Rod Ham: Apart from a generous new recycling initiative - which gave those willing to scamper around like dirty hobos collecting cans the chance to get pissed for free - ¬ and a new D-barrier at the Supertop, it was business as usual for Splendour ’09.
Niki Lee: Ah, Splendour. You can almost feel the carefree festival attitude rubbing off on you even before you cross through the gates. We strolled through the gates and made a beeline for the main tent, where the stratospheric sounds of Manchester Orchestra flooded the huge space. He was a bit strange to look at, with his raging beard and podgy build, but the frontman had a booming voice that reached every section of the tent.
Rod Ham: In a day notable for its particularly average line-up, it was strange to see the American indie rock darlings, and one of the only decent international acts of the day, slotted into the early timeslot usually reserved for Unearthed winners. Nonetheless, singer/guitarist Andy Hull - who resembled a cross between The Hangover’s Zach Galifianakis and a sweatier, hairier Chewbacca - dropped slab after slab of crushing riffs while keyboardist Chris Freeman provided plenty of visual stimulation with his Gilbert Grape-like rocking and manic headbanging in-between ivory tinkling and dual drumming duties.
Ads: They were pretty darn tight, playing a fair-bit heavier than their LP – I must say, they managed to shrug off their Gossip Girl-tag and stupidly early festival billing quite nicely. I’ve Got Friends was the first JJJ singalong of the festival. And Andy – what a fucking beard!
Niki Lee: Next on the musical to-do-list was our first visit to the Mix Up tent for the effervescent Bluejuice. The crowd were clearly happy to move to the afternoon dance tunes of the chaotic duo.
Ads: Excepting the god-awful levels on opener, Friend in the Field, Art vs Science lived up to their amazing life electro-rock reputation. Simultaneously, Splendour lived up to its “shit-there’s-pot-everywhere” reputation.
Niki Lee: We stopped by the VIP tent and found it dripping in festive decorations in the spirit of Christmas in July.
Ads: The VIP tent was magnificent in the early parts of the day – a few lurking Channel [V] and Video Hits reporters aside, it was a very nice way to sit down with a few drinks. And the toilets – brilliant. Can you say, ‘Porcelain’?
Niki Lee: Out in the open, I caught some glimpses of the fashion of Splendour 09 and couldn’t help but wonder how the fake tan, perfectly curled hair and high-waisted,(bum cheek exposing), cut-off shorts would look the next day after too much partying and a hard night of restless camping. As my friend so rightly pointed out, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”.
Ads: Indeed – some interesting fashion decisions. Mind you, I rather liked the ever-patrolling Alcopop Police. Especially that ‘Chief Bitch’ lady. Yes, please.
Rod Ham: If it wasn’t already apparent, Birds Of Tokyo’s overwhelmingly well-received slot on the mainstage solidified the fact that they’ve surpassed Karnivool’s popularity. Their annoyingly catchy rock-pop anthems filled every inch of the Supertop as the crowd tried to match Ian Kenny’s pitch-perfect vocals.
Dunc-a-tron:Children Collide did their live rep no disservice by bringing the noise to the Super Top – one of the few bands that seemed to be able to get a full sound out of the system there.
Rod Ham: Sure they mightn’t be the most original band in the world, but their Vines-meets-Nirvana rock was one of the day’s highlights. Thanks to heavy Triple J rotation, the massive afternoon crowd new every word to every song and sang along with gusto as Johnny Mackay’s delay-soaked riffs and Heath Crawley’s driving bass-lines rained down over their heads.
Dunc-a-tron:Dappled Cities provided a surprisingly lacklustre set – possibly a result of the stage size compared to their normally intimate gig? A touch on the boring side.
Ads: There was something not quite right about them. Maybe the mix. The songwriting talent is there, but it all proved a little flat. Next time, lads!
Dunc-a-tron:Yuksek was the highlight of one of the weaker Splendour days going around – had his finger on the pulse of an appreciative crowd and welcomed the darkness appropriately.
Ads: Yuksek has proven one of the true starts of 2009, and his set absolutely lit the Mix Up tent on fire. So outstanding. The highlight of the Jane’s Addiction-less Day One.
Rod Ham: Splendour regular Paul Dempsey played alongside the setting sun as he treated the crowd to newer, more lo-fi solo material, such as the magnificently understated Out the Airlock, and Something For Kate staples.
