the pair’s performance was brutal and scintillating.
Finishing with a monstrous 10-minute performance of Out of the Black, which diverted briefly into Black Sabbath’s Iron Man, Royal Blood left the giant crowd utterly amazed.
Tame Impala then demonstrated that international headline tours have turned them into a seasoned stadium band.
The Perth group have become festival staples around the world and, with a setlist that featured mostly material from the last two albums and bleeding, acid-trip lights and projections, proved worthy of their late Sunday main stage timeslot.
Then it was time for the return of British legends Blur, who finally stepped on to an Australian stage after an 18-year absence, following their withdrawal from the Big Day Out last year.
Their performance drew largely on classics rather than dwelling on new record The Magic Whip, with songs like No Other Way, Parklife, Coffee & TV and Beetlebum bringing the crowd to full voice.
Singer Damon Albarn’s vocals had lost none of its tone or power.
It was disappointing to see a portion of the crowd leave after their global breakthrough hit Song 2, which dropped mid-set, but the faithful that remained were treated to a stunning encore that climaxed with a luscious performance of The Universal.
It was a rousing end to another memorable Splendour in the Grass.