With one of Australia’s biggest festivals taking another year off, all we have for now are memories of the killer performances from Splendour In The Grass to get us by to 2026.
Whether it was at its original home in the early years in Byron Bay, those two years in Woodford, Queensland, or its modern day home in Yelgun, so many bands gave the performances of lives at the festival, which remain etched in punters’ brains.
The Rolling Stone AU/NZ team have shared experiences and nominated five performances we think stand as some of Splendour’s finest moments.
Coldplay, 2011
After first headlining back in 2003 as they began to take over the world with second album, A Rush Of Blood To The Head, the UK pop rock sensations returned to close out the festival in one of its two years in Woodford in 2011.
The exclusive performance was one of only a handful they were doing at festivals worldwide in the lead-up to the release of fifth album, Mylo Zyletto. The band charmed the amphitheatre as they previewed new songs and bounced through their back catalogue of hits. But perhaps the most poignant moment of the set came in the encore after mega hit “Clocks” as Chris Martin did a moving tribute to Amy Winehouse who had died a few days earlier. Martin beautifully fused in some bars of Winehouse’s biggest hit, “Rehab”, from his piano before effortlessly launching into “Fix You”. Cue 30,000 sets of goosebumps throughout Woodford and no doubt, plenty of tears as well.
Powderfinger’s (4/5) reunion, 2017
Ever since they quit at the top of their game in 2010, all Aussie music fans had been hoping that Powderfinger would reunite one day. Having headlined Splendour on several occasions, and their former managers running the festival, anticipation peaked in 2017 when frontman Bernard Fanning performed a solo set.
After covering his old band’s track “Sail The Wildest Stretch” from their final album, Golden Rule, Fanning told the crowd: “It’s been 10 years since Powderfinger played Splendour, so let’s have a little anniversary.” Bandmates Ian Haug, John Collins and Darren Middleton had all made the trip to Splendour and joined Fanning on stage, smashing out two of their biggest hits – “These Days” and “(Baby I’ve Got You) On My Mind” – sending the crowd delirious.
It wasn’t a full reunion though – the last-minute plans were kept from drummer Jon Coghill who was at home on the Sunshine Coast. The band later made it up to him with a social media post repairing his car. Coghill joined the band a few years later in 2020 for their ‘isolated’ reunion during the COVID-19 pandemic One Night Lonely, which they filmed for the Support Act music charity.
Gang Of Youths, 2018
Emphatically declared a “they’ve made it to the top” moment, Gang of Youths’ 2018 set was universally acclaimed and charged with emotion. Frontman Dave Le’aupepe gave a shout out to his ailing father who was listening to their set in hospital, dedicating tracks such as “The Heart Is A Muscle” and “Say Yes To Life” to him. Le’aupepe cemented his new rock god status with some crowd surfs while the band charmed the amphitheatre with their catalogue of hits, riding high on the success of breakthrough album, Go Farther In Lightness.
Some of the best comments came from tennis ace Dylan Alcott who declared them as “a fucking powerhouse”.
“They could do Coachella with that show, and do it with their eyes closed,” he later told triple j.
Florence and the Machine, 2010
In the first of two years in Woodford with a massive lineup led by The Stokes and Pixies, it was Florence and the Machine who left the biggest impact – at least for the security team.
With the buzz well and truly alive on the back of debut album, Lungs, our writer Jade said the crowd was heaving and things even got “a bit scary”.
“They weren’t expecting such a huge crowd for her set. They pulled temp fencing across the road outside the VIP bar and people were climbing it, pushing it down to get access. We had cops running into the bar and past us to scale the fence trying to reinforce it from the other side.”
Arctic Monkeys/Bloc Party, 2007
2007 was the year the Brits ruled Splendour. Arctic Monkeys were flying high off Favourite Worst Nightmare, their follow-up to their all-conquering debut – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not – and undoubtedly cemented their position as a pulsating live act. Also high up on the bill were festival favourites Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs and Lily Allen.
But Jade reckons her standout moment was seeing Californian group Ok Go performing “Here It Goes Again” following on from the hype of their treadmill-themed video. “It went viral in 2006 before ‘viral’ was a term we even used,” she said.
And, finally… Richard Ashcroft, 2010
In a stacked year at Woodford, The Verve frontman’s set at Splendour was also memorable, albeit for the wrong reasons.
Ashcroft stormed off stage on the final night, just one song into his set. Unhappy with his small crowd, he lashed out at organisers for putting him in the GW McClennan tent up against Empire Of The Sun and The Pixies on other stages.
He told fans they may as well go watch the Pixies, before throwing down his tambourine and rushing off into a waiting car. That car then got stuck in traffic as fans left the main stage. A “Bittersweet Symphony” indeed.
