Splendid

Splendour in the grass was really really good. Normally I try and steer clear of music festivals in Sydney when the line-up is absolutely jaw dropping as the crowds who swarm in usually aren't the most pleasant folk on steroids. Two genius ideas to help eliminate this at Splendour? Put it in the middle of no where up at Woodford in QLD, and also only have DJs playing between the bands, and therefore not inviting people to rave for hours on end to the likes of MSTRKRFT (boo!), Aoki (boo!) and other creeps who merely cater to the lowest common denominator. In fact, with the exception of The Only (whoever they are) and some creep from Red Bull who put up a portable stage near the tents and played Warp at 11.50am on the last day, there wasn't too much typical Sydney festival behaviour to be found. Everybody was polite, free spirited and genuinely stoked to watch bands from all over the world do their thing.

Highlights of the festival for myself were undoubtedly Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem who backed up from their stunning sideshows in Sydney and Melbourne to absolutely amaze us all with the quality of their live show. Here's a couple of remixes you might have missed.

I feel better (Richard X Remix) - Hot Chip

Dance Yrself Clean (Cuisine Version) - LCD Soundystem

On top of this, Two Door Cinema Club were simply electric, Florence and the Machine was incredible, in fact Florence's stage presence was up there as the absolute best. The 20 000 person coliseum was in a stunned silence as she bellowed out hit after hit leaving us all dazed. The Strokes were at the best and right up there with the best live bands I've seen. In all the whole thing was great and if you're in the southern hemisphere you should do whatever is in your power to do it for yourself next year. Cannot recommend that highly enough!