Splendour day one came and went gloriously! The gods came to play – with rain, hail and shine gracing the masses. But with acts like Chet Faker, Howler, Michael Kiwanuka, The Shins, At the Drive In and Jack freaking White, the weather disturbances didn’t deter the bustling punters one bit.
With the bar set high, day two brings the likes of Band of Skulls, Seekae, Ladyhawke, Tame Impala, Lana Del Rey, Miike Snow and the much-anticipated Bloc Party. Music Feeds will be on the ground all day bringing you live updates, exclusive pics, and reviews as they happen. Stay tuned folks!
For all of yesterday’s coverage, including interviews with Lanie Lane, Explosions in the Sky, Youth Lagoon, and Alison Wonderland, and photos of the infamous Jack White, the reformed At the Drive-In, The Shins and plenty more, check out our full live coverage of day one here.
Day Two Coverage has ended:
Day One coverage can be found here.
Day Two coverage can be found here.
Photo gallery coming soon!
Review: Miike Snow
As Smoke filled the stage and eerie instrumental music emanated, Sweedish six set Miike Snow took to the splendour main stage to raucous applause. Letting the music do the talking, the group revived their indie pop anthems with ease. Treating punters to a earlier hits Burial and Silvia as well as new singles Paddling Out and Bavarian #1, they had the crowd collectively cutting a rug.
All donning signature black bomber jackets, the stage in itself was quite the spectacle. At the centre was a space ship like contraption housing a drum machine, organ and I’m fairly certain a xylophone. Driven by a resounding drum line, their sound was clean and catchy. My only criticism is that the vocal was too low, but their on stage charisma more than made up for it. Ending with what is undoubtedly their most popular track, Animal, the audience lost their shit!
Review: Lana Del Rey
A trek through the cold, sludgy and very dark brings me to the GW Maclenan stage for the first time.
Shining in the distance is the brunette vixen Lana Del Rey. filling her stage with romantic props, a string quartet and a white grand piano, Del Rey preformed in a white 50s dress looking a little in the bride side.
While a screen played a collection of images from films of the 50s and 60s, Del Rey crooned through some covers including a dark, slow burning Heart Shaped Box by Nirvana.
While her voice was better than precious reports, Del Rey performed too many tales of love struck traders consecutively, however the crowd adored her as she did them, by performing Video Games (cue a million fan videos on YouTube post Splendour).
This was followed by Radio and National Anthem featuring ASAP Rocky on the backing track. Lol.
While Del Rey’s performance defined beauty and her entire production wonderfully illustrated the ‘Born to Die’ theme, this was not a
desired style of performance we needed on a frosty festival night.
– Jacinta
Photos Lana Del Rey: view full gallery here
– Zoltan
-Jacinta
As the winter chill reaches its cruelest temperature of the day, devoted punters squish into the Supertop ahead of Tame Impala’s homecoming show.
Straight to the punch, Tame Impala opened and extended version of with their modern day classic Solitude is Bliss followed by the lush fuzz of Why Don’t You Make Up Your Mind?. Their even bolder sound is created by Jay Watson trading in his drum sticks to control the synths.
Bringing it back down to their 70s inspired rock roots, Tame Impala perform the original version on Desire Be, Desire Go that’s so bass heavy and slow slung, its reminiscent of big foot dragging his feet through quick sand, before bringing it down another notch with It Is Not Meant To Be.
First new song they played was Apocalypse Dreams which combines all of your favorite Tame Impala elements with elements of a dreamy movie soundtrack. This was followed by Elephant, heavier, choppier stomp track that sounds raw compared to their previous releases.
Tame Impala’s exceptional performance continued as they covered most of Innerspeaker with ease, finishing their world class set with Runway, Houses, City, Clouds.
WELCOME HOME TAME IMPALA WE FUCKING MISSED YOU!!!
– Jacinta
Photos Tame Impala: view full gallery here
– Zoltan
Our fair haired maiden from across the Tasman Ladyhawke was welcomed to stage by many cheers and rewarded the crowd with the synth soaked Back of the Van as her opening song.
Followed by the smooth and groovy Blue Eyes and the head bopping Professional Suicide and the bass driven Magic, Ladyhawke immediately demonstrates her versatility.
Traditionally, Ladyhawke is known for her dreamy, 80 inspired synth pop, however her talented band cleverly break the pop bonds and create an edgy, rock orientated sound without butchering the femininity of Ladyhawke’s song writing.
Dusk til Dawn do do do’s us back to 2008 and reminds us how much we loved her debut album, while Black, White and Blue pulls us back to 2012 and emphasizes Ladyhawke’s evolution as a performer.