Niki Lee: Augie March surprised the willing crowd with a heavier rock sound than normal, belting out newer tune Pennywhistle followed by an expectedly stunning rendition of their cherished track, One Crowded Hour.
Ads: Look, there’s something undeniably lame about Augie March these days – even they hated their latest LP – but their heavier set was one of the few pleasant surprises on Day One. I’ll be damned if One Crowded Hour isn’t one of the best-written Aussie pop songs of all time.
Rod Ham: Now that the hype, and fair-weathered fans, surrounding Augie March and One Crowded Hour have subsided, it was nice to enjoy the band how they used to be before that song. Sure, fans appeared miraculously like Beth Ditto on a dropped Krispe Kreme doughnut when said song was finally played, but those there for the long haul were treated to a well-balanced set led by a rather dapper-looking Glenn Richards.
Ads: With the crap they’ve pumped out in the past few years, I don’t blame people for hanging out just for the track…
DAY TWO
Dunc-a-tron:Dananananaykroyd were an unfortunate clash with the Middle East – but well worth the sacrifice. Possibly the dark horse of the festival, they brought energy by the kiltful and endearingly lovey antics, borrowing the ‘wall of death’ from our metal cousins and modifying it slightly into a ‘wall of cuddles’ to great effect. You fuckin’ dancer!
Rod Ham: Townsville’s most promising, and possibly only, band, The Middle East opened what was by far the best-billed day of the weekend. Their set also marked the first shitty clash of the day, meaning DANANANANAYKROYD were a mere cacophonic buzz in the ear as we legged it to make The Middle East’s set. It was worth it, though, as hearing Blood – which is easily one of the best songs of the past year, period – live with crowd in full-song during the Polyphonic Spree-esque outro was a definite weekend highlight.
Ads: They were pretty brilliant at moments. They definitely need to decide on one vocalist though. Blood was an absolute winner – pretty funny to spot poor old Vijay Khurana getting annoyed by an eager fan while he was trying to bliss out. Suck it up, big fella.
Niki Lee: White Lies, whose work I was unfamiliar with prior to this gig, pleasantly surprised with their catchy indie-rock tracks and strong stage presence.
Ads: I think I missed loving these guys because of all of that annoying and overbearing NME hype. They were super tight and polished – Unfinished Business is a pretty little ballad.
Dunc-a-tron: They did bring a crisp and towering sound to the Supertop – reminiscent of Editors in years gone by. Tight and well suited to the timeslot.
Rod Ham: Every year there seems to be a band that steals the afternoon slot. Last year it was Vampire Weekend, the year before that it was Editors and this year it was White Lies. Frontman Harry McVeigh radiated confidence as his warm guitar tones and baritone voice made the girls weak at the knees and the guys question their sexuality.
Dunc-a-tron: Despite a few momentum sapping tech problems at the start of their set, Friendly Fires played one of the slots of the festival – tight, energetic and perfectly weighted to give everyone a lift heading into the evening. Outstanding.
Ads: Seeing them live just reminds how many brilliant dance hooks their LP had. One of the best and most energetic dance acts to see all weekend.
Dunc-a-tron: My hands are trembling as I write about Tommi Gunn in the Tipi Forest. I don’t know if ‘Worst Amplified Sound’ is damning enough for this abomination, but whichever timetabler thought that bad Aussie hip-hop belonged on a dance stage needs to lay off the mushrooms. Every second of this half hour set further enraged the crowd, with several of the more vocal punters pleading for the DJ to “PLAY SOME F&$%IN’ TRANCE C#*T!!”. By the time Captain Kane took over the decks there was near mutiny – which says lots in an arena predominantly inhabited by P.L.U.R-era ravers and those too high to speak, let alone throw woodchips at the performers. Some samples of his ‘banter’ – “In case you’re wondering, I do sign tits!”, “Put your T’s in the air”, “Shout out to everyone I went to school with”. Could have been performance comedy of Baron-Cohen-esque proportions but I doubt it.
Rod Ham: Having shed the electro-pop stylings of 2005’s Fractions on their latest double-disc of sprawling Mogwai-esque post-rock, Decoder Ring seemed like an odd choice for the Mix Up tent. Once the goon playing the generic doof ejected his CD, Sydney’s finest emerged and went about flooring the crowd with their heart-shuddering bass, shimmering atmospheres and equally impressive lighting and big screen visuals.
Ads: Their show was equally impressive as an Explosions in the Sky experience, and their synth-layerings and gorgeous visuals really elevated it to transcendence. It really was a beautiful set to get lost in.
