Splendour in the Grass Day 2: Grace Tame pulls out of talk over ‘conflicting deadlines’

Grace Tame has cancelled her appearance at Splendour in the Grass day 2, as the festival bravely attempts to overcome the chaos of day 1.

Grace Tame has pulled out of her scheduled appearance at Splendour in the Grass, due to “conflicting deadlines”.

After day one was marred by cancellations amid extreme weather conditions, the second day of the festival is set to continue, albeit with changes to the show order after Ms Tame’s cancellation.

Ms Tame was scheduled to appear alongside entrepreneur Jack River at 1:15pm today for a fireside chat.

Splendour informed festival-goers of the last-minute cancellation via its Instagram account just before 11am.

Ms Tame’s communication team issued an apology for the extremely late notice to fans who were looking to meet the activist.

“We made this difficult decision to cancel bcause of conflicting deadlines,” Ms Tame’s team said.

“We understand that this may let some people down and we are sincerely sorry.

“It is not in Grace’s DNA to cancel but self care must come first. These are circumstances beyond our control.”

Grace Tame's team have issued an apology after cancelling her appearance for day two of Splendour in the Grass.

While Ms Tame will no longer be appearing, the panel talk will still be held, with host Jack River instead speaking to Tarang Chawla, Sam Koslowski and Zara Seidler.

Ticketholders are urged to turn up to the festival on Saturday but “bring their gumboots”, the ABC reported on Saturday morning.

“Everyone’s working as hard as they can to make this an experience they deserve, but it is very challenging conditions,” festival co-founder Jessica Ducrou told the outlet of the situation at the North Byron Parklands in New South Wales’ Northern Rivers region.

”Bring gumboots” is the advice to punters at Splendour. Picture: Matt Jelonek/Getty Images

Punters are set to be refunded following Friday’s chaotic start to the three-day event, which was returning this year after the Covid-19 pandemic forced the previous two festivals to be cancelled.

The site became a flooded bog on Friday. Picture: Marc Grimwade/WireImage

But thousands of festivalgoers were forced to retreat to Byron Bay last night after main stage acts, including headliners Gorillaz as well as the Avalanches and Kacey Musgraves, were cancelled as hectic weather turning turned the festival site into a flooded swamp.

The heavy rain eventually caused some campers to be turned away. Picture: Richard Gosling

“Splendour in the mud”. Picture: Matt Jelonek/Getty Images

Organisers had announced earlier on Friday they were no longer accepting any campers or vehicles at the parklands due to the heavy rain, following reports of 12-hour waits just to get into the grounds.

More rain is forecast to continue throughout Saturday morning, but the Bureau of Meteorology predicts showers will then ease and mostly clear up by Sunday.

Artists scheduled to perform over the rest of the weekend include Jack Harlow, The Strokes, Liam Gallagher and Tyler, the Creator.

‘Mass confusion’

Splendour in the Grass organisers cancelled all major acts on the music festival’s opening night after horrendous wet weather flooded the site in Byron Bay.

In a statement, organisers for the event said the decision was made to shut down all four main stages for Friday due to a “significant weather system”.

“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 McLeannan and Park(lands) stages,” the statement read.

The decision to shut down the main stages came after multiple people called for the festival to be cancelled due to wild weather leaving the camp grounds inundated with water and people waiting hours to even get into the site.

People heading to the festival on Friday were left confused, with many stranded at different bus stops after being told of the cancellation.

Mass confusion at the BB bus transfer for #SITG22 as 100s q. Cancelled or not? Back to the pub I think. #Splendourinthegrasspic.twitter.com/9F5cJFC15v

— Karen Atherton (@KazzaJA) July 22, 2022

People arriving for the event were faced with 12-hour queues just to get into the camping grounds, with organisers forced to extend the entry hours to try and get people into the festival.

Attendees were instead redirected to Byron Events Farm in Tyagara, where free bus shuttles between the sites were available.

Splendour in the Grass 2022. pic.twitter.com/LZtO643Mlt

— Tobi Loftus (@tobiloftus) July 22, 2022

Wild scenes at festival camp ground

The inclement weather even saw festival-goers at the grounds dub the event ‘Splendour in the Lake’ and the ‘Survival of the Fittest’ in recent days.

One Twitter user, Steve Strickland described the situation on Thursday as “potentially life threatening due to the horrific weather conditions and traffic jams.

“People are going to get pneumonia and exposure. The festival should be cancelled and everyone evacuated,” he said.

One festival-goer, Kate O’Hagan, said she was hoping event organisers would cancel the festival so she could go home.

“We are parked in by thousands of cars and tents we can literally not leave,” she said.

Splendour in the grass 2022, really hoping for a cancel-refund tickets- let me go home announcement asap xxx @SITGpic.twitter.com/xioLqzFRUp

— Kate (@kate_ohagan3) July 21, 2022

We have been this queue for HOURS - since 4pm. We’ve been driving since 6am. Cars running out of petrol. Cars bogged. This is unsafe, and inhumane. @SITG#splendourinthegrasspic.twitter.com/oMU9fawXVr

— Danni (@dannikedar) July 21, 2022

Another attendee took to Twitter on Thursday night after waiting in line to enter the festival for 11 hours, blasting the organisers for the “inhumane” situation.

“We have been this queue for HOURS – since 4pm. We’ve been driving since 6am. Cars running out of petrol. Cars bogged. This is unsafe, and inhumane,” she wrote.

“Update: 2:30am we have decided to give up and sleep in the back of the car while still in our queue position that hasn’t moved in the last 2-3 hours. There’s nothing we can do. No way in, no way out.”

Originally published as Splendour in the Grass Day 2: Grace Tame pulls out of talk over ‘conflicting deadlines’