Day One of Splendour 2007 was a hard act to follow. We fully expected Day Two to be a cracker and we were not to be disappointed (as we had been with Lily Allen’s pisspoor performance).

Round Up of Bands from Day Two of Splendour 2007

Holly Throsby

Holly Throsby is pretty good for a girly folk singer. I’ve never been a huge fan but I was impressed enough not to fall asleep.

Magnolia Electric Co

I was introduced to Jason Molina late last year by my housemate (also in attendance at Splendour 2007) and as such any disparaging words posted here would surely lead to domestic unrest. Fortunately, I can honestly say that Magnolia Electric Co. were awesome!

To quote “Molina FanBoy No.1″,

The Cleveband based unibrow hero destroyed everyone’s soul. His cutting melodies, combined with the band’s entertaining and excellent lead guitarist left all the kids in awe. The 18 year olds finally heard music from the soul, the oldies realised that the unbearing of a tormented soul can cause such a beautiful, and personal reaction.

Beeeyoooootiful…

Josh Pyke

Good as usual. Josh Pyke has a knack for writing catchy tunes with witty lyrics. Since I’ve seen him play twice now and he was equally good both times, I may hazard to label him a very consistent performer. Applying that logic to tossing a coin might suggest that landing on “heads” twice in a row would indicate the coin will land on heads 100 times in a row but what the hell has that got to do with anything?!

Dirty Three

In terms of descriptive titles, the book Naked Lunch fails miserably. On the flipside, it’s doubtful that a more appropriate label could be applied to a band of similar ilk to the Dirty Three. There’s definitely three of them, and their style of music is most certainly dirty. The things they can do with a violin will scare you!

Despite the fact the Dirty Three have been around for donkey’s years and played with Nick Cave on several occasions (not to mention toured with a host of international acts such as Sonic Youth and Pavement) I had barely heard of them let alone their music. Luckily, I heeded some very good advice and watched them play and was subsequently blown away! For me, Dirty Three was easily the best act of Splendour 2007 Day Two.

Bloc Party

Really good.

Hilltop Hoods

Unreal. These guys have done a tremendous job of giving Aussie Hip Hop some much needed credibility and they sure know how to work a crowd.

Screw the Arctic Monkeys, I’m Going Home…

We skipped out before the Arctic Monkeys finished cos we really didn’t give a shit about seeing them play. An added bonus was escaping the crowd for the exit. Although we avoided them up close we could still hear them all the way back to Byron and then had the misfortune of hearing them on the radio!

And there you have it, a wicked recount of the second and final day of Splendour in the Grass 2007. Check back soon to see if I actually get around to uploading my own photos and videos from Splendour 2007!!

Tuesday’s post was all about our mission of driving from Brisbane to Byron Bay for Splendour in the Grass 2007. Today, I will regale you with my own personal account of Day One of Splendour in the Grass 2007.

Making Our Way to Day One of Splendour 2007

As we were staying with my housemate’s parents for the Splendour 2007 weekend we had the luxury of being driven into Byron Bay by his brother. Unfortunately, this meant poor old Speed Racer had to stay at home and miss out on all the fun. On a positive note, it meant that I could get spastic on $5.50 cans of domestic beer if I felt like pissing away my money.

Walking from Byron to Belongil

Fearing the swarms of festival goers around Belongil Field, HM’s bro decided to drop us off in the middle of Byron instead of taking us all the way to the gates. This wasn’t a problem for us as it meant we got to enjoy a nice walk through the township of Byron. After swinging by the bottle-oh for a couple of roadies we leisurely made our way to Belongil Fields. It only takes about 20 minutes to walk from Byron to Belongil so that was hardly any great exertion.

We arrived at the festival grounds relatively late in the day. The decision to skip the first few acts (and therefore the hottest part of the day) meant that by the time we rocked up there was barely any queue to get in. After showing our ID to security and presenting our bags for a frisk we swapped our tickets for wrist bands and were ready to rock the fuck out… well, almost ready…

Doing Lines @ Splendour 2007

To celebrate our entry to Splendour and to help prepare ourselves for the big night ahead we decided to participate in a few lines:

1. The line for the skanky toilets (really not so bad by festival standards),
2. The line to purchase drink tickets, and
3. The line to exchange drink tickets for drinks.

