Honestly the best experience i have ever had in my life, the music, the people, the atmosphere. I'm getting withdrawl symptoms just writing about it. for all those who missed out, here is my thoughts about each band i saw....i hope it makes you cry from jealousy.
Friday - 30 July.
Tim and Jean: I do not know how, people actually distinguish this Australian band, from the USA band Passion Pit. They honestly sound the exact same, the same synth sounds, the same high 'no balls' vocal range, even the same persona on stage. Yet people seemed to fall for their charm and flocked to see them perform. from my point of view, i did not enjoy them at all, so i stood at the back of the tent with friends and ripped them for sounding too much like Passion Pit. NOT a highlight.
The Joy Formidable: It was the bands first performance ever in Australia, and i was there at the front barrier to witness their truly great quality of indie/shoegaze/pop songs they had on offer. It seems these little english darlings are the underdog's of this years festival, as the crowd was not nearly enough as it should have been....at the start of their set, but as the set went on more and more people started showing up and was at full capacity by the end of their set. They played a marvellous set with catchy songs and energetic moves that left the crowd wanting more. Plus the chick in it, is a total babe. HIGHLIGHT.
School of Seven Bells: These little New Yorkians, are great... in theory. The music is catchy and atmospheric, they look excruciably attractive and they have a lot of hype. Pity none of that is portrayed on stage. They were off to a great start, the first couple of songs were excellent little ditties that you could bop along to, but as the set went on so did the yawns. Sure they play under the genre of shoegaze/dream pop but i didn't think that was literal, as the band made the audience gaze off into the abyss of their own little day dreams. There was zero personality during the performance, just a sense of shyness and blandness, then leaving the stage with a disinterested and a disappointing performance to an otherwise great band.
FOALS: All i can say is WOW! Foals know how to put on a show. This five-piece math rock band from Oxford, England are just the pick me up i needed from what i just witnessed from the gloomy and depressing School of Seven Bells. I just needed a good dance, along with the few thousand other people crammed into the Mix Up tent. Foals just blew the audience away from start to finish, playing some old stuff as well as some new songs from their new album. 'Cassius', 'Spanish Sahara' and 'Blue Blood' were among the favourites as they belted out a beautiful and energetic performance that left the crowd breathless from dancing too hard and wanting more. Highlight. 
Midlake: With three electric, one bass, and one acoustic guitar along with drums and a keys/flute player. Midlake's normal five piece outfit turns into a seven piece when it hits the stage for the live performances. These seven bearded men love to make a racket, it's a case of everybody solo at once when it comes to these guys perform. Which in this case leads to a brilliant visual excursion for my eyes, but my ears are lagging behind trying to catch up with the many sounds reminiscing throughout the air. These amazingly talented musicians are here to impress, but unfortunately fail to, as there is too much distraction from their actual songs that people know and love. Needless to say they still put on a stunning performance. 
LCD Soundsystem: James Murphy, what a man! the lead singer and founding member of LCDSS, seizes to amaze throughout the whole set. His voice, his energy, his existence...WOW. He's honestly a genius. This is what electronic pop music is supposed to be. With his live band of six multi-talented musicians on stage to back him up, the crowd are ready to dance the night away. They perform most of the crowd favourites including 'Daft Punk is playing at my house', 'All my friends' and 'Drunk girls'. Even the stage set-up was impressive, they had the old and the new in technology as they had at least 15 different synthesizers spanning from the 1980's until now, out on stage for display. so amazingly splendid. HIGHLIGHT.
Grizzly Bear: "ohwa, ohwa, ohwaaaaaa..." Is what the crowd was yelling at the top of their lungs as Grizzly Bear played their most popular song to date, 'Two weeks.' The tent was packed from front to back as i tried to squeeze my way through the crowd, trying to get to the front, but unfortunately was stopped halfway by a mass clump of people that wouldn't budge. Now Grizzly Bear is far from one of my favourite bands, especially after listening to Veckatimest (2009). The songs off their latest long player just didn't seem to impress, instead were a little boring and beginning to sound the same.... and boy was i right. Maybe it was just all the other fantastic bands that i had witnessed earlier in the day or the tiredness that consumed my body after a long day, but for some reason i just wasn't feeling the atmosphere that most of the other people I talked to had felt. From what i could see and here, they were playing well and were quite tight, but just simply failed to impress me. I'm sorry to all the girls/boys out there who would beg to differ, but that is just how i felt personally. Don't hate me for it. On a lighter note, 'Foreground' is by far their best song...Day one over. slept so well.
*Stay tuned for my review of the other two days worth of bands from Splendour in the Grass 2010.
TIM.
