Splendour In The Grass Sells Out In An Hour

One of Australia’s biggest winter music festivals, Splendour In The Grass, sold out its 35,000 tickets within an hour, organisers announced April 5.  

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It takes place July 21-23 at North Byron Parklands in Byron Bay. Splendour’s co-producers Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco said, “Once again we have been overwhelmed by your love and enthusiasm for Splendour. We can’t wait to bring you another awesome show.”

To soften the blow of a sellout to fans who couldn’t get tickets, Splendour announced sideshows, ranging from two to four, across the rest of the country by 20 of the acts.

These included Queens of the Stone Age, Sigur Ros, Haim, Rag N Bone Man, George Ezra, and Stormzy. However, headliners including The xx and LCD Soundsystem have yet to confirm shows elsewhere, while Future Islands and Schoolboy Q are festival exclusives.

Splendour’s instant sellout took place as New South Wales began cleaning up after heavy storms and flooding in the wake of Cyclone Debbie.

At least three people died, 15,000 properties were isolated and 30,000 people evacuated.

“Our thoughts are with all those in our local Northern NSW community that have been devastated by floods over the past week,” Ducrou and Piticco added. “We will be announcing a fundraising initiative soon to assist with the recovery. In the meantime, we’re sending you all our love.”

Bluesfest, which stages April 13-17 in Byron Bay, assured its 90,000-plus collective punters that, despite the “turbulent few days,” it was business as usual.

Organisers said its Tyagarah Tea Farm site did not “get the level of rainfall that other near-by areas experienced” and that the site had been purpose-built to be weather-proof.

Among those performing over the Easter-long weekend holiday are the Patti Smith Group, Santana, Zac Brown Band, Jimmy Buffett, Nas and The Soul Rebels, Mary J. Blige, Mavis Staples, and Neil Finn.