‘The grimmest night of my life’: Rain causes chaos at Splendour in the Grass

Splendour in the Grass festivalgoers are calling for refunds after thousands of patrons were told to turn around from the North Byron Parklands campgrounds after waiting in line for 15 hours and being forced to sleep in their cars overnight.

Early Friday afternoon, organisers announced they would be cancelling the first day of the festival as heavy rainfall continued to wreak havoc in the area.

Bring your gumboots: Punters tackle wet conditions at Splendour on Friday.

The first acts were set to be Korean-Australia rap crew 1300 at the Mixup Stage at 12.10pm and George Alice on the GW Mclennan Tent at 12.15pm, but patrons were initially told the performances would be delayed by at least half an hour, before the day was cancelled altogether.

It comes after a day of chaos for festivalgoers who spent hours in their cars queueing to try and get into the campground on Thursday afternoon.

Despite organisers moving some patrons to nearby festival grounds earlier in the week due to the situation, thousands were still allocated camping spaces within the Parklands and attempted to gain entry on Thursday and Friday morning.

Just after 9am on Friday, organisers told those still queueing to get to the campgrounds they would have to turn around and stay at an off-site camping ground instead.

More rain is forecast in the coming days and is only expected to ease on Monday.

“Due to ongoing weather conditions we can no longer accept any campers or vehicles including day parking at North Byron Parklands,” organisers said in a statement.

“All incoming camping patrons and day parkers should proceed to Byron Events Farm.”

As a result of the chaos, some festivalgoers have called for Splendour in the Grass to refund their tickets, while others have suggested the event should be cancelled.

Jaide Fisher, 26, travelled with her friend and partner from the Hawkesbury and was still lining up outside the festival at 8.30am on Friday, after arriving at 5.30pm on Thursday.

“We decided to finally sleep in the back of our ute at 2.30am this morning since we hadn’t moved in hours. We made up a very uncomfortable bed onto our Eskys in the tray of the ute,” she said.

Fisher said all she wants to do is “get the hell out of here” but said the trio have spent $1000 each on the festival and are concerned they won’t receive a refund.

“We don’t even want to go in any more, but we won’t leave if we’re going to waste all that money. After this experience I’ll likely never go again,” she said as her line-up time clicked over to 15 hours.

Festivalgoers say there has been a lack of communication from organisers.

Artists due to be performing on Friday told The Age and the Herald they were concerned about how they were going to get into the site on Friday in time to perform.

“Ground staff have been doing their best, but there’s been a lack of communication and we’re unsure what’s going to happen,” one performer said.

One source working behind the scenes said even backstage areas had been flooded, and they were concerned about how many of the stages and performing areas would handle the flooding.

“The water table is so high because of the recent rains, it just took a little bit more for everything to flood.”

Multiple festivalgoers have also reported they are now finding leeches within their camp sites and the ground facilities.

It’s the festival’s first return since 2019, and organisers had upped the capacity from 40,000 to 50,000 – adding additional pressure to campsites, walkways and performing areas.

In a statement posted to the festival’s Facebook page, organisers blamed the issues on staff shortages and weather, but were determined to go ahead.

“We are doing the best we can – the show will go on rain, hail or shine,” the statement said.

Chris Harrington drove up to the festival from Melbourne with his partner Emma, hoping to camp at their first Splendour.

On Thursday afternoon they joined the queue of cars trying to get into the campsite, spending eight hours in line before being forced to turn around.

“We only made it about 4kms in those eight hours. We didn’t move at all for the last two,” Harrington said.

After midnight, Harrington turned around and drove to the nearby town of Brunswick Heads to try to find accommodation.

“Everything’s booked out, but luckily we have a friend staying here and we might be able to camp in their backyard,” he said.

Another attendee, Jacqui Withers, managed to get into the site and set up her tent but was forced to sleep in her car due to the rain flooding her tent.

“This is the grimmest night of my life,” she said.

Freshwater resident Acacia Middlemist, 21, said she and her friends waited nine hours to get into the gates on Thursday.

“We had no access to food, water or toilets for about five of those hours,” she said.

Middlemist said the festival needed to be cancelled.

“It’s so unsafe to be camping here. There was only one SES worker directing people to different areas, all of the campgrounds we were supposed to be placed [at] were underwater,” she said.

“It’s been an absolute shit-show, coming from Sydney too we were in our cars for almost 18 hours yesterday, fuel was being lost. It was just horrific.”

Middlemist said stalls at the festival were now selling gumboots for $80.

Melbourne resident Aylin Ergin, 25, arrived at the grounds on Wednesday and said she has watched the chaos unfold.

Ergin said the traffic was backed up more than four kilometres on Thursday, the main day for arrivals.

Ergin said the festival conditions didn’t get much better once inside the venue.

“It’s an absolute swamp, everything is coated in mud and some is ankle deep,” she said.

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