Dunc-a-tron:Doves took the Supertop stage and straight into the slow burning opener Jetstream. Then some bastard must’ve bumped the volume fader, because the towering three piece were reduced to an audible but hardly powerful level. Here’s hoping that the new venue (if the festival ever moves there) will have amps that can do them justice.
Niki Lee: I headed over to enjoy the acoustic, folk-story songs of Bob Evans. To my satisfaction, he threw in some tracks from Suburban Songbook as well as my new favourite song, Goodbye, Bull Creek.
Rod Ham: As painful as it is to say, Grinspoon were actually pretty damn entertaining. It’s an accomplishment for any act to have a set-list that is known by 10,000 fans and non-fans, and they hammed it up with plenty of good old-fashioned rock posturing and a massive sound – even pulling out the ridiculous lyrics of Dead Cat for the first time in ten years, much to the crowd’s delight.
Dunc-a-tron: Some things work at Splendour and not elsewhere – I nominate trance music and Grinspoon as two of those. And though Splendour ’07 saw a freshly post-meth Phil Jameson ruin their set by throwing away momentum with ballads there was no such problem in ’09. Raw, aggressive and balls out, Chemical Heart was the closest thing to a ballad. At a festival that lacked a little on the rock side (thanks Jane’s Addiction) they added good growl.
Ads: It’s funny what happens when you have zero-expectations and a huge crowd. Grinners absolutely exploded on the set with some much needed Aussie-growl. Good, hard, fun. We had a nice mosh through the D circle to make it near the front in anticipation for the imminent arrival of the two headliners.
Niki Lee: We pushed with all our might to get through the D barrier for MGMT. Somewhere between being crushed in the chest on either side and almost being scalped, we triumphed through the narrow corridor to land a prime spot. MGMT, while not as wacky or eccentric as I expected, delivered their hit tracks with as much energy as the album. As expected, Electric Feel and Kids saw the crowd swarm to the centre in an excited mosh, a sea of arms flailing gleefully about.
Rod Ham: Judging by the near riot happening around the newly erected D-barrier, MGMT were without doubt the band everyone wanted to see. Unlike Grinners, the Brooklyn-based trippers only had three sure-fire winners (Kids, Time To Pretend and Electric Feel) to rely on. So, unless you were the lucky bloke next to me getting his todger honked by a random stranger, the gaps in-between those songs were a little uneventful.
Ads: For all the criticism of being a 2-song band, these kids put on a pretty darn good show. The haters had the smirk wiped off their faces by a surprisingly tight set. The Youth is an absolutely amazing and underappreciated track, and was nailed well. Couldn’t help but shake the feeling that others around were just hanging out for Electric Feel, though.
Niki Lee: It was a mistake disguised in joy when we left the main tent to catch gifted songwriter Josh Pyke, for when we arrived back for the Flaming Lips, our prime spot was but a distant memory. Still, through the giants and clouds of smoke, we managed to capture the amazing visuals and resonating lyrics that made their performance a fitting end to the adored festival.
Rod Ham: Any band that announces their arrival by walking out of a vagina gets a big tick in Tsunami’s book. After his signature bubble walk across the crowd, Wayne Coyne and the rest of the Flaming Lips got down to business. While their entrance was definitely grand, and the continual supply of balloons, confetti and scantily-clad women kept the crowd entertained, apart from the upbeat The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song, the majority of the psychedelic set failed to match the intensity of the visuals and on and off stage shenanigans. Still, they were the most apt band to conclude the festival…
Ads: Holy shit there was gimmicky shit off going left right and center – and it was amazing. The Lips are billed as one of the most spectacular live bands in the world, and it’s fair to say that they lived up to the headline billing. Having Wayne Coyne emerge from a giant vagina and roll about on the heads of the mosh pit was an unforgettable experience. Fight Test, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and beautiful show-closer Do You Realize? were worth every second of the leg-aching wait.
Dunc-a-tron: Much will be said about MGMT and Flaming Lips (superb), but I doubt many reviews will tip their hats to Dark Nebula who closed out the Tipi with the psy-trance so necessary for many late in the piece. So for all the punters trying to maintain the dying embers of their Splendour 2009 experience with 200+ BPM dance music, I say thank you, Dark Nebula. God bless your cotton socks.
Rod Ham: It was with heavy hearts, legs and eyes that we walked away from yet another successful Splendour with smiles beaming.
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