SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS
WHEN: FRIDAY JULY 19TH – SUNDAY 21ST, 2019
WHERE: NORTH BYRON PARKLANDS, BYRON BAY NSW
There isn’t a cloud in the sky when we roll up to the North Byron Parklands. The flora that dots the walkway in is idyllic, and as we stop to admire the rustic and kitsch artwork they’ve propped up at every turn, we’re enraptured in the laughter of giddy first-timers spouting out their grand ambitions for the weekend, and seasoned veterans recounting tales of their messiest years prior. Everyone here is bounding in glee with eyes wide and smiles wider, and it makes sense: we’re at Splendour In The Grass, Australia’s biggest arts and culture festival and a three-day celebration of music, mates and the complete absence of melancholy.
The festival site is laid out like an paradisal country town: there are nightclubs, corner stores, craft halls, a cinema, brick-and-mortar restaurants and boutique fashion markets (to round off just a bit). There’s even a coin-op laundromat – no, wait, that’s just a nightclub where the ‘secret entry’ is through a hollowed washer. Our bad.
DAY ONE
There’s plenty to see, do and be amazed by atkick things off with a scorching dose of rough and rugged riffs. Their shamelessly scuzzy, take-no-shit pub-punk has unsuspecting onlookers terrified, but those in the know foaming at the mouth with glee as they wreak havoc on the grassy plains surrounding the mainstage.
