Tuesday, August 2, 2016

ON SPLENDOUR. AND WORDSWORTH.

So, Splendour 2016 has been and gone. Tip: Whatever you do, don’t refer to it by its full name: Splendour in the Grass.

It’s Splendour. Just Splendour. Are you Splendouring? Did you Splendour? Verb and proper noun. And an absolute monster of a thing.

I splendoured for the first time this year and I'm still processing it. There are, for sure, bigger festivals out there - bigger crowds, bigger acts and buzz. But this thing takes place in a tucked-away haven of coastal hinterland, invisible from the nearest road. For all you know as you drive north from Byron Bay, the adjacent bush is a tranquil national park inhabited by whip birds and marsupials who graze the grassland under a dappled canopy of Eucaplypts.

But you’d be wrong.