Australia’s premier annual alternative music festival has come and gone, with the 2008 edition of Splendour in the Grass leaving no one in any doubt that this was easily the biggest and best yet. With the crème de la crème of international and Australian music talent on display, coupled in with inspired local creative performances, arts and crafts and cuisine; no other festival within Australia can truly encapsulate the spirit of Splendour in the Grass.

Splendour has been built on a reputation for providing one of the most musically diverse festival line-ups in Australia, and 2008 was certainly no exception. Held for the 8th consecutive year at the winter wonderland that is the beautiful Belongil Fields, Splendour spread the diversity across 5 music stages – Supertop, Mixup, G.W. McLennan Tent, Tipi Forest and Interslate Social Club, as well as a variety of attractions such as food stalls, markets, bars and the creative the performance arena Temple Stage. Australian rock heavyweights Wolfmother headlined this years festival, which also featured the likes of Sigur Ros, Devo, The Music, The Wombats, Cold War Kids, The Fratellis, MSTRKRFT, The Presets and PNAU. With nearly 120 acts over 6 stages of two days, to put it quite bluntly, there was something for everyone.

Day One – Saturday August 2nd

On Saturday August 2nd, after what was nearly 4 months of anticipation and build-up, Splendour was finally here. Heading into the festival earlier than most, I walked in enjoying the beautiful weather, 24 degrees Celsius, blue skies and the sun streaming upon us; not bad considering it had poured with rain for two weeks prior.

The first trip (of many) to one of the various drink ticket booths and bars was a quick and easy process, with the majority of the festival crowd not arriving till later in the afternoon. This was to be a pleasantly surprisingly consistent phenomena for the rest of the weekend, personally never having to line up for more than 5 minutes to purchase a drink.

Early on I was blown away by the quality of Art vs. Science set, the ‘Triple J Unearthed’ competition winners from Sydney who opened the Mix-Up Stage with an inspired performance. Also impressive was the intensity of Gold Coast teen band Operator Please, power sound of Melbourne band The Galvatrons and uniqueness of Canadian Indie Pop quartet Tokyo Police Club. While I wasn’t present, many punters later said UK Indie group Hadouken! were a major highlight of the weekend, their set peaking with a mind-blowing cover of _Prodigy’s Smack My Bitch Up.

The majority of punters arrived during the late afternoon, which for me was spent joyously jumping between the Tipi Forest, where Stevie Starz gave a devastating electro-come-rock n roll lesson, and the two main stages, Supertop and Mix-Up, where the quality of UK rockers The Music was on display and an inspired performance by Bliss n Eso.

It was around this time that I saw the first, of what would become many, ‘recycling vultures’ for the weekend. Splendour in the Grass promoters had tried to encourage people to pick up empty cans and bottles off the floor and hand them to the various recycling stations, in return for free drink vouchers. While you had to admire their motives, in reality it promoted a sea of cheap-skates who instead of picking up cans and bottles off the ground, proceeded to raid the various rubbish bins scattered around the festival prescient.

As the sun set on a glorious day, the first, of what would be many, clashes for the weekend appeared in my ‘desperate to see’ list. 6.30–8.30pm saw one of my favourite all-time Splendour performers Jackie Onassid taking charge in the Tipi Forest, while clashing with must see Canadian electronic act MSTRKRFT over at Mix-Up, UK rockers The Fratellis and American trio Cold War Kids at the Supertop, as well as the angelic voice of Clare Bowditch. Tough decisions were to be made and in the end Cold War Kids, Jackie Onassid, and MSTRKRFT won out. Cold War Kids treated the audience to one of the best sets of the weekend, with highlights being tracks Hospital Bed, Something is Not Right With Me, Hang Me Out to Dry and closing with Saint John. Pre-event MSTRKRFT was one of the acts that was right at the top of my ‘to see’ list, and they certainly didn’t disappoint! Playing a slamming array of electro-punk rock and techno, their set peaked with the Justice Dance remix and their Kylie Wow remix.

As the night moved on Splendour regulars The Living End crunched the Supertop Stage with their usual gusto and bravado while US outfit Band of Horses were superlative in the G.W. McLennan Tent. But Saturday was about one act and one act only… Pnau!

One of the most anticipated performances for the weekend, the duo of Nick Littlemore and Pete Mayes did not disappoint! They literally exploded onto stage with a 15 minute introduction of their first track, which led into an extended mix of their monster anthem Wild Strawberries. Accompanying the duo on stage were mind-blowing visuals on the stages’ two big screens and an array of large fruit pieces with performers aptly dressed as a strawberry, an apple and an orange. The music, programming, crowd interaction, performers and big screen visuals, all culminated in one of the all-time best Splendour performances. The other highlights of the set were the massive sing-alongs from the crowd to Come Together and With You Forever.

While legendary 70s and 80s pop sensation Devo closed the Supertop Stage with their timeless single, Whip It, the G.W. McLennan Tent saw one of the funnier moments for the weekend when the lead singer for US outfit The Polyphonic Spree played to an intimate audience and asked the crowd if anyone had any spare weed. Within a matter of seconds about 5 ‘baggies’ landed on stage, thrown from the adorning audience. Tough gig being a rock star!

The last moments of day one were spent in the Tipi Forest stomping my legs out to the banging psytrance on offer by Ish, and with that… we were done. Walking home from day one there was one act that stood head n shoulders above the rest, as punters dissected their day the act that came streaming out of people’s lips… Pnau!

CHECK OUT PART 2 OF THE SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS REVIEW.