Powderfinger Drummer “Surprised” The Band Played Without Him At Splendour

July 24, 2017

Former Powderfinger drummer Jon Coghill says he was “surprised” to hear the remaining members of the band performed together at Splendour In The Grass on the weekend, which he found out about via text message during the performance.

Coghill, who now works as a reporter for ABC Sunshine Coast, tells the ABC that he was at home when a friend in the Splendour crowd sent him a message about Powderfinger’s surprise appearance during Bernard Fanning’s solo set.

“When I heard about it, someone texted me to say, ‘Oh I loved the gig’ and stuff like that,” Coghill says.

“I just thought, ‘What’s going on?’ And I saw it, and I thought, ‘Oh that’s a bit strange.’

“So I was a bit surprised, but it is what it is.”

Coghill says Fanning told him the performance was a last-minute idea.

“All the other guys went down to Splendour, and I didn’t go because I haven’t been for a few years because we got the young kids and it’s a bit hard at the moment,” he says.

“So they got together on a bit of a whim and went up on stage and played with Bernie.

“I was texting Bernie yesterday, and he was saying, ‘Look it was sort of a last minute thing and it’s now been blown out of proportion.’

“You got to remember that we were together for 20 years and for about the first 10 years of that … I was a bit of a mean guy who didn’t like to lose an argument.

“So if those guys feel like there’s a bit of bad blood, I don’t blame them.

“But I really don’t think there is, I think [the set was] completely innocent and it’s been taken out of proportion.”

Coghill has since tweeted that the whole thing was “just a bit of a misunderstanding really”, adding, “It’s all good.”

Interestingly, Coghill says the members of Powderfinger are meeting with their management this week, but he’s remaining tight-lipped on whether or not a reunion tour is on the cards.

Meanwhile, Fanning has already said that there are “no plans or ideas for a reunion or a tour or anything like that”.

Watch footage from Powderfinger’s Splendour performance here, and peep all the photos of it below.