Splendour day three: the bestbits

Mon 2nd Aug, 2010 in Local News

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS FROM DAY THREE OF SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS

BEST MARACA SMASH

Outshining many of the musical performances on the last day of Splendour was Richard Ashcroft’s spectacular maraca smashing moment. Visibly frustrated with a small crowd turn-out , The Verve frontman dramatically jumped off the stage halfway through his first song Are You Ready, never to return. As FL revealed earlier today, had he remained on stage the dedicated fans who did shun Pixies to see Ashcroft perform would have been treated to a number of Verve classics including Drugs Don’t Work and Bitter Sweet Symphony.

BEST USE OF ‘THE STEELE’

In addition to stealing Richard Ashcroft’s audience, Empire Of The Sun put on a typically no holds barred performance. Standing on a raised podium in the centre of the stage, surrounded by lycra-clad dancers Luke Steele ( aka ‘The Steele’ ) clearly reveled in the huge turn-out. Despite the fact he has been playing the same songs for over a year now, what Steele lacked in new material he made up for in sparkly guitars and make-up. Walking On A Dream and We Are The People predictably drew the biggest crowd reaction, however the energy had dissipated quite dramatically amongst revelers since the first day of the festival resulting in a less than spectacular closing night at the Mix Up tent.

BEST HOE DOWN

Mumford and Sons had the entire Amphitheatre clapping and leg slapping as they put on what may as well have been the headline performance on day three of Splendour. The band, who had performed with The Temper Trap on Friday and made an appearance on Saturday with Laura Marling, continued the theme of stage sharing by inviting Julia Stone, Passion Pit and Boy and Bear to help them out on one song. Having only been here six months ago, Mumford took the chance to air two of their new songs Lover Of The Light and Nothing Is Written both of which were received rapturously by the amped up crowd. Little Lion Man had everyone in the Amphitheatre stomping so wildly the ground seemed to move whilst the mosh pit turned into a manic barn-dance for their spectacular closing track The Cave.

BEST HYPE FULLFILMENT

Miike Snow have been receiving rave reviews the world over for their sunny Scandinavian pop and they proved to be well worthy of the hype, putting on one of the most talked about performances on day three of Splendour In The Grass. The Mix Up tent was jam packed for the afternoon slot, with punters shunning hangovers and sleep deprivation to get a peek of the Swedish-American threesome. Highlights of the flawless set included a chilled down rendition of In Search Of and extended versions of Black and Blu, Silvia and set closer Animal which stretched out for nearly ten minutes.

BEST OLD STUFF

Ash fans were treated to a set of classic hits from the Irish rockers who proved that they still (well and truly) have it. After trying out two new songs Return Of The White Rabbit and Twilight and Innocence, Tim Wheeler and co reeled out all the best moments from their lengthy career including Goldfinger, Kung Fu, Oh Yeah, Girl From Mars and Shining Light.

Backstage goss: Ash joined FL in our photo studio and pulled some loved-up poses for the shoot, including nose kisses and man hugs.

BEST GLITTER PARTY

Alison Goldfrapp landed on stage in whirlwind of glitter, tinsel and blond hair on day three of Splendour In The Grass. Despite a clash with Mumford which resulted in a depleted crowd, the beguiling songstress put on a spectacular performance packed full of futuristic glam-pop stompers. Train and Strict Machine had the crowd in a whirl, whilst Rocket launched punters into a full-blown frenzy. Depsite the Mix Up tent notably smelling like garbage by this time of the evening, Goldfrapp brought a whole lot of glam to the muddy stage.

BEST RE-RUN

Headlining the Amphitheatre on the final night of Splendour In The Grass Pixies put on a tired but crowd pleasing performance. Last in Australia only four months ago, the band was visibly wearied from their current Doolittle world tour and more than ever seemed to be just going through the motions. That said, they pleased many a fan when they opened their set with Ceila Ann from Bossanova, an album that rarely gets a show in during their live sets these days. The set-list was fleshed out with lots of Doolittle which was surprising given this was one of their first opportunities in the last year to not play tracks from that album. Despite the band’s waning enthusiasm for their old material closing tracks _Where Is My Mind and Here Comes Your Man made for a spectacular send off to Splendour In The Grass 2010.

Read about day one of Splendour with LCD Soundsystem, Foals, The Temper Trap, Hot Chip, Ben Harper and Scissor Sisters

Read about day two at Splendour In The Grass with Florence and The Machine and The Strokes.