Held between July 27-29, Australia’s premier festival Splendour in the Grass will be returning to its spiritual home this year. After two years at the (much larger) Woodfordia Grounds in Queensland, 2012 will see the Winter Festival back at Belongil Fields, just out of the tourist haven of Byron Bay. The festival organizers are still working on another development, purpose-built for Splendour in the Grass, but this won’t be ready till next year.
It’s not only the venue which has been altered, with this year’s line-up returning to a more “Splendour appropriate” look. Last year, the decision to include acts like Coldplay and Kanye West was met with mixed reviews, and the festival failed to sell-out – unheard of for the hugely popular three-day event. This year, the event sold out in less than an hour. The return to Byron and smaller capacity played a telling factor, but the line-up is stellar.
Always a great mix of international and home-grown talent, this year’s list of international acts are as varied as they are brilliant – with anticipation heavy for performances from the likes of Jack White, Smashing Pumpkins, Lana Del Rey, and Azealia Banks. Here’s my top ten.
One of a handful of lesser known acts set to introduce themselves to Australian audiences, Electric Guest have provided one of my favorite albums of the year with the Danger Mouse-produced Mondo.
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The Swedish trio have been on a festival frenzy of late, playing at Coachella and SXSW with trips to Lollapalooza and Fuji Rock also in the diary. Splendour will see Miike Snow play tracks off their new album Happy To You.
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After reforming and thrilling Coachella crowds this year, At the Drive-In will be returning down under. Their last tour to Australia saw them abuse crowds at the 2001 Big Day Out Festival before walking off through their set. Unsurprisingly, this was just a month before they announced they were calling it quits.
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Bloc Party return to Splendour in the Grass after already headlining the 2009 version (the last time the festival was held in Byron!). Excitingly, they’ll be performing a number of tracks from their upcoming album.
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One of my new favourites, this band of (8!) brothers will thrill the Splendour crowd with their unique mixture of jazz, hip-hop, funk and soul. They spend their spare time as the horn-section for the Gorillaz live shows and appeared at last year’s Vivid Festival in Sydney.
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The honeyed voice of Michael Kiwanuka will be touring Australia for the first time this year. Fresh from a critically-acclaimed show at SXSW, his incredible voice will no doubt leave Australian swooning.
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Trevor Powers, aka Youth Lagoon, will be touring Australia for the second time this year having visited our shores in February for a string of sold-out shows.
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For a band that has been playing together for twelve years(!), Zulu Winter have bizarrely only recently been generating a buzz. This is an excellent band.
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"Father John Misty - Holywood Forever Cemetery Sings"
The ex-Fleet Foxes member Joshua Tilman is now operating under the mysterious moniker Father John Misty. His music is as mysterious as his name, full of darkness and intrigue. Great beard too.
Download from: Soundcloud Note: In many cases we can't share a track for free. So, we either link to sites that can, or provide purchase links (e.g., iTunes).
Such an underrated band, the Brooklyn-based four-piece have been warming up for their Splendour appearance with spots at Glastonbury, Bonnaroo and Coachella.
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