Splendour in the Grass
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| Splendour In The Grass | |
|---|---|
| Location(s) |  Australia
|
| Years active | 2001 - present |
| Founded by | |
| Date(s) | Late July - early August |
| Genre(s) | Rock, Hip hop, Electronic, Alternative |
| Website | http://www.splendourinthegrass.com |
Splendour In The Grass is an annual music festival held in July at Belongil Fields, outside Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia. Promoted by Village Sounds and Secret Service, the festival began in 2001 as one-day event and soon evolved into a two-day event in the following 2002 festival. Last year the festival was attended by 17,500 people over two days, with 2,500 having secured camping permits outside the gates for the duration of the festival [1]. Splendour in the Grass will return to Belongil Fields on the 2nd & 3rd of August, 2008.
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[edit] Background
The 2005 festival sold out its 14,000 tickets in a record time of 26 hours. Soon after the sell-out, festival tickets that initially cost $125 were offered on eBay at inflated prices of up to $3000. Lawyers for the festival organisers responded by sending cease and desist letters to eBay and some 150 ticket resellers, citing a breach of the conditions of sale. However, eBay refused to block the ticket auctions, claiming it was the seller's responsibility to ensure that they have the ability and right to sell products. Radio station Triple J encouraged its listeners to sabotage the bidding process and disgruntled music fans responded, listing bogus bids of up to $1 million in protest against ticket scalping.
After much media coverage, the NSW Department of Fair Trading became involved in the issue and met with eBay representatives. The then Fair Trading Minister, John Hatzistergos, instructed the Office of Fair Trading to investigate the reselling of tickets and determine whether resellers were in breach of the Fair Trading Act. Festival promoters hope the investigation will result in changes to event ticketing by way of the introduction of anti-ticket scalping legislation.
In response to the events of 2005, organisers altered the ticketing system for the 2006 festival in the hope of stamping out ticket scalping. In an unprecedented move, ticket buyers were required to register their name and date of birth at the time of purchase. These details were printed on the event tickets, which had to be provided with valid identification in order to gain admission to the festival. Tickets to the 2006 festival went on sale at 9AM on Monday 15 May 2006. All camping tickets to the weekend event sold out within three hours, and all general admission tickets sold out after 48 hours. The 2006 festival was held on the weekend of 22-23 July.
The 2007 festival, held on the weekend of the 4-5 August, sold out in its first release by 2.25pm on the first day, approximately 5 hours and 25 mins after being released.
[edit] 2008 Festival
Splendour in the Grass 2008 will be held August 2 and 3, 2008 and is not going to move to the new festival grounds - the aim is to get Splendour to the North Byron Shire Parklands (NBSP) site for 2009.[2]
Despite reassurances from Splendour Management that the new ticketing system (provided by Qjump) would be able to handle the large amount of people logging on to buy tickets, would be festival goers were frustrated by massive delays due to the incompetence of all administrators involved. They were faced with the same problems as last year, massive delays and a ticketing system provided by a company that has had absolutely no experience handling such a massive event. For many, this meant missing out on tickets even after sitting through the grueling and inaccurate progress bar. Angry fans flooded forums and support lines with angry posts and emails pleading for any information that would help.
Qjump later issued an apology on the Splendour forum saying, "We would like to sincerely apologise to everyone affected by the issues experienced with the online sales of Splendour in the Grass tickets. We understand and acknowledge the frustrating time that many Splendour fans have experienced. Unfortunately an issue with the bank’s payment gateway prevented some customers who had successfully queued from completing their purchase of tickets. Our team has been working around the clock to respond to each and every email and call. We hope you can be patient with us while we complete this process. The demand for tickets far outweighed supply, with over 70,000 people trying to purchase 17,500 tickets and for many people the problems encountered with the queue and payment gateway meant that people were kept waiting for several hours only to miss out. For that we are very sorry. Thanks for your understanding and patience.
