Splendour In The Grass 2016 – Day 2

Splendour In The Grass day two brought with it more sunshine, as temperatures reached a peak and restored everyone to peak energy after a huge day one. While the legs may have been tired there was barely a sign of fatigue once the sun set and the big guns started taking to the stage. Here’s another round of awards recapping day two.

Lido

Most Skillful One-Man Show

Nowadays when you go to see a producer you expect to see a DJ set, sometimes with a few added elements. Norwegian musician Lido is technically a producer. He’s worked with everyone from Chance The Rapper to Halsey and churned out plenty of instrumentals in his time but any preconceptions you had of what to expect from Lido’s ‘producer set’ would’ve been blown out of the water yesterday. Surrounded by drums, keys and synths he played a mindblowing one-man set. He told the audience he’s not going to tell them to clap or direct them in any other way because it’s not a DJ set, but he amped them up purely by giving his all. He dropped gospel-tinged electronica from his forthcoming album Everything, played around with tracks by Aussie artists and achieved euphoria with current single Crazy. It was no frills set that centred around his ridiculous talent and he gave the Splendour crowd everything he had.

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Paces

Most Former Australian Idol Winners

Paces tapped season one Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian for his excellent set showcasing tracks from his debut album Vacation. Paces is someone who appreciates a voice for a voice, outside of any context and as such his songs feature everyone from Aussie newcomer Jess Kent to US rapper Rye Rye. It’s also what led to having Guy Sebastian on stage at Splendour for the first time singing like his life depended on it. Sebastian easily has one of the best voices in the country and Paces’ tropical, delectable beats showcase it in such a beautiful light. The pair dropped their Like A Version cover of LDRU’s Keeping Score and made everyone forget about Shannon Noll – no matter how many memes there may be. Sebastian is the OG and it was great to see a triple j-favoured producer dipping his toes into the pop world.

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Sticky Fingers

Most Dedicated Audience

It seems that if you’re not a Sticky Fingers fan at Splendour, you have no place at the festival. The Sydney band pulled arguably the biggest mainstage crowd of the festival so far as the sun set yesterday and they sung louder than any other. Wrapped in a fur coat, Dylan Frost proved he’s Australia’s most fearless frontman and he directed his huge crowd like a puppet master. They erupted in song to Rum Rage, danced to new single Our Town and grooved to Gold Snafu. It was very popular for the naysayers to brand Sticky as overrated but when you pull a crowd this huge it’s pretty hard to say that thousands of people were wrong. Whether you enjoyed the music or not it was a sight to behold.

James Vincent McMorrow

Most High Notes

This award was always going to be a toss up between the two James’ – Vincent McMorrow and Blake. Blake isn’t today but he’s going to have a hard time beating the former as his after-dark set in the G.W. Mclennan tent was heartbreakingly fragile, perpetuated by his effortless falsetto. Higher Love was angelic, Cavalier was ethereal and he lost no love from the crowd when he dropped his more R&B-tinged new stuff. He’s a pro at breaking hearts but he’s just as good at piecing them back together and he did that last night.

Santigold

Most Costume Changes

Sometimes festival gigs mean a far less complex setup but Santigold wasn’t going to let that get in the way of performing her whole show. All centred around the theme of consumerism, off the back of her latest record 99c, she gave us a wildly colourful display of costumes, video and dancing. Hits like L.E.S. Artistes and Disparate Youth got the crowd going early, but the whole show was boosted by her visuals, including three costume changes. She started in a suit before moving to a dress with her song titles on it and finally she ended with a tracksuit with her face on it. It was perhaps the ultimate outfit to perform a song titled Can’t Get Enough Of Myself and she spread every ounce of her self love through the crowd with a beaming smile. By the time she wrapped up with Big Mouth everyone was carrying the same smile, part of one of the most infectious dance parties of Splendour so far.

The Cure

Most Traffic Back And Forth

The Cure’s three hour set was a marathon. Their 30 set song was incredibly lengthy for a festival set let alone a set by a band that are in their ’50s. They maintained a steady crowd throughout, peppering their sets with favourites like Friday, I’m In Love and Lovesong but many chose to devour the set in parts. People washed in and out of the Amphitheatre as they pleased and there was something comforting about knowing you could always come back to The Cure at some point, not to downplay the spectacle of watching one of the greatest alternative bands of our time. Four encores deep, they finally wrapped up with Boys Don’t Cry. The crowd roared along to Robert Smith with some even singing along to the iconic guitar riff. It was a special close to the day, even if you didn’t last the full three hours.

Best Of Splendour In The Grass 2016 – Day 2 / PHOTOS: Maria Boyadgis

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Splendour In The Grass 2016 continues today. Read our review of Day 1 here and stay tuned to our Splendour In The Grass feed for all the up to date coverage.