2018

First, you have ‘Level One’ access, which is a ticket to the festival. That ticket gets you all the music plus all the beauty of the Byron Bay Parklands. If we’re talking natural beauty per square kilometre, nothing compares to the area surrounding Splendour. Everywhere you look the grass is lusher and the leaves are a little brighter. And when you get to the festival site, the place is flanked by a dense growth of gum trees the size of buildings.

2018

The North Byron Parklands were crackling with energy - including the huge natural grass-hilled amphitheatre that Falls and Splendour have become famous for.

Those rolling green hills, shady snooze spots, and that magic natural amphitheatre.

The natural amphitheatre, for example, was an absolute winner. Wherever you were in the bowl, you had a great experience.

On behalf of the club executive and the participants of the Introduction to Endurance Horse Riding event that was held at Parklands on Saturday, we thank you for the opportunity to use the grounds.

The venue proved to be the perfect setting for those new to this sport – a fully enclosed property with no need for a traffic management plan. Even those more experienced riders were raving about the scenery and the peaceful surroundings.

The new amphitheatre stage really, really works!

Now this thing was immense. Splendour’s brand new Amphitheatre Stage, with its wide base and steep hill, made for excellent views and huge crowds who dropped by to catch big names like Violent Soho, Outkast, City And Colour, Lily Allen and Hilltop Hoods. Definitely worth the hike.

On a winter’s day that felt more like summer, at least while the sun shone, the festival’s newly appointed natural amphitheatre played host to some of the biggest names of the day, including Interpol, Outkast, the Preatures and the Presets, a diverse selection of artists and genres united by being able to turn the main arena into a throbbing mass of bodies.

The layout of the festival is working a lot better this year. Though we’re definitely getting our daily dose of exercise, there are few bottlenecks and everything is easy to find. The buses are a LOT closer to the entrance this year as well, and the brand new bowl of an Amphitheatre is the perfect size, allowing you to see the stage from all angles with great sound.

Splendour promoters spent a lot of money and many years trying to get approval to move the festival to its current site at Yelgun. This year we found out why. The natural amphitheatre, used for the first time ever at Splendour 2014 (following its debut at Falls Byron over New Years), is one of Mother Nature's marvels. When full, Zan Rowe described it as a "Cauldron of Humanity".

2015

A larger than life amphitheatre that heralds a quality of sound.

The popular three-day event, for so long synonymous with its original Belongil Fields venue in Byron Bay — and more recently on secondment to Woodfordia in south-east Queensland — enjoyed a successful second iteration at its new North Byron Parklands home. Last year’s problems of delayed entry and excess mud weren’t in evidence, as scores of music fanatics soaked up a strong line-up of both international and local music, including OutKast, Interpol, the Preatures and Kelis.

Coming to Splendour for their first and only Australian performance since reforming earlier this year, Outkast weren’t just the most anticipated act on the bill, they’re arguably the act on the Splendour bill that felt like a once-in-a-lifetime event. You could feel it in the crowd. Punters were lined all the way up the sides of the mainstage’s impressive natural amphitheatre, ranging from the curious to casual fans to the Outkast faithful for whom their Splendour-exclusive show was the deciding factor in making a Byron road trip.

2014

The first day of the inaugural Falls Festival at Byron was a huge success, so much to do and not enough time on a well-spaced out site. The Falls team have delivered a showcase event that has set the benchmark for future events up this way. The site is large taking advantage of the beautiful natural landscape features - the Amphitheatre stage was spectacular.

Unless you’ve got the best will power in the world, it’s almost impossible not to be curious over what went down from 24th to 27th July at the incredibly lush festival grounds at Parklands Byron Bay, especially when such a grand event is headlined by the likes of Outkast, Lily Allen and Interpol.