Heartbreaking.
Tears in modern Australian utopia Byron Bay, this morning. A big sad energy. The bucolic costal enclave’s surfers woke up from lavender dreams to the worst news imaginable. Racing to breakfast nooks, sun dappling great grandma’s obviously vintage tablecloth, the impossibly beautiful volume enthusiasts found it almost impossible to enjoy toasted artisan sourdough yum yum, poached free range eggs, sprinkled with pink Himalayan sea salt, even tree-ripened avocados from Chris Hemsworth’s backyard.
Splendour in the Grass, you see, had been cancelled.
The yearly music festival that allowed the region’s blessed to micro dose mushrooms while swaying to the majestic chord progressions of Tame Impala has been a staple of paradise since 2001. The three day festival has drawn the likes of Negatron’s cousin Lorde and Vance Joy with former BeachGrit writer Longtom’s goats once wandering over from neighboring Lennox Heads.
Per the Australian Broadcasting Corporation:
In a statement on its Instagram page, the festival said it would be “taking the year off”, and that ticket holders would be refunded “automatically” by ticket retailer Moshtix.
The co-CEOs of Splendour organiser Secret Sounds, Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco, said in a statement to media they were “heartbroken” to share the news, and added they “hope to be back in the future”.
The line up, which had featured Australian music legend Kylie Minogue and obviously vintage Canadian indie band Arcade Fire, had only been announced earlier this month.
Splendour is the latest festival to call it quits in 2024, with regional touring event Groovin the Moo pulling the pin in February. Several smaller festivals have also been cancelled.
Australian folk duo The Dreggs, who were due to play on Splendour’s main stage for the first time, told Hack they only learned of the cancellation minutes before the news became public.
Unmentioned was The Goons of Doom.
Which, speaking of, yesterday, I was watching the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. Vaughan Deadly, the Goons lead bassist, was in the booth alongside Joe Turpel and Felicity Palmateer and had me properly LOLing which, in turn, made me even more angry at the World Surf League. Keep Joe. Whatever. But mixing Jesse Mendes in as “color?”
What sort of WSL dippity-doos are in charge of casting there in the veterinarian office? I’m certain Vaughan was a Rip Curl addition.
Should Rip Curl just take over the tour entirely?
More as that story develops.
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Which one was sleeping with the women he was judging?
Oh dear Jen, I’m embarrassed that I have submitted you to this level of Tomfoolery. You are too sweet and simultaneously a raucous hoot.
Xox
These intrepid bands could relocate to Laurel Canyon I suppose. I hear they’re still doing the hippy hippy shake 24/7 over there.
That’s classic!
Exhaustedly exploited, and ‘the spiritual home’ (or claimed home) of every Australian musician since the advent of social media platforms. Byron’s tired, and everyone’s tired of Byron. Splendour started losing the room when they started booking zoomer centric line ups, add post covid apathy, and then choosing to run a few months after once in 500 year floods with the added spice of a east coast low on the weekend of the festival. Running against the advice of the state emergency service. Not to mention the now foreign ownership (live nation). They can’t even be honest about the cancelation… poor ticket sales. RIP Splendour.
Byron is done for all but the most basic people.
Too expensive, too crowded, too dumb, too fake.
A ghetto for wankers.
Been like this for a long time.
ah , what’s a lead bassist?
Should Rip Curl start trying to make a special division for sasha for their market?
No. This fads gunna die down
Blokes will wish they kept their cocks
Derek will correct me but the trans crowd all stand up to piss, i think?
Sorry to comment bomb… any of you from NSW would know of Green Island and the iconic Don Hearn’s Cabins that were built by Don using 2nd and 3rd hand materials between bongs and waves. It was not only a place for surfers but also, at the time, for draft dodgers of the Vietnam War. The NSW Govt. wants to take a wrecking ball to them, and we’re fighting to stop them. If you’re from NSW, please sign the e-petition. There are very few old-school joints like this left!
https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/la/Pages/ePetition-details.aspx?q=xNJEUL8-dzkpDf3rshIhXA
When the singing budgie from tha 80s is headliner , ya fuked.
Exactly, it was a sad sad lineup
Australian’s have never seen a thrift store they haven’t liked.
The no comeback comeback post. 👍🏻
If you ever get a good wave at The Pass this is the view looking back at you from the shoulder https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Har, 6/metre. That’s about right.
“hey man when you yell at us when we’re about to take off in front of you it really ruins the vibe of the lineup”
Or buy a coffee in Raglan.
West Hollywood bogans?
Developing my Aussie slang vocabulary has never made me smarter, but it’s sure made me laugh a lot over the years.
