Guide to Splendour In TheGrass 2011

Wed 4th May, 2011 in Features

With over 80 acts listed on the sprawling Splendour In The Grass lineup, it is a daunting list, filled with massive egos, returning favourites, upcoming locals and international next-big-things.

You could spend your days before Splendour listening to all the bands in preparation – if you devote one day to each band you can get through the whole lineup just in time for the festival. Or you could save time and check out this handy guide to the picks of the festival.

CLASH OF THE EGOS

THE HIVES

The Hives have been telling us they “are the greatest band in the world” for nearly twenty years now and frankly we still believe them. It may be because lead singer, Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist still has some of the best stage banter going (“Bad music is the devil and I will be your exorcising priest, helpin’ you out!” ) or because of their snappy dress sense, but for the most part it comes down to the fact that after two decades of making idiots walk a Hives show is still full of chest beating, crowd surfing and a whole lot of tyrannosaurus sized hits.

KANYE

There is no bigger ego in music today than the man that once said, “I will go down as the voice of this generation, of this decade I will be the loudest voice.” Kanye West is no shrinking violet and if his recent performance at Coachella this year is anything to go by, his set at Splendour In The Grass may just be bigger than man himself.

So what can we expect? West started the Coachella set atop a crane being lowered down onto the stage to the strains of Dark Fantasy and then performed a hit-laden set ( Jesus Walks, Diamonds From Sierra Leone and Gold Digger amongst the highlights) accompanied by a huge light show and a troupe of mesmerising dancers. The set was so memorable it lead the NME to write “The birds will not sing again, the colours will not be as bright.”

JANE’S ADDICTION

They may be sans Eric Avery now, but that isn’t going to make a Jane’s Addiction headline spot any less special. While they didn’t make it Down Under for their first scheduled Splendour appearance in 2009 due to an unruly septic elbow, the 90s legends did put on one hell of a performance at Soundwave last year playing a hit heavy set that included, Whore, Stop! Been Caught Stealing, an acoustic rendition of Jane Says and Ocean Size. If we’re lucky we’ll also get some classic Perry on stage hip-shaking and some dancing Geishas.

COLDPLAY

Old hands at Splendour, Chris Martin and co are kings of the emotive crowd sing-a-long, and judging by their most recent festival appearances it will be one big love-in at Woodford this year.

The set-lists from their last few shows have been Viva La Vida heavy but have also included a huge does of the old hits including Yellow (which they like to drop in at the start of the set these days), Clocks and two encores with the last one featuring The Scientist and Life In Technicolor. With a new album under way there is no doubt we will get a taste of some of the band’s new tracks as well.