Splendour 2011

Splendour 2011 Ah Splendour, you glorious bastard! It’s my Christmas day of sorts, all be it an extended one, a three day excuse to booze on with awesome bands in the sun. Poorer ticket sales and an arguably weaker line up than previous years dogged Splendour 2011, but it didn’t seem to put anyone off once we entered Woodfordia.

A bumper crowd turned out on Friday to see if Kate Moss would wear the same pair of wellies twice in one year, THE KILLS happened to be there too. Full of swagger and oozing cool they hit the stage like hipster vampires cooking in the mid day sun. The sound wasn’t too complimentary however, muddy as hell and a little flat. I couldn’t help wishing I were watching The Dead Weather instead.

WARPAINT provided the highlight for day one. The album The Fool was a grower for me, it took a few rotations to notice the dreamy subtleties in the bass lines and drumming. The crowd swelled through out the set. It was a toss up for best tune ‘Set Your Arms Down’, ‘Bees’ and ‘Undertow’ were all contenders.

One band that took its sweet ass time getting to Australia was GLASVEGAS, you can’t help feeling that it’s probably not going to happen for the Glaswegian four piece in Australia now. Showing shades of an amazing band that was hyped by the likes of the NME through the second half of ‘Euphoria, Take My Hand’ and ‘Geraldine’ in an otherwise very ordinary set.

DOES IT OFFEND YOU, YEAH? kicked off in typically abrasive style smashing out a new offering ‘Wrestler’ from the most recent album ‘Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You’. Having seen DIOYY a couple of times before I trekked over to the main stage to see if Modest Mouse would sound shit without Johnny Marr!

You have to feel bad for MODEST MOUSE, it’s all Kayne’s support from here on in. Quite a hefty crowd were in attendance to hear a set drawing quite heavily from amazing ‘We We’re Dead Even Before The Ship Sank’. ‘Float On’ seems to be the only song to register with the whole crowd. Even the brilliant ‘We’ve Got Everything’ failed to get the Kanye party started. And we waited for the Hives.

What the hell were THE HIVES doing there with nothing released in the last 4 years and on just before one of the main headliners? Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist was the ring-leader for the next hour, strutting up and down the stage conducting the crowd. They rattled through a hit list that included ‘Hate To Say I Told You So’, ‘Idiot Walk’ and ‘B Is For Brutus’. At this stage of the game it would have been better to give us a hits set akin to The Strokes set last year, but an ill advised peppering of unfamiliar songs took the shine of an otherwise enjoyable show.

Having seen the end of The Hives there was actually no getting past the crowd that had amassed. I kind of wished Jarvis was there for a ‘Jacko’ style stage ambush of old. Kayne appeared rising from the middle of the crowd dressed head to toe in white. The dancers and the fireworks were a welcome distraction but there was no escaping the fact that the vocals were auto tuned to the max. Despite this the crowd reaction spoke volumes for one of the weekends most controversial bookings. “I’m gonna need to see your fuckin’ hands in the air” did the trick, the whole amphitheatre going nuts. In terms of a show it was one of the best bookings of the weekend.

Probably the biggest new comer to the indie circuit, Foster The People weren’t in the mood to muck about. They pulled the biggest crowd of the weekend to the Mix Up Tent making it hard to get within 50 metres of the tent itself. The crowd erupted for lead single ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ – if ever there was a song of the moment, that was it.

All of a sudden it was Sunday, time to wash the piss out of the tent, bypass the shower line, neck a couple of Berroca and hit the last day running. Not sure what happened to Saturday night, Jane’s Addiction had confetti cannons and I was sad I missed it.

Grouplove are a cult – a lovely happy, smiling cult. The songs were chirpy, the sun was out, people were playing tambourines for fuck sake! I was left wondering when did this turned into a hippy love in? Followers turned up in their droves early to catch Grouplove and rightly so. We’d heard all the European press had gone ape shit for their Glasto show and all off the back of just one EP. Ok, they’re not a cult, but they are a very talented and enthusiastic, young bunch of musos that have a terribly infectious repetoire of indie pop tunes. Their sold out side show in the week also a sign of big things to come.

The Vaccines are ideal for a festival set as What Did You Expect From The Vaccines’ clocks in around the 40-minute mark with no need for filler or covers. A very workman like attitude, minimal stage banter and the best set of solid indie tunes to come out of the UK in the last 3 years. ‘Wesuit’, ‘All In White’, ‘Norgaard’ and crowd favourite ‘If You Wanna’ all sounding even better live that the record would lead you to believe.

Mercury music award winners Elbow took to the stage just after nightfall. You can’t argue that Elbow don’t have great songs with harmonies and sublime arrangements to match, and that Guy Garvey has a marvelous voice. There’s just one thing wrong – if you’re not a fanatic it’s really dull. I had never looked forward to the trudge back to the bar so much during the weekend.

I might be a little biased, but Jarvis is an absolute legend. Pulp hit the stage opening with ‘Babies’, they couldn’t put a foot wrong. Playing up on the fact that they may never visit our shores again, we were guided through a greatest hits set that evoked amazing memories of growing up in the golden age of Britpop. We were treated to ‘Disco 2000′, ‘Mis-Shapes’, and the crowd pleasing ‘Common People’ on what has to be the most complete performance of the weekend.

At last I was lulled to sleep by Chris Martin as I lay in my tent with the weekend’s golden moments swirling around my head…better get some sleep for next year.

By Urby Urben