Slicing off some rock riffs and raising the dance vibes, Ladyhawke played Sunday Drive and Paris is Burning back to back, bringing out some very cheesy but appreciated dance moves in the crowd.
Over powered by the choral crowd, Ladyhawke Closed the night with My Delerium, proving her popularity and successfully leaving the crowd in high spirits.
– Jacinta
Ladyhawke has taken to the stage! For someone so waify she sure as hell knows how to Rock the fuck out!
– Sneha
Supertop bursting at the seams with eager punters, British duo Band of Skulls rocked the house with their infections blend of indie rock. Heavy guitar riffs set off by massive chorus lines had the audience chanting along to I Know What I Am and Devil Takes Care of his Own. Finishing off with crowd favourite Death by Diamonds and Pearls, the band gave it all they had and the punters ate it up with enthusiastic applause filling the arena. I have to say an amazing way to bring in the Splendour sunset!
– Sneha
Photos Bands Of Skulls: view the full gallery here
– Zoltan
– Sneha
Band of skulls just finished on a roaring rendition of death by diamond and pearls! The crowd went ape shit! Review soon!
– Sneha
Billy Corgan Splendour Forum Quotes
“A kid in India can access music from all over the world. That’s a massive change”
“I’m a cold blooded assassin on stage”
“there are two kinds of music businesses, the artists and the cookie makers”
“Smashing Pumpkins need to be more visual, more multimedia.”
“I used to have an arrogance… Now I have an appreciation for the audience”
“if I light myself on fire you’ll click on my link more”
– Zoltan
Brisbane’s favourite kids Last Dinosaurs’ hard work has been rewarded with a set on the Super Top.
Kicking off their set with the popping candy track Time and Place, Last Dinosaurs immediately engaged an eager crowd. Wasting no time, they played loads of favourites including, Honolulu and Sunday Night. While they sounded great, it looked like the band were just going through the motions and missing the advantage of playing on the main stage at SITG. Last Dinosaurs’ stage presence was a misrepresentation of their refreshingly fun and uplifting music because they looked more sleepy and disconnected. But the dedicated fan boys in the front row weren’t disappointed!
It was Last Dinosaurs’ covers of Lady by Mojo picked up the crowd and threw them into a jumping castle. An inescapable vibe of slow sexiness was very, very cool and the band effortlessly rolled into Groovejet by Spiller. Bursting back with Andy and the crowd were saved with groups of friends happily united in song. Once the crowd lost their shit, the band felt and looked more confortable to lift their stage presence and also their performance.
Rounding up their set, Last Dinosaurs finished on a massive high with, taking a photo from stage of their dedicated crowd before ending with an epic version of Zoom. No face was left un-smiled!
-Jacinta
Photos: Last Dinosaurs – view full gallery here!
– Zoltan
The Irish indie heroes arrived with swags of jigging treats and opened their anticipated set with Trucks at Night. Energy levels started high, thanks to their Clark Kent doppelganger on bass that thumped through the first track, waking sleepy campers and shaking the eager crowd.
Second track sounded like an indie kid playing his personally designed copy of Tertris with both guitarists furiously plucking and looping high on their fret boards. A strong rhythm section gave reason to stomp recklessly in the mud and their drummer was as badass on the skins as his half sleeve tattoo.
Energy levels rose further, as The Cast of Cheers played Human Elevator, sending the crowd into a mass sway session. While the band was “having loads of fun playing here” the crowd were riotous and more sleepy campers woke to wonder what all the fuss was about. By the time they played Goose the Super Top was over flowing with excited fans who asked, “Why the fuck are they playing so early?!” Good bloody question, Australia!!!!! Was it the work of Australia’s best agents or a genius plan by Splendour officials to get punters up and jumping?
Nevertheless, as The Cast of Cheers came to an end, their popular single Family was executed perfectly. Their appreciation of playing at SITG was illustrated in their performance as the band lost their inhibitions and performed as it were their last. Or maybe it was luck of the Irish? Nuh.
– Jacinta
Photos: The Cast Of Cheers – View full gallery here
– Zoltan
Line to get in to the festival is epic! If you’re thinking about heading in now maybe wait a while till it dies down– Sneha
Crowd going nuts for Last Dinosaurs cover of Spiller’s classic Groovejet!– Sneha
Cast of Cheers slaying the Supertop!– Sneha
Testing out the mud situation– Sneha
Lining up for Gum Boots. Definitely worth the wait!– Sneha