I had an Aussie roommate for a while in Solana Beach. We would take him to bars and within minutes, he would have an audience hanging on his every word. 😆
Dognuts v may be a new fanciful take on an old expression.
It just means “looks like a mess” in its common usage.
definitely an old expression. Been hearing it since at least the 80s, ‘just a mess’ is the proper interpretation, at least pre Dognuts spin
At least they’re not wearing purple Hokas when they’re not running a 10k. Douchey as they are, I’ll give them that. 🤣
You gotta admit Hoka’s are comfortable as all get up.
Bare feet are better.
Reminds me of the time a bunch of us sat in the back of the Carl’s Junior above Trestles and passed around a single shirt and some flip flops to whoever went up front to order.
barefoot is best for walking around in the supermarket (especially the refrigerated area) and freaking out all the foreigners.
Barefoot running was huge until everyone realised it fucking hurts.
Been kicked out of two French supermarkets and a fucken poser surf shop barefoot.
15 minutes after surfing nude!
Xox
We used to steal trolley loads from the hossegor supermache barefoot no probs. But when the Marseilles boys did a runner from the surf shop they were wishing they had shoes on that day
hard to beat Hoka comfort. Definitely better than bare feet for me these days.
Yeah, my feet got so messed up by shoes that I would go barefoot everywhere if I could.
I had extremely painful plantar fasciitis and if you ran a finger down the sole of my foot, the scar tissue felt like a rope. The surgery isn’t great, as it’s painful and often the problem returns soon.
So I ran barefoot or in barefoot shoes just for protection against sharp shit on the ground. It was painful AF and when I would break through a new bit of scar tissue, I sometimes had to thumb a ride back.
But it worked. I haven’t had the problem since. My feet are stronger and I broke up all the scar tissue but by bit.
I even got custom flat hiking boots that let my feet flex and feel the ground.
I hear really great things about Hokas, but I never want to go through all that shit again, so structured shoes scare me. I tend to go barefoot when possible, wear classic flat no-cushion Vans otherwise, or my boots. I do use running shoes for training, lifting shoes for lifting, etc. but they come off as soon as I’m not doing the activity, like they’re snowboard boots or something. 🙂
you’ve probably seen it, but ‘Born to Run’ is a great book on the barefoot running stuff, makes a lot of your points
There’s a whole generation of guys with foot problems due to wearing nike or reebok running shoes as daily walking shoes for like 20 years, myself included.
Im talking 90s era and onwards. If you weren’t wearing vans, its what you wore.
Problem is, the cushioning in the heel meant you were effectively walking in high heels every day and that gives you weak calves over time.
I tried some zero drop (no difference in height from toe to heel) and immediately started getting torn calves. This is the main problem with barefoot running and vibrams. If your body isnt ready for it (as a runner), you can injure yourself. Probably not so much of an issue if youve been wearing vans day in day out.
Hokkas are great for people getting in to (or back into) running, they are extremely comfortable. Only brand that comes close is asics.
I run in different shoes but im a marathoner amd putting huge miles in squishy shoes like hokka wears them out too quick.
Yeah, stretching out my calves was a part of the process. Painful sometimes. Probably got some tears.
I’ve never been a runner, really. I just did it to fix things.
I wore nothing but Vans and huaraches from Northern Baja for a long time. Never had any foot issues. Then I got older, made some money, and bought more expensive athletic shoes. Big mistake.
Its official. I am hanging up the bags and opening up a string of Super Cuts and Fantastic Sams down there. I will start in the Byron area and from there spider web my way through the lucky country. Once the money starts rolling in I will fly you all out to Dubai for a wave tank take over. Stay tuned.
business is all about supply and demand.
now as far as locks of hair go, plenty of the long unwashed uncombed scraggle in Byron.
as far as demand goes to cut unwashed uncombed scraggle; minimal, although if you specialize in dreading hair, it may work
that said, now that the Splendour is no longer, maybe the foul ones will be getting off their asses, dusting off their CV’s and flocking to Indeed, and thus would need civilized haircuts.
either way, best wishes….and don’t forget to stock up on Fabreeze. the body order hangs heavy over Byron.
I will be teaming up with Febreze and they will be available in store.
That’s a cartoon so not you. You’d be way greyer and saggy.
Are there literally no barbershops in Oz?
Graves ain’t from Oz, he’s Puerto Rican.
true fact
Post up a photo of yourself Grandpa.
Why the hell does anyone think a moustache looks good on them? All it does is make you look like a shady 80’s pornstar (or a firefighter).
…or Hitler
Only if you keep the width within the nostrils.
They look like every hipster musician in the world. Douchy and boring. Chas and you nailed it.
If I were not an anarchist, I would want banjos outlawed.