Splendour In The Grass 2013 Rumours In Full Swing - Cold War Kids, Bob Dylan & More

So we’ve officially exhausted the summer festival season, and now we’re slowly lurching towards mid-year, looking for any tasty morsels that will tide us through till Splendour In The Grass – so we thought we’d throw y’all a bone to gnaw with a bit of a SITG 2013 rumour wrap-up!

We’ve got pretty strong hints so far that the likes of Cold War Kids, Polyphonic Spree and possibly even Bob Dylan himself will be hitting Byron Bay this July.

Firstly, news from this morning – as evident in the below photo, triple j’s Zan Rowe caught up with Cold War Kids amidst the glory of SXSW where the band revealed that they will be in Australia mid-2013, which lines up nicely with the recently announced dates of Friday 26th, Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th July.

The great Bob Dylan was casually name-dropped by SMH a little while back, after an article randomly mentioned that the 72-year-old folk legend had a couple of dates at the Sydney Opera House and SITG this July. However unlikely this may be, it’s the one we’re most hoping actually happens.

The small gathering that is Polyphonic Spree are all but confirmed, after man with the plan Tim DeLaughter straight-up dropped the news himself that they will be performing at Splendour.

Deap Vally and James Blake are also sitting somewhere close to the top of the list, on account of their upcoming run of limited-date promo shows early this year thanks to the cats behind Splendour, Secret Sounds. Could they be warming up for something bigger?

Jake Bugg is also a strong favourite after his song Lightning Bolt featured in the first promo video for the festival, which was released yesterday. Big Boi also started a rumour himself by announcing via Twitter that he will be here playing shows some time in July.

If these rumours and confirmations are anything to go by, it’s shaping up to be a massive year for the festival. Splendour has new digs in North Byron Parklands, Byron Bay, after a few years at Woodford. Here’s hoping we see something, ANYTHING, to keep us going until July in the next few weeks.

UPDATE: 28/03/13

Not only has James Blake now confirmed his Splendour 2013 appearance, but the latest Fuji Rock announcement has just come through with and it looks like we have another strong contender in The Cure!

Fuji Rock is held every year around the same time as Splendour, and more than a few acts have made the trip from Japan to Australia on the same weekend, provided they’ve had a day in between to travel. Since The Cure are playing Fuji on Sunday, we may very well expect to see them as headliners on the Saturday night. They’ve been rumoured for the last two years, and as they’ll be in the area anyway it looks like this might be the year that Splendour organisers finally pull of the coup.

Thanks to Fuji Rock, we can also add Of Monsters And Men, Mumford & Sons and The xx to Friday’s Splendour line-up, and notch Aimee Mann, Death Grips, DJ Shadow, Fun. and Skrillex(!) onto the tentative bill for Sunday.

UPDATE: 10/04/13

New confirms and strengthening tip-offs! We still don’t have anything that could be considered mind-blowing headliner material confirmed just yet, but we’re surely less than two weeks away from the official announcement – so hold tight, and in the meantime check the latest locks and murmurs.

Warnambool rockers Airbourne are the latest act to be confirmed for Splendour 2013, with lead singer Joel O’Keeffe telling Triple M, “We come with all the amps in the world. We’re here to rock n’ roll. It’s gonna be loud, it’s gonna be bright, we’re here to have a good time. You only live once!”

CHVRCHES are also looking extremely likely. The Scottish synth-poppers announced 2 Australian dates for early August this morning, which smell an awful lot like Splendour sideshows to us.

Alt-J are possible contenders, with the Leeds quartet heading Down Under for the third time in a year. Their Perth show on 27th July rules them out for the Saturday night, but a Splendour appearance on the Friday or Sunday is a strong possibility.

The National have a mighty gap between American tour dates in mid to late July – could they be heading back to Byron? They’ve also announced UK tour dates to promote their forthcoming album Trouble Will Find Me.

San Diego surf-rockers Wavves are potential Splendour material. They’ve already confirmed an Australian tour and have Asian dates confirmed for June, Canadian dates in August but nothing inbetween.

UPDATE: 15/04/13

We could hear the chorus of “we told you so’s” before the Fuji Rock update, but we’re an optimistic bunch here at Feeds. Sadly, though,Foals can definitively be struck off the list of possible Splendour contenders. Bassist Walter Gervers told scenewave that the Oxford rockers would not be playing the festival, saying, “We really wanted to, but we’re sort of more focused on our own tour, which is a bit more important to us. If this means missing some festivals, we can cope with that because we always feel more comfortable being a bit more in control like at our own shows.”

Don’t know how we let this one slip by, but Frank Ocean is also looking like a very strong possibility – Supafest promoter John Denison tweeted back in Feb that the New Orleans crooner would be making an appearance.

Phoenix could be making the cut this year too. The French quartet have just played Coachella (with a guest appearance from R. Kelly, no less) and are just about to drop their new record Bankrupt!. Their touring schedule has a nice Splendour-sized gap at the end of July too.

Born Ruffians and Major Lazer both have new albums to promote and gaps in their schedule at Splendour time – might we be seeing the Canadian indie rockers and/or the Diplo side project at Byron?

We’ve got to be a week or so out from the line-up drop now, surely, but we’re liking the look of this list a lot now.

UPDATE: 16/04/13

The National have been once and for all confirmed for Splendour!

Furthermore, Phoenix have strongly suggested they’ll be in town either at the end of this year, or the start of 2014. Unfortunately that means we won’t be seeing them for Splendour.

UPDATE: 22/04/13

Wavves are coming! We’ve had them on our radar for quite some time but just yesterday we got news direct from the Twittery fingers of Nathan Williams himself that the band will be heading to Byron for Splendour in July, making this his band’s third Australian tour in as many years.

As previously reported, there’s been serious buzz about Wavves touring with both Fidlar and Cheatahs for a couple of months now, and since we know that Wavves are coming, we’d be betting we’re going to see at least one of those guys on the roster too. But let’s hope for two.

UPDATE: 22/04/13

Bob is out! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the Americanarama tour featuring Bob Dylan, Wilco and My Morning Jacket conflicts with Splendour weekend. Americanarama tour dates place Dylan in Hoboken, New Jersey on the 26th July, Wantagh, New York 27th July and back to New Jersey on July 28th.

Not to worry Bob, you just kinda wasted our precious time. But don’t think twice, it’s all right.

CONFIRMED:

The National

Cold War Kids

James Blake

Wavves

Polyphonic Spree

Airbourne