Ashmobs87 Splendouriffic Weekend
Saturday
Operator Please: First band up. just warming into it. only really knew 'just a song about ping pongs". was impressed considering they're all 16 or something. seemed fun.
Muscles: I know alot of people hate on him, but I fucking loved the set he played. everyone got into it and 'ice cream' went off. pity he pulled out of snowball
Editors: Loved it. My favourite performance out of the "2nd tier" bands. Lead singer was awesome, real charisma.
Beautiful Girls: Was right up the back of the tent for this and even though i like alot of their songs, wasn't really captivated by their performance, so left early and went to the panics.
The Panics: Really enjoyed them and the atmosphere in mclennan at this time. chilled folksy sorta rock band, will have to get into their stuff.
The Herd: Went to the end of their performance with my dog Chadd. Caught their most famous songs, so was stoked. Everyone singing along to "I Was Only 19" was top quality.
Ash: Only caught the end of their set waiting for Cat Empire and was actually quite impressed. Gonna get into their music more, as a result.
Cat Empire: Just a fucking top act. Great, great fun. Jigged around like a goofy idiot with Rubes while they bee bopped and scatted all over the place and
loved it.
Grinspoon: Simply awesome. Putting aside my love of certain bands and their musi, i think objectively Grinspoon put in the best possible
performace that they were capable of. Phil Jamieson was a great frontman, class act, played all their famous songs, everyone rocked out and had a fucking ace time.
Kaiser Chiefs: The one I'd been hanging out for all day. Pure brilliance. We were in a great spot, dead center, far enough back to have some breathing space. We jumped around to all their songs, played a non-stop choc-a-block set. Highlight had to be Ruby, Ruby, Ruby with the effervescent Ennaybur gracing our presence.
Powderfinger: A disappointment. for some reason decided to play a block of shit acoutic-esque down-tempo obscure songs that no-one could really get into. enjoyed lost and running + love my way; but quite frankly it wasn't enough to stop us leaving early. they also took massive breaks between songs and fanning never seemed to really get into it [from what i saw] chris said it got better later, but meh...fail imho. didn't get to hear sunsets
Lily Allen: Saw like one song on my way to the drinks tent to get crunked before tipi forest with rubes. said to myself, if it was awesome i'd stay till the end of her set. it wasn't. some shitty acoustic guitar track i'd never heard before, so barred it off. a pity.
Tipi Forest: Awesome, Awesome, Awesome vibe. One of the highlights of my weekend being with Rubes in then, floating around like crazy idiots, talking to people, chilling out. Just happiness and tranquility and peppness personified. rubes can elaborate more.
Didn't get home till 4am. Had a mad time.
Sunday
Airbourne: A total surprise packet. Some kind of hair-metal; oddy-esque; akka dakka channelling rock rampage. Front man was fucking tops. Kicking over speakers, fucking up microphones, swilling and spitting out bourbon and rocking out. I'm not usually into that kind of music, but i fucking loved it.
Expatriate: Had heard alot about this band, but not much of their music. Came highly recommended by Ennaybur and HipHop and did not disappoint. Most enjoyed Spaces Between, like many others. And look forward to seeing them at Snowball.
Kisschasy: Went into this thinking their vibe was gonna be completely wrong for Splendour and they were emo cunts etc. But hey, they were fun and easy to listen to. Soft pop rock, it wasn't so bad.
Gotye: Beautiful. Tech difficulties at the start gave me the shits, but once it started, simply beautiful. Such a versatile, awesome performer. PLace was absolutely fucking packed, Ruby couldn't get in coming late from OK GO, which was a shame. The mini-orchestra was well-used and hearts a mess was always gonna be brilliant. ZOLTAN FOR LIFE.
Spiderbait: Saw very little of them. Nothing special. If I had've seen them play Black betty, conjunctivitis, calypso and horschak army maybe i would've thought better of them. Buy Me A Pony seemed to be good, but I was right up the back so didn't get into it.
Hot Chip (DJ Set): A real unexpectedly amazing experience for me. Came out of nowehere and ended up being my equal favourite moment of Splendour. Went in dressed like a gronk, covered in glowsticks and just completely let go and raved to the music. Had dark glasses on so could barely see anything but bright lights, could only hear the music and just danced, danced, danced and never got tired. The aftermath babbling about it with ruby and realising she'd felt a similar thing was special, too.
Hoodoo Gurus: Average. Still absorbing what happened at Hot Chip at this time and not really paying attention to the music. So meh, I dunno. 'What's My Scene' was good, though.
Bloc Party: What the weekend was all about for me, really. Had such massive expectations of them and they fulfilled everything I could've asked of them. Was with Ruby the whole time, sad that Chris couldn't be there, but it was just amazing watching, closing my eyes, singing, moshing to them. I really love them. It was like I was on such a high with it all, I didn't give a shit about how much pushing was going on, and all the shitcunts, and the heat and suffocation. None of it mattered cos I was so completely happy and content and nothing could've brought me down.
They played, if memory serves:
Song For Clay (Disappear Here)
Hunting For Witches
Waiting For The 7:18 (which I thought was their best performance)
The Prayer
Uniform
Like Eating Glass
She's Hearing Voices
This Modern Love
Banquet
Helicopter
Arctic Monkeys: A great way to end it. They were fucking marvelous as well. I don't get people who hate on their live performances cos I thought they were brilliant. Catchy, emotive, passionate, pure awesome. Played just a string of great songs. Mixed their up-tempo songs with their more mellow songs (eg. Mardy Bum) better than anyone else who played, imho. It was a pity the weekend took so much out of all of us, that we didn't get to dance around like maniacs to them as much as we probably would've. But in a way I appreciated that i got to listen to it in a different light, and really, really enjoyed it. A grade.
So yeah, was one of the best weekends of my life.
I love you guys, Chadd, Gloria, Chris and Ruby for getting to spend it with you.
Thank you so much rubes for letting us stay at your house. It was beautiful.
I loved experiencing your home town, your parents were fantastic, I couldn't find fault with anything. I really do love you very much.
Also, GeoDome or EcoDome was fucking awesome mad trippy and chilled out.
Oh and I enjoyed that Hare Krishna shit you mad me eat rubes, I'd have it again.
Only real regrets, not being able to have Chris with me for Bloc Party and not getting a Dagwood dog.
That shitty chicken burger I chose over it will haunt me for the rest of my days.
Now all that's left is to see The Shins, Klaxons & Hot Chip (proper style).
Peace out friends.