After this it was time to actually enjoy some kick arse live music!

The Herd is The Werd

Aussie hip hop at it’s finest, the lads from The Herd put on a great performance. Admittedly, I was more impressed by them when I saw them at last year’s Woodford Folk Festival but then again they were the main act on the main stage of the main night.

Sneaky Sound System

I wasn’t all that familiar with Sneaky Sound System before seeing them live at Splendour 2007 but they definitely rocked.

Paul Kelly

An Australian music legend and a consumate professional, Paul Kelly and band (including an appearance by nephew Dan Kelly) put on a fine performance.

Sarah Blasko

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Sazza Blazza is a wonderful songwriter with a spellbinding voice and was easily the best act we saw on Day One of Splendour 2007. She’s such a cute dancer, too!

Warming up at the Wine Bar

The temperature dropped really suddenly towards the end of Sarah Blasko’s set so we headed over to the Wine Bar to warm up by the heat lamps and drink some cold beer.

Lily Allen Really, Really Sucked @ Splendour 2007

Seriously. We had high hopes for this one but Lily Allen was absolute rubbish. Full credit to the band and Lily’s prerecorded vocal track for managing to hold pitch and key because she sure as shit couldn’t. She was well tanked by the time she got on stage and proceeded to down shots of vodka and swill beer throughout the set. While we’re not against people getting legless and having a good time it would have been nice if she could have shown a little respect for her fans and remembered the words to her own songs. If you want to see a drunken british slapper mangle great songs just go to any pub in any major city in Australia any night of the week!

Stay tuned for the recap of Day Two of Splendour 2007…

Friday Afternoon - The Day Before Splendour 2007

As the clock tick tocked slowly towards 5pm I still had a bit of organising to do. The agreement to borrow a van was at best a casual acknowledgment of my intention which at this point had yet to manifest itself as a confirmed & collected booking. This was obviously not ideal preparation for our kickarse splendour bender weekend. Without a campervan to drive from Brisbane to Byron Bay my companions and I would be stranded in Brisvegas.

Phone Call #1: “Hey Joe, we’ve put The Eagles van aside for you”

Ok, a bit daggy but what a relief! With that sorted out I could now focus my attention on the other logistical requirements of the trip. Or so I thought…

Casey (Wicked Brisbane Depot Attendant): “Hey Joe, did you see which van you got?”
Joe: “No, still waiting for it to be brought over, I guess, I’m meant to be getting The Eagles”
Casey: “No, you’re getting The Village People van - it’s waiting for you over there”

M’kay… it appeared that I would have to trade in any hopes of Hotel California for a nervous stay at the YMCA. Unfortunately, the Village People van was inadequately equipped for my cohorts and me. Between us we had a combined arse count of three. A quick calculation suggested that a 2 berth campervan would prove inadequate in parking said arses!

After a bit of the old proverbial phone ping pong we had managed to resolve this issue. My new best friend for the next week was to be none other than Speed Racer! I used to love that cartoon when I was a little tacker though I always did prefer Racer X… Speed just seems like a pussy by comparison.

Go Speed Racer, Go Speed Racer, Go Speed Racer Gooooo… Oh wait, we’ve stopped!

Bus home, check bike - flat tyres… Walk/jog to Wicked workshop to collect “Speed”. Swing past the petrol station to fill up then it’s back home to pack. With all the due diligence you would expect from a 15 minute luggage stuffing exercise, my housemate and I were ready to hit the road.

“We haven’t forgotten anything, have we?” I asked, to which he replied,
“I’ve got dirty laundry for my parents to wash and a couple of bottles of $4 chardonnay… what else could we possibly need?”

Reassured by his logic, we were ready to hit the road and get on over to the girlfriend’s place to pick her up. After a short drive through the city (honking like a madman at all the kiddies going to the movies in Southbank and embarressing the crap out of HM) we had collected GF and her luggage and it was time to hit the Riverside Expressway.

“You’ve got the tickets, right?” Enquired the inquisitive young lady…

HM and I briefly exchanged blank looks before I pointed our heroic chariot towards home for a mad ticket dash. Having faced the prospect of being stranded in Brisbane with no campervan we could well have ended up stranded in Byron Bay with no Splendour tickets!

