BYRON BAY - DAY FOUR

Day 4
Sunday, August 2nd 2008

Splendour in the Grass: Day Two

There was a Day Two? I only remember Cold War Kids. Har har har. Day Two was a slow starter. Caz left early but was sent back as she got busted with her SLR. Not only that, she had to delete the photos she got, talk about strict. We lazed around in the hostel for a bit, talking about all things music and photography, and spending time in hammocks watching drunken guys yell at each other and then DRIVE off. Fairly late into the afternoon decided we should probably go. We got the bus into town, then another bus to the festival. I think it was at this point that I started to fall in love with Byron Bay. I guess it was just because of the festival but the town was crawling with young hippie/surfie types, people were dancing on the road to no music, calling out to each other from cars, it was something I wanted to get used to – I’ve wished life could be like a music festival ever since my first Big Day Out when I was thirteen. Even though the infestation of moles is quite obvious now, it’s still a really beautiful thing. There’s not much else that brings people together in such a positive way. Okay, I’m sounding like a hippie. The Wombats were first up for our 2nd day of Splendour, so Caz rushed to the front of the main stage, but after the first day’s effort I could not do it. I decided to have a wander around and get some photos, even though I only had my compact (which I later grew to despise). Splendour was really well set up, it was easy to get stage to stage and there were hidden treasures everywhere. My favourite was the “Church of Two Hands and a Chicken”. We watched a gay marriage there the day before, but on Day Two it featured a (rather old) stripper. I did some more wandering around and witnessed what could have been the best thing I’d seen as far as the punters went – a girl in a really jazzy dress and a tonne of make up walked past and a fairly drunk guy yelled “We’re at a music festival!”, pretty much in her face. He then gave a very loud, frustrated grunt as she just gave him a death stare and kept walking. I wish I shook his hand! After more wandering and observing I decided to get a drink. Good thing I did too, because it gave me the guts and energy to run up to Daniel Boud and ask him to sign my map for Caz. Yeah, she’s a bit of a fan of the Dan! It was awkward asking a photographer for an autograph, I was the first to ever ask him which doesn’t surprise me but he was such a nice dude. We had a great chat about nerdy things like how every photographer seemed to be using a Canon, sucky camera rules and Flickr. He was so bloody nice, I felt a little guilty while talking to him, because I’ve spent so much time on his website going “I hate him, I hate him, I hate him”. After our brief chat I’ve decided he deserves everything he’s done. Anyway, I drank a few more and rushed over to Caz who was planted firmly in the front row amongst the rowdy crowd. The floor under the big top of the main stage was now muddy, which I can only put down to spilt alcohol. God I love festivals. Time passed, I did some more wandering around soaking it all up, and ate a very soggy roast beef roll (not sure how I managed to stomach it, in hindsight). I remembered that stuffed away in my little green bag was a pass to some “Guest Bar” thing. Said “Guest Bar” thing ended up being a very nicely decked out VIP area (we were supposed to get media passes but didn’t, I guess we were compensated with these passes). We had our own toilets, bar and restaurant the entire time. We didn’t know. Ha! I got a snazzy little wristband with bunnies on it, then I weed in a reasonably clean toilet and barely even waited to buy a drink. The VIP area was so incredibly cool, there were pine trees inside the tent with stuffed owls perched on the branches, pretty green lights illuminating everything, lots of outdoor heaters and chairs... Really wish we knew about it sooner. I saw a bunch of people from bands and tried my hardest to look cool, I probably failed though, I was well drunk by this point.
Oh, bands played - Sigur Ros! They were absolutely magical. Then there were other bands I didn't see, can't remember, don't care. I took a snap of myself with Darren Cross (of Gerling/E.L.F) and I think it pissed him off, but I was a massive Gerling nerd as a teenager so I had to do it. Sorry Daz!

Carole eventually joined me and we sat in the cold and talked, talked, talked. A random Scottish guy (completely forgotten his name) and his friend who introduced himself as Healesy joined us. Scottish boy claimed to be a school-mate of “Joe Joe” from Wolfmother. They eventually confessed they’d met in the line for the toilet, and jumped the fence into the VIP area. They were hilarious. We stood near Paul Dempsey for quite some time and managed to get him in a photo, which still makes me laugh! Met the guys from JJJ breakfast which was way cool because I've been such a long-time listener, I felt a little starstruck standing next to Robbie Buck.
We heard Wolfmother finish (god, I wish I knew it was going to be their last time) and it was over. Splendour in the Grass 2008, over! We were all ushered out of the VIP area and what was our final memory of the festival? The singer from Operator Please scoffing “Yeah, these people aren’t invited to the after-party.” Mmm, great move. Say that in earshot of the media. I hope the VIP party was a blast, and you didn’t run out of red cordial too early.

We chose the bus this time, and after a long wait we were dropped into town where I immediately bought a kebab. We reflected on the amazing VIP experience and talked about Caz’s magazine ideas, and more about how awesome photography is (a very popular topic with us). We were at the hostel before 1am, and we then got our laptops, got into the hammocks and attempted to write while swinging in the freezing night air. As much as I didn’t want the festival to come to an official end, my fingers soon became too numb to type and I was forced to go to bed.