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We open this years Splendour festivities with a traditional Aboriginal dance from a local group, and an acknowledgement of the traditional owners of the land.

Local Byron band The Black Stars get the music underway under the Supertop. This three-piece piece play uptempo indie rock, and do it quite well, but there’s not much to distinguish them from the musical masses. It’s also hard for them to feed off the nonexistent energy in the tent, as people trickle in. Incompetent is a highlight, performed at breakneck speed, and although their songs all start to sound quite similar, at least they’ve got Splendour started with a bang.

Until, that is, The Galvatrons take the stage, and within the first few synthed-up, power rock moments, all memory of the Black Stars has been wiped from the memory of the now tightly packed in crowd. Frontman Johnny Galvatron has the best shirt slogan of the day – The Wow Starts Now – and it certainly does. His unabashed appropriation of ‘80s hair rock moves is matched by the synth work coming from stage right. They sing songs about spaceships and robots, all of which are lapped up by the excited crowd, and there’s not a moment of smugness or knowing irony to ruin the effect. Johnny is the kind of guy that you’d like to take home and play Atari 2600 with, and if The Galvatrons inspire a revival of ‘80s hair rock sounds, there could be no better trendsetter.

The new Coldplay album is playing between sets at the Supertop, and as if that wasn’t wierd enough, large patches of people are singing along, knowing every word of nearly every song. It’s a little bit freaky.

Around the other side, at the GW McLennan tent (now without seating), Delta Spirit perform an incredible set. Earnest and empassioned, their take on indie guitar rock comes via Dylan and deep south soul. Freight Train and People C’mon, from their corker of a debut album due out next week, are particularly impressive, as is People Turn Around, which provides a stirring closer driven by the lead singer’s terrifically raspy voice.

Not even Jake Stone’s recently broken leg slows Sydney rock hopsters Bluejuice as they burn up Mix Up Tent early on. The Sydneysiders never drop intensity from go to woah, but Vitriol is the track that turns the place into one giant, grooving house party.

Tokyo Police Club have the unfortunate position of following up The Galvatrons. Their tightly wound indie rock is fun to watch, and the crowd is generous with it’s love, especially with the raucous single Give Us Your Vote. The synth player hurls himself at his instrument, even more so when he needs to play the tambourine. Unfortunately, though, the energy ebbs away, and the Club don’t know how to get it back again. By the end of the set, they’ve lost their way a little, but it’s still been a strong showing – 1:50pm is not an ideal time for any rock band to be performing.

Lightspeed Champion lights up the GW McLennan stage, and any illusions about him being relaxed or gently melodic are quickly shattered. That’s not to say that his frank and pretty tunes don’t shine – they do and they’re great – but so do his background in experimental noise rock and supreme musical ability. He shreds before launching into a delicate harmony, and tears out an incendiary solo to compliment a spiky violin melody in a dancey new song.

Meanwhile, Operator Please look like they’ve come straight from a costume shop. Neckerchiefs, bowler hats and bow ties all make an appearance, and the violinist is in a Dorothy-esque blue gingham dress. Music wise they hit all their old favourites – Terminal Disease and Get What You Want get the whole crowd dancing. Taylor lets his drumming shine on Yes Yes, making his usual exuberant showing. A cover of Salt’N’Pepa’s Push It feels a little contrived, but when it morphs into an indie rock version, it bursts to life.

Frontwoman Amandah doesn’t have the best day – her mic keeps feedbacking on her, and someone throws something at her during the explosive Song About Ping-Pong, causing her to change one of the lines of the verse into an attack on the thrower. They finish with Zero Zero, and although it hasn’t been one of their better sets, an ordinary Operator Please show is still pretty damn good.

If The Music needed evidence that they need to tour more often, it comes before they even come on stage. The backing music fades to silence, and someone walks out on stage. The crowd goes wild. But it’s just a normal break in the backing album, and the roadie who just walked out on stage puts down the Powerade and leaves. If they tour more often, these cases of mistaken identity should be less likely.

The Music do come to the stage soon enough, and open with the distinctive riff of smash single Take The Long Road And Walk It. Frontman Robert Harvey still dances like a puppet, but his lack of hair has cost him some of his charm. Of course, his band still make some of the most danceable rock around, with the percussion work providing a dance beat rather than a simple rhythm. New songs Escape, Fire and hit single Strength In Numbers have the crowd, which now occupys almost all of the space beneath the gigantic Supertop, dancing away.

But it’s the old singles which really hit home. Welcome To The North is spectacular, and The People generates the first real mosh pit of the day. The only disappointment is Getaway – Harvey plays guitar for this version, but it feels dumbed down to a normal indie rock song, instead of the incredible dance anthem it should be. Luckily, they close with the extremely special Bleed From Within, complete with a drum solo in the middle where all four members of the band play on seperate drum sets.