We arrived back at my pad and in a flash got the tickets and then headed straight off again. After battling through the Stanley St traffic jams we were out on the highway and on our way to Byron Bay and Splendour 2007!!

Apart from coming to terms with the aerodynamics of a campervan (Speed Racer was a little wobbly going around corners at high speed…) the drive down was pretty much incident free. Remember, kids, Wicked Camper Vans are not cars and that fact alone precludes them from being racecars - no matter whose motif is painted on the side!!

After singing and shouting “Wiiiiiiiiiickeeeed!!!” at anyone would hear it and generally carrying on like a pack of larrikins for around about 2 hours we drew closer to Alstonville (a lovely little place near Byron), which was to be our base camp for the entire Splendour weekend (we stayed at HM’s parent’s place). The exertions of driving (not to mention the excitement of going to Splendour 2007 the next day) had made me thirsty so we stopped off at a depressing rural pub in Wardell to pick up six (Coopers Pale, no less) and shortly afterwards arrived in Alstonville.

After quenching thirsts we then made ready to get some sleep and prepare ourselves for Day One of Splendour in the Grass 2007…

The dust may have settled over Byron Bay’s Belongil Field (one can hope, at least… by the second day the air was dirtier than your typical young Briton’s gap year in Australia!) but that’s no reason for us to not flog a dead horse. Wicked was well represented at Splendour 2007 and the crew managed to snag a whole boatload of photos, videos and stories and we want to share them with you!

Splendour 2007 was awesome…

You really should have been there! If you were and you’ve got some Splendour 2007 photos, stories and videos of your own then don’t be shy… Say G’Day in the comments section and post a link to your stuff! If you were unlucky enough to miss out on a Wicked Splendour Bender this time around, remind yourself how badly you missed out by checking out the goods!

Splendour 2007 Official Flickr Page

You can check out the official Splendour 2007 Flickr page set up by the promoters of Splendour in the Grass and see which photos they deemed worthy of uploading to the web.

Splendour 2007 Videos on Youtube

There’s quite a few vids from splendour 2007 on Youtube, this link would be a good starting point for you

Wicked Campers @ Splendour 2007

We’ll be adding our own images and short films once we get our shit together so check out the festival page on Wicked Campers Australia real soon and come back to www.WickedFriends.com regularly. Be sure to check back tomorrow as I’ll be doing a write-up of my very own Wicked Splendour 2007 Roadtrip to Byron Bay!

Got some photos, videos, stories or feedback from Splendour in the Grass 2007? Leave a comment below and make sure you subscribe to the Wicked Friends Australian Travel & Tourism Blog RSS Feed

MojoSurf: Learn to Surf Australia

Locations: Byron Bay, Lennox Heads, Ballina, Coffs Harbour, Crescent Heads and Sydney, New South Wales (NSW)
Ph: 1800 113 044
Offer: Mojosurf would like to offer all Wicked Campers clients 2 for 1 nights accommodation of powered sites when they arrive at our camps as well as 10% off any surf package.
Website: Learn to Surf with Mojosurf Australia

Surfing in Oz - You’ve always wanted to try it out. You’ve seen the pros carve it up on TV and in the movies and you thought “me too… I can do that”.

So, you put your career and/or education on hold and you book your ticket to Australia. After booking your Wicked Camper Van you buy the fanciest surfboard you can get your hands on and set your compass in a beachwardly direction.

Before too long you’ve found the beach, stripped down to your grundies and are dashing towards the water with all the enthusiasm of a newborn puppy eager to experience everything that life has to offer.

Then what?

You flail around for a bit, slip over a bunch of times trying to stand up and eventually get pummeled into the sand by a barrage of pounding waves. You’ve dislocated your shoulder and snapped your board in half.

What went wrong?

I’ll tell you where you went wrong. All the enthusiasm and equipment in the world won’t make up for the fact that you bloody well don’t know how to surf!!

Look on the bright side, admitting you have a problem is the first step towards recovery and the good news is there is a remedy for you and all your land lubbing compatriates, and that is:

Learn to Surf before Trying to Surf… you Drongo!!

