Day 1 Of Splendour In The Grass Is Already Cancelled Due To The Chaotic Weather

After a hectic 24 hours of rain and delays, festival organisers have sadly had to pull the plug on the first day of our beloved Splendour In The Grass — proving that we truly cannot have any nice things in this world.

Day one of the festival was cancelled just after 1:30pm on Friday due to heavy rainfall turning the entire North Byron Parklands into what is basically a mud pit, causing obvious safety concerns for punters and performers.

“A significant weather system is currently sitting off the east coast and may reach land later today bringing more rainfall,” Splendour said in a statement provided to Junkee.

“In the interest of patron safety and in consultation with all relevant emergency services, we have decided to err on the side of caution and cancel performances on the main stages today only – Amphitheatre, Mix Up, GW McLennan and Park(lands) Stages.

“All of our destination spaces (Global Village, Tipi Forest, Forum, Comedy and Science tents etc.) will remain open today for patrons who are already onsite as well as those at our satellite campground at Byron Events Farm. Please relax and enjoy what is open.”

“Day patrons are asked not to attend to the festival today while we work on repairs.

“In the coming week Moshtix will be in contact with the ticket holders affected directly, via the email address used to purchase their ticket, for further information on refunds. We ask for patience while we work through the refund process.

“Please be assured that our event team is working very hard to provide the best experience possible under the current circumstances.

“We look forward to Saturday and Sunday programming moving ahead as planned.”

Junkee understands that the artists scheduled for early in the day were reportedly ready to perform but were instructed not to due to weather concerns.

The news comes after many festival goers spent more than 10 hours lining up for the beloved event’s return — which was due to be the first time the event has run IRL since 2019.

One festival goer told Junkee she had to camp overnight in the day carpark area, waiting more than 10 hours without even reaching the ticketing or bag check area.

“We got off the motorway at about 4:15pm yesterday and we got told to camp in the day parking carpark, which was as far as we had gotten, at about 2am,” Emily, who is yet to enter the festival told Junkee on Friday morning.

“10 hours of just waiting. We’re still in the carpark, we haven’t arrived to where they’re searching cars, we haven’t got our tickets checked, we’re still well before all of that point.”

The remainder of the festival is expected to continue as normal.