It’s almost unfair how good The Gin Club are. Their multi instrument offering, from the sever cello, through the alt-country guitar spread, to the wailing synth, is absolutely massive. From the swaggering beast 10 Paces Away, to the seven part vocal harmony juggernaught Abigail, they play as one impeccably talented unit, as they prove that their stellar album Junk was no fluke. It’s a shame that they mostly play with the charisma of high school teachers, because, as the thousand-strong singalong of Wylde Bitch shows, they deserve more than the meagre success that they have thus far won.

Gyroscope blew the crowd away at Big Day Out earlier this year, and at Splendour they prove that it was no fluke, playing one of the best sets of the day. They’ve become the perfect festival band – their rock is hard, but not too hard, with plenty of fist-pumping and chorus-sing-alonging to be done. Plus, of course, they’ve got hit singles to burn – Beware Wolf, Doctor Doctor and Dream Vs Scream all make early appearances, with the crowd dancing away all the way to the back of the tent.

Frontman Dan even comes down into the crowd during Safe Forever, singing part of the song from the photo pit. The anthemic Australia is the one quiet moment in the set, but it’s Fast Girl which is truly momentous, as the boys segue the bridge into a cover of Midnight Oil’s Beds Are Burning, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. They close with Snakeskin, and the crowd is singing along so loudly that it actually dampens the effect of the guitar, at least from where this reviewer is standing. These guys make great rock music look so easy, it’s a wonder that so many bands get it wrong.

The GW McLennan Tent is only sparsely populated as The Drones arrive, but the faithful revel in their toffee-thick atmospheric mindfucks. There’s a beautiful sinuousness to the band’s sound as they repeatedly wend from a kind of Zen emptiness to an aural overload of bass and guitars. It could all easily be a bit cerebral, but Gareth Liddiard’s pained confessionals prove as compelling as they are convulsive.

Backing up after the one-two punch of The Music and Gyroscope was never going to be easy, and The Fratellis don’t do themselves any favours by being 20 minutes late onto the Supertop stage, which had actually been running pretty much on time for the rest of the day. They open with Mistress Mable, warming up the crowd nicely, and follow it up with some more songs from their new album, which is a little bit darker than the first.

They play a combination of Britpop and garage rock, but too much of the early set feels like filler, and the Fratellis lose some of their momentum. They pick it back up again by closing with some of their well known singles – Costello Music, Baby Fratelli and Chelsea Dagger are all crowd favourites, and the ones they’ve been hanging out to see. Unfortunately, The Fratellis never do enough to justify their early evening timeslot, or their 50 minute set up time.

Claire Bowditch has her Feeding Set in tow, but proves she can charm the pants off an audience when she loops her hair into an impromptu Elvis do, dons garish yellow sunglasses and warbles kookily to the accompaniment of her Casio 45 during a solo break. She’s just as adept at poignant, however, and delivers in spades with several songs characterised by her dusky vocals and fragile fingerplucked guitar.

Coldplay’s new album is still playing between sets on the main stage, and now the singing along from crowd members numbers in the hundreds. The slightly freaky has become the absolutely surreal.

There’s something special about a band that opens a set with an album’s opening track, and Cold War Kids do just that with We Used To Vacation. Nathan Willet ’s voice is a marvel, a thing to behold, as he belts out melodies on his piano, and the disjointed tempo shifts which take place in so many Cold War Kids songs are handled with aplomb. The Kids feel like a demented lounge band, cranking out tunes from their superb debut album Robbers & Cowards. Hospital Beds and Tell Me In The Morning are both fantastic as the piano and guitars play off each other, and Willet delivers his verbose lyrics with authority. God, Make Up Your Mind is not as soft and gentle as its recorded counterpart.

We also get some new Cold War Kids songs, from a forthcoming album, and they’re all excellent, although Willet doesn’t play piano on any of them. Mexican Donuts is powerful, but it’s the fist pumping Something Is Not Right With Me that soars. Of course, Hang Me Out To Dry has the crowd dancing and singing along, but it’s the last song Saint John which is the true set highlight as the boys are joined by members of Delta Spirit, all of whom play various percussion instruments, to create a chaotic malestrom perfectly suited to the song. Tonight, Cold War Kids proved you don’t need to play power rock to win over the Splendour crowd, and they did it in style.

Band Of Horses walk out on the GW McLennan stage with bottles of bourbon in hand, and the first words uttered were “G’day ya f***ing c**nts.” It’s not quite a charming start, but the music makes up for it as they open with Ghost. The band are clearly happy to be here, and play a good mixture of old and new songs, with plenty of chances for the audience to sing along (which seems to have been a theme of todays performances). Benjamim Birdwell even brings the mic down to the crowd for the chanting in Funeral. The band have the crowd wrapped around their fingers, listening eagerly to every cherished note, and they jangle their four guitars into a solid cohesive whole. Members of The Drones come onto the stage for the last couple of numbers, and Birdwell heads into the audience, which is loving every minute of it.