If you want to learn to surf like a professional surfie bum and you’re in, around or near Byron Bay, Lennox Heads, Ballina, Coffs Harbour, Crescent Heads or Sydney then you should give Mojosurf a call on 1800 113 044 and organise a surfing lesson with them.

The team at Mojosurf have heaps of great tips on surfing for the beginner surfer and expert alike. They make it easy and fun to learn surfing!

Mojo Surf Surfing Schools Australia

Mojosurf have a number of Surf Schools up and down the coast of NSW so wherever you’re heading in New South Wales it shouldn’t be too hard to hook up with them and get some advice on how not to get snapped by a wave and look like a goose.

Learn to Surf in Sydney Surf School

For more info on getting surfing lessons at MojoSurf’s Sydney location, check out their Sydney Surf School

Learning to Surf in Byron Bay Surf School

For more info on getting surfing lessons at MojoSurf’s Byron Bay location, check out their Byron Bay Surf School

Learn Surfing in Coffs Harbour Surf School

The Mojosurf Coffs Harbour crew is based at Spot X, a hidden secret of the Coffs area. Enjoy spectacular scenery and safe learner waves far away from the beaten track.

For more info on getting surfing lessons at MojoSurf’s Coffs Harbour location, check out their Coffs Harbour Surf School

Surfing… Camping… Surf Camp?

MojoSurf don’t just have excellent Surf Schools, they also allow you to combine surfing with camping in Byron Bay, Crescent Head and the mysterious Secret Spot X of Coffs Harbour.

Byron Bay Surf Camp

For more info on camping at MojoSurf’s Surf Camp in Byron Bay, check out their Byron Bay Surf Camp

Secret Spot X: Surf Camping in Coffs Harbour

For more info on camping at MojoSurf’s Surf Camp in Coffs Harbour (Secret Spot X), check out their Secret Spot X Surf Camp

Crescent Head Surfing Camp

For more info on camping at MojoSurf’s Surf Camp in Cresent Head, check out their Crescent Head Surf Camp

NSW Surf Tours: Sydney to Byron Bay

MojoSurf also run surf tours, to quote:

Learn to surf on our 5 day all inclusive adventure. This is the be all and end all of Surf Adventures. Departing Sydney we cruise north for an action packed week of surfing, summer beach parties, exploration and relaxation. Split the week between 3 of our own luxury surf camps; Crescent Head’s purpose built Mojo beach house, the sleepy surf town that holds Spot X, and of course Byron Bay.

This is the ultimate way to immerse yourself in Australia’s number one past time and live the surf and beach lifestyle to its fullest. It’s a bohemian lifestyle we lead, and we want to share the experience with you. Long days relaxing in the sun and waves leading into memorable nights around the camp fire, and of course our classic beach parties. Over the 5days you will meet a heap of new friends and have one of the best weeks of your stay in Australia.

Check out Mojosurf’s Surf Adventures Sydney to Byron Bay for more info!

Got some feedback for Mojosurf? Leave a comment below and make sure you subscribe to the Wicked Friends Australian Travel & Tourism Blog RSS Feed

Wicked Campers wishes you all an awesome weekend at Splendour in the Grass and we’ll see you there!

It shouldn’t be too hard spotting us…

• we’ve lent Channel V a van to use as a backdrop for their interviews
• we’ve painted up a fresh van especially for Old Man River to cruise around in
• the Old Man River van will be used as a centrepiece for the campfire sing-a-long (which will be featured on Video Hits)

If that’s not enough there’ll be 50+ Wickeds rented out by music lovers like you… be sure to say hello and be extra nice to anyone with a Wicked Camper!

We’ve got at least half a dozen Wicked staff attending so keep an eye on our Wicked Festivals page after the event for some great stories and photos and stuffs.

If you spot one of our Wicked vans, grab some photos and send them through to us at splendour [AT] wickedfriends.com - the best photos will be added to our website!!

P.S. Wicked highly recommends you check out Jason Molina and his band Magnolia Electric Co. on Sunday at the “G.W. McLennan Theatre” stage from 3pm-3:45pm… you’ll thank us for it!

P.P.S. Many thanks to MojoSurf for lending us surfboards to use as props.