The Parklands are doing a great job servicing the 30,000-odd Splendourians that descended on site yesterday. While there were some teething issues – especially with transporting everyone’s camp gear from the car park to their new homes – the natural amphitheatre is excellent, the Mix Up tent is an outrageous dance party (complete with four gigantic disco balls), and the GW MClennan tent is refreshingly free of mud.
Just to clear things up, you actually don’t shake polaroid film to make it develop faster. Nope – it doesn’t help at all. However, we are willing to ignore their photography-faux-pas, because Outkast ruled. Andre 3000 and Big Boi pumped out a seminal set, kicking off with ‘Bombs Over Baghdad’ and rounding out with ‘Hey Ya’, which had absolutely everyone dancing. The visuals were pretty epic, too.
If you haven’t seen Skywhale, the best way to describe it would probably be a gigantic inflatable whale, with boobs. Yep, as odd as it sounds, the majestic Patricia Piccini hot air balloon sculpture is hovering over by the Red Bull Music Academy Stage. Worth checking out – you can’t really miss it.
With the likes of Sable, Wordlife, LDRU and Indian Summer spinning over at the RBMA, you’d be a fool not to pop in between acts. Meanwhile, at the Carlton Dry Hello Beer bar they own the biggest live screen on site streaming straight from the Mix Up tent, the Moet bar is pimp, the Chai tent is chilled and the Mad Mex Fiesta is festive as always. Ole!
Tepee Life is onsite accommodation, which is sort of like camping but much, much better. The sustainable tepees are crafted from discarded billboard advertisements and bamboo, turning them into comfy, waterproof, temporary festival homes. The bros from The Depot Bondi have their own Tepee Life café, there is sundeck on top of a shipping container and the chiefs that run the joint are absolute legends.