The Living End have come a long way, but they’re still happy to play to their bogan roots, kicking off their set with the first bars of the Choirboys’ Run To Paradise, before ripping into Roll On and What’s On Your Radio. The tempo decreases slightly for Who’s Gonna Save Us, and the big mosh pit of the day is dwarfed in intensity only by the number of voices singing along to Prisoner Of Society.

New song Moment In The Sun is more melodic than previous work, but still has that working class edge, as does fan favourite All Torn Down. The lead mic on the Supertop tent has been having problems all day, and when it happens to frontman Chris Cheney, he loses guitar sound altogether, but he makes up for it by turning a bridge into an extended solo once the problems are rectified, and the crowd loves it.

Make The Call is a bit dirtier, a bit bluesier, but still delivered at high speed. A single guitar leads the happy punters through Waltzing Matilda, and onto a nice piece of fingerpicking bass slapping rockabilly joy, and as they close with the classic West End Riot, The Living End have proved once again that they are one of the best live bands in Australia.

I believe in the potential for music to be a transformative experience, and that potential is pretty much exemplified by the Polyphonic Spree. The Spree has 22 members, including a full string section, full brass section, a complete rock band, and a six piece choir, all under the control of Tim DeLaughter, who is part ringmaster, part puppetmaster, part reverend, and one hundred per cent entertainment. Their songs are filled with life and energy and joy, especially when they sing about the sun (which they do often) and every show is an absolute experience, which must be seen to be believed. They open with some new numbers from latest album Tragic Army, which has seen them take a darker approach, but only slightly. The entire set is a hands-up-in-the-air, swaying-left-and-right moment, which borders on transcendental. There is truly something special in the air.

There’s a hint of something special over at the Supertop too, as preparations continue for Devo. Five new lighting rigs have been lowered into place, and the letters D, E, V, and O appear on the stage.

The Polyphonic Spree, meanwhile, are giving lovefests a good name, drawing the crowd together for a manic performance of hit single Hold Me Now, and a spectacular cover of Live And Let Die. The band slowly start to trickle off stage, leaving just DeLaughter and the punters singing, accompanied by the harp.

Eventually DeLaughter leaves, and it’s just us and the harp. But the band soon return, having changed from their black Fragile Army outfits into their traditional robes. They play the brilliant Follow The Day, but it’s what happens next which is the most awe-inspiring moment of the day. A 22-person band shouldnt be able to cover Nirvana’s Lithium, but cover it they do, accompanied with gusto by every single member of the crowd, singing and moshing along like never before – after all, most of us have never and will never hear this song live, so it’s an incredible experience to behold. They close with one more of their songs, before DeLaughter spends ten minutes saying goodbye and begging us to buy merch. It’s the perfect way to end a great day at the GW McLennan stage.

Devo open, loud and resplendent in belted yellow jumpsuits and red cone hats, with Good Thing, the sound as clear, and the vocals as fresh as they were 25 years ago. Peekabo and Girl You Want slide by, before Whip It sees the boys throwing the cone hats off stage to the suitably amped and shouting crowd. There’s a little post-big-night-out, nursing a dirty kebab while watching early morning Rage, in all of us right now. Secret Agent Man is next, and Devo lead Saluting the Flag with an extended middle finger. The hits just keep on coming with Satisfaction and Uncontrollable Urge, while for Mongaloid, the lead stomps around stage and cheers with big orange pompoms as the rest of the band rock out with what could mistakenly be taken as the most politically incorrect song of the festival.

We are asked. “ARE WE NOT MEN?!” He cries. No, ‘We are Devo’. And the jumpsuits come off revealing black devo-labelled shirts, and shorts with white knee pads! Quirky is for kids, this is subversive fun for grown ups. Mister DNA is delivered with slick tempo changes, ear-mining guitar solos thrashed so hard they break strings, and so much infectious zeal & energy on the stage that it’s impossible not to dance. A much younger version of these 5 trailblazers is flashed up on screen, all in salute to an invisable but audible USA. The boys don’t know if they’ll be back, so they offer us something special, infantile, regressive – the Devolution will not be televised. Alter-ego “Boogie Boy” comes out & sings It’s a Beautiful World many octaves higher than the original, which dulls the appeal for the crowd somewhat, but who ever thought that Devo would do something normal? You wouldn’t know Devo if you did.

All in all, it’s been one hell of a day, and with more to come tomorrow, this year’s Splendour is shaping up to be one of the best ever.

By Liam McGinniss, Stephen Goodwin, Shan Welham, Tom Slater and Kendall Hooper.