splendour 2008 fuck!

Splendour in the Grass 2008, Byron Bay, 2nd and 3rd of August. possibly one of the most gnarliest weekends i have ever experienced. not only was i amped about going to watch some of my favourites bands i had the company of my bestfriends there with me. Georgia was the main one holding my hand most of the festival. since she didn't have much knowledge of the musicians playing i took the honor of introducing them to her. one of the first moshs' we entered was Hadouken! a band that had come all the way from the U.K. (my home!)

We got so close to the front that every second was a jump for oxygen and a cool breeze! whilst the music zinged through our bodies we noticed something.. we were having the best fucking time of our lives! it doens't matter if you hardly know any of the words, because somehow the crowd just knows how to move to every beat. fucking epic.

During Hadouken Fallon was off seeing Light Speed Champion.

soon after i dragged georgia along to see The Drones, an Australian band who are apparently loved by Band of Horses. WHO we shortly watched two hours later, but will be raving about that later. MSTRKRFT was something cronic. georgia and i met up with a long lost friend from Sydney, Roland (chuck). dressed in his fine top hat we danced the night away. quickly running off to see Band of Horses my favourite band. Roland and i dragged Georgia along with us hopeing we would run into Fallon and co.

a fucking amazing performance from them. yes they only played about 6 songs but Roland and i were singing along to every lyric with our hands in the air. i had a guy offer to put me on his shoulders and crowd surf to the front... but somehow i didn't think i would survive the first 2 metres ahead. but all went well as we screamed untill he walked off the stage.

RUNNING to see PNAU was the funniest endevour. we couldnt find out selves even getting past the crown along the outside of the tent so we just delt with listening rather than seeing. i only really heard like 2 songs "Baby" and some remix of some sorts. all worth the 10 minutes anyway!! from then onwards we waited around the tipi forest to see DEVO who was performing ar around 10.30 which was the last act in the Supertop tent. i felt like i was watching a piece of history! thinking to myself how my parents were listening to them 20 odd years ago and here we are today. watching them perform at Splendour in Byron Bay at 17 years of age. epic. soon after that performance we left for home. feeling tired with sore feet we walked (i swear 5 kM!) to the servo where Simon picked us up. we were without Nicole who i will not even start to explain about. she's so crazy...

DAY 2! the next morning we had the liberty of doing it all over again! starting off with a few glasses of champagne and off we went. first act of the day was a Brisbane band called Yves Klein Blue. the lead singer Michael is absolutely amazing. couldn't take me eyes off him literally the whole time. and didn't stop dancing or bopping till the very last song.

After a nit of rampaging through the Tipi forest and making friends with the Canberra sort it was time for Vampire Weekend. also one of my favourite bands to date. all the way from New York they come. and not only do they bring their enchanting tunes but their enchanting spirit aswell. yeah we may not have been at the front, but in my opinon, even bein in the same 100square meter area as them is being star-stricken. here's a few shots of the devilishly handsom ones:

SO literally untill 7.pm we were frollicing among the many thousands of people attendind that afternoon. dacning through tipis, running into friends, eating deep fried chips/ amazing vegie burgers/ menthol cigarettes SLASH free smirnoff from lovely strange people. once running into Natasha she got me into line and pulled me to see The Vines. possibly the most fucked up guy i've ever seen, yet the most sexually appealing one. he is known to have some form of autism or "special needs" yet he portrays himself as a wild cat with no respsibilities or cares. whilst smoking his many cigarettes on stage and throwing bear cans into the crowd he certainly left a mark on everyone. standing stage right, 4 rows from the font i was set for the next 40 minutes:

After that lovely experience we ran off to see The Panics for literally five minutes. then raced off to see New Young Pony Club. they were pretty off the hook. a wild U.K. band with a kick ass chick as the lead singer. she knew how to work the crowd and had everyone dancing with their hands in the air. loads of images were taken but not so great due to the amount of deranged crazed people that were there.. possibly due to The Presets about to perform right after them.

fucking insane that was. but more so the waiting for The Presets.

i swear i almost died in there. getting sandwitched between 5347347347030 different people with their bodily fluids and exhales of substances. not so attractive. but there was one brihgt light shinging through the crown towards me. a friendly boy stood beside me with chisled features and pretty clothes. we talked about what we'd been upto and how hectic the last hours have been. whilst being swayed through the crowds he offfered to hold me hand, and we did. so tight i couldn't let go even if i tried. but getting pushed to the font bar! was something i will never forget. i don't think i really want to remember it either.... the boy and i lost contact and i was shoveled into the metal railings. yes they were playing away but i couldn't see a thing let alone hear much besides the yelling of the crowds within my ear drums. i ended up having to drag nicole out. which took about 20 minutes to get out of the whole area of the feilds by then.

Finally meeting back up with Georgia and Luce we endevoured back to the Tipi Forest where Lost Keys was performing. i ran into Beth! which was amazing as he is our favourite tech-mix dj. we danced front row for half an hour. along with her boy Will who got one of his mixs played. so good.

and whilst running off with those two we breached the last act of the night... Wolfmother. Who was a fucking epic last performance. yes we were falling behind the back of the tent but i could see enough to be stoked. they've been known to be great live performances and i agree with the rumours. great fun. their last song "The Joker and the Theif" but perfectly played with the crown roaring for more.. i loved every bit of it.

All in all Splendour was one of the most fullfilling experiences of my life so far. spent it with some of the best people. yeah i feel like i could've gotten upto more and been more organised, but in the end everything i wanted to see i saw it. definately going next year and going to try harder to se more music gigs, festivals, concerts, etc.

as a final sentence, i love my music and i love my friends. the two things i wish never to part with. ever.