Splendour in the Grass
| Splendour in the Grass | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Indie rock, hip hop, electronic, alternative |
| Dates | Late July - early August |
| Location(s) |
Australia
|
| Years active | 2001 - present |
Australia
Splendour in the Grass is an Australian music festival that has been held annually since 2001. The festival has been held near Byron Bay, New South Wales for all but two years since its inauguration. In 2010 and 2011, the festival was held in Woodford, Queensland, while organisers made an effort to gain support for a new location at North Byron Parklands at Yelgun (30 km from Byron Bay). The event returned to Byron Bay in 2012, when it was held at Belongil Fields. The 2013 festival was the first to be held at the new North Byron Parklands location, to much controversy from festival goers and the local community.
The festival was jointly created and promoted by the Village Sounds and Secret Service music companies, and began in 2001 as a one-day gathering to cater for Australia's winter season (a period that had traditionally been associated with very few events of this nature); the festival evolved into a two-day event in 2002. As of 2014, the capacity of the three-day festival is 30,000 and it is considered the country's largest winter music festival. The festival was awarded the FasterLouder Festival Award for 'Favourite Line Up' in 2009. "Ode: Intimations of Immortality", by English poet William Wordsworth, was the inspiration for the naming of the event.
The 14,000 tickets of the 2005 festival were sold out within 26 hours and, soon after, festival tickets that initially cost A$125 were offered on eBay at inflated prices of up to A$3000. The festival organisers responded by sending "cease and desist" letters to eBay, as well as around 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. The Triple J radio station encouraged its listeners to sabotage the bidding process and fake bids of up to A$10,000 were consequently listed on eBay by protesters opposed to ticket scalping.
Following media coverage, the NSW Department of Fair Trading became involved 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 hoped that the investigation would eventually lead to the introduction of anti-ticket scalping legislation.
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Wikipedia