Splendour Wraps Up

The short tempers that marked the start of music festival Splendour in the Grass at Woodford had mellowed yesterday as about 30,000 tired revellers wound their way home. It had taken some about seven hours to drive out to Woodfordia venue, west of Caloundra and about 20km from the Bruce Highway. Yesterday, traffic on the D’Agular Highway had freed up by midday.

Police had maintained RBT units on the highway and on the Beerwah-Kilcoy Road at Peachester, north of the venue. More than 32,000 people attended the three-day festival, which marked the 10th anniversary of Splendour and the first time it had been held in Queensland. Almost 100 bands played this year.

Splendour had been held near Byron Bay, which has not given up on having the festival again. Petitions calling for Splendour to be returned to Byron were circulated at Woodfordia. And Byron Bay businesses were complaining bitterly at the loss of tourist dollars over the weekend.

Splendour in the Grass organisers have applied to hold the festival on a site at Yelgun, in the Byron Shire in 2012, but approval is not a forgone conclusion. The largest festival at Byron attracted 17,000. At Woodfordia, a much larger site, Splendour was a great success.

Almost 29,000 camped on the site and saw international acts such as The Strokes, Passion Pit, Mumford and Sons and Angus and Julia Stone.

Source: The Sunshine Coast | Megan Mackander