Neil Ackland Managing Director - Qjump"
Despite this apology, some splendour fans where still incensed and angry replies followed with one user writing, "Nah, fuck you Neil I'm still angry and your half assed apology still doesn't get me tickets or give me back the half day I wasted staring at that shitty pink progress bar. I will not be placated by a couple of paragraphs when this whole situation should never even have happened. Eat a fat dick, Neil." [3]
It remains to be seen if the 52,500 people who missed out on splendour tickets will respond to calls from some disgrunted fans to jump the fences of the festival grounds.[4]
[edit] Artist lineups by year
[edit] 2001
Powderfinger, Michael Franti and Spearhead, 28 Days, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Frenzal Rhomb, Something for Kate, Magic Dirt, Sunk Loto, Resin Dogs, Pnau, Squarepusher, Endorphin, GT, Couchfunk DJs, King Kapisi, Superheist, george, DJ Ransom, 2 Dogs
[edit] 2002
Gomez, Grinspoon, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Bentley Rhythm Ace, Resin Dogs, george, Rocket Science, Gerling, 1200 Techniques, Jebediah, Dexter, Waikiki, Good Buddha, Katalyst, Fort, Cut Copy, Noodles, Drag, Kalliope, Supergrass, John Butler Trio, Doves, Spiderbait, Blackalicious, sonicanimation, Paul Mac, Machine Gun Fellatio, Krafty Kuts, Kid Kenobi, Offcutts, Bodyjar, One Dollar Short, Dan Brodie and the Broken Arrows, The Sleepy Jackson, Rhibosome, 2 Dogs
[edit] 2003
Coldplay, Placebo, Powderfinger, The Living End, Goldfrapp, The Music, Alpinestars, Jet, Magic Dirt, James de la Cruz, Veruca Salt, The Sleepy Jackson, Gerling, The Casanovas, Decoder Ring, Sarah Blasko, Ajax, The Bumblebeez, The Re-Mains, Overdub, Nick Taylor & Jackie Onassid, John Butler Trio, Death in Vegas, 1200 Techniques, Adam Freeland, The Superjesus, Katalyst, Richard Fearless, Frenzal Rhomb, Sunk Loto, The Fergusons, Screamfeeder, The Mess Hall, Ugly Duckling, Goodwill, Motion Man and Kutmasta Kurt, Downsyde, Ladytron
[edit] 2004
The Dissociatives, Fiery Furnaces, PJ Harvey, Dizzee Rascal, Dashboard Confessional, Jurassic 5, Spiderbait, MC5, Pete Murray, Franz Ferdinand, Ash, Xavier Rudd, Grinspoon, Electric Six, 1200 Techniques, Money Mark, Eskimo Joe, Snow Patrol, sonicanimation, Ozomatli, Ground components, Acre, The Tremors, Groove Dalley, Sneaky Sound System, Infusion, James De La Cruz, Bexta, The Herd, Slinky, Rocket Science, Hilltop Hoods, Katalyst, Cut Copy, Vanlustbader, DJ Peril
[edit] 2005
Queens Of The Stone Age, Moby, Ryan Adams, Interpol, Bloc Party, Finn Brothers, The Living End, After The Fall, Scribe, Beautiful Girls, Mercury Rev, Willy Mason, Shihad, Decoder Ring, Butterfingers, Sarah Blasko, The Grates, Atlantic, Doves, Futureheads, Har Mar Superstar, Hilltop Hoods, Athlete, Caribou, Drag, P-Money, Downsyde, Pnau, Cut Copy, Kid Confucius, Puss, Gerling (DJ Set), DJ Dexter, Katalyst, Strawberry Syme, Archie
[edit] 2006
Sonic Youth, Grinspoon, DJ Shadow, The Grates, Death Cab for Cutie, TV on the Radio, Augie March, The Avalanches (DJ set), Youth Group, Brittle Fex, Atmosphere, Paul Mac, Mogwai, Something for Kate, Dungen, Mos Def, Bob Evans, Tzu, Tex Perkins, Lior, Angus and Julia Stone, The Predators, Raz Bin Sam & The Lion I Band, Brian Wilson, Wolfmother, Scissor Sisters, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jose Gonzalez, Snow Patrol, You Am I, Decoder Ring, The Presets, The Zutons, Matisyahu, Clare Bowditch & The Feeding Set, Pete Murray, Josh Pyke, Gerling, N'Fa, Van She, The Exploders, Andrew Morris, The Love Bus, Butterfingers, The Vines (Mystery Act)
[edit] 2007
Saturday - Powderfinger, Kaiser Chiefs, Lily Allen, Damien Rice (cancelled), The Waifs, Ash, Editors, The Horrors, Paul Kelly, The Beautiful Girls, The Panics, Sneaky Sound System, The Herd, Sarah Blasko, Tilly and the Wall, Grinspoon, Howling Bells, Hot Chip, Cat Empire, Blue King Brown, Planet Asia, Sara Tindley, Wild Marmalade, Lost Valentinos, Old Man River,Operator Please, Muscles, Riot in Belgium, The Predators.
Sunday - Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, Hoodoo Gurus, Hilltop Hoods, Klaxons (cancelled), The Shins, The Dirty Three, Expatriate, Josh Pyke, Airbourne, Ok Go, Spiderbait, Cut Copy, Gotye, Midnight Juggernauts, Kisschasy, Magnolia Electric Co, Holly Throsby, Bumblebeez, Teenager, Funktrust dj's.
[edit] 2008
Vampire Weekend, Sigur Rós, Devo, Wolfmother, The Living End, The Presets, Tricky, Cold War Kids, Pnau, The Fratellis, The Wombats, The Grates, Gyroscope, Ben Lee, Band of Horses, Operator Please, Scribe, The Music, MSTRKRFT, Van She, Lightspeed Champion, The Brown Birds From Windy Hill, Laura Marling, The Vines, Miles Wilson & Michael Harrison, The Gin Club, The Panics.
British India announced they were playing via their Myspace, while New Young Pony Club and Tokyo Police Club were hinted to be announced in the second line up via SITG's mailing list.
[edit] References
- Music fans bombard scalpers on website The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 May 2005.
- Interview with Paul Piticco - Dew Process/Secret Service Artist Mgt, Australian Music Online, 16 February, 2004.
