How did those festival ladies, Gemma and Amber, fair on day two? Did they survive against the hardships of festival life? Or did they meet a kind stranger that helped them on their journey? Who can tell? Not me!
Best you read this... Splendour in the Grass 2011: The Saturday Edition
Cut Off Your Hands
Gem: Cut Off Your Hands played an enjoyable set but were nowhere near as lively and energetic as I had seen them be at previous festivals and gigs. Perhaps the early timeslot didn’t agree with them or maybe I had just high expectations considering every other time I've seen them it has somehow involved climbing up on something (stage, speakers, etc) and the lead singer jumping in the crowd causing a ruckus. 
Dananananaykroyd
Amb: Dananananaykroyd win the title of Best Scottish Band At Splendour for many reasons. There are lots of them, including two energetic singers who are full of beans and nail the audience participation portion of their set by splitting the crowd into two armies and making them move back from each other to get a run up so they can charge at the enemy battle-style. Only instead of fighting and bloodshed the objective is to cuddle. Awww. They are an excellent party band and I must have more.
Gem: Dananananaykroyd certainly bring the party with on stage pineapple throwing, audience interaction, skipping with microphone cords, and jumping into the crowd to start a head banging circle pit. Fabulous. A video of the head banging circle pit below. Poor quality but you get the idea.
The Jezabels
Gem: I wanted to see The Jezabels. Unfortunately when we arrived at the GW McLennan stage we found out that a lot of other people wanted the same thing. The organisers probably shouldn’t have put this band on the smallest stage at the festival. Congestion in the walkways leading to the stage was extreme and it was difficult to get within a few metres of the tent, yet alone inside it. This situation was apparently repeated again later on for Regina Spektor, with even more punters missing out.
The Grates
Amb: Patience continues to surprise and delight, outfit-wise. Lots of super long tassles, plus a light-up skirt/apron/thing. Good crowd surfing. All the favourites, new and old.
Gem: I was somewhat disappointed when I saw The Grates earlier this year at Oxford Art Factory in Sydney. The new songs sounded disjointed and the addition of unnecessary keyboards in their older songs was unsettling. At Splendour it was clear the time spent playing many shows across Australia since then had paid off with a more coherent sound and the new band members looking and sounding more at home with Patience and John. Patience is one very awesome chick that I can’t help but admire. Energetic, kicking, epic crowd surfing, she rarely stands still on stage and gives 110% for every show she puts on. Her crowd surf during 19-20-20 was one of the best I’ve ever seen, although she did have to tell the crowd “stop licking my legs”. It seems I’m not the only one with admiration for Patience.
Gomez
Amb: Excellent excellent. Such beautiful voices. Tom runs celebratory aeroplanes across the front of the stage on completion of a song, presumably because he deemed it a success.
Gem: I was very much looking forward to seeing Gomez for the first time at Splendour. I’m not one of those obsessed Gomez fans (you know the ones I mean) but I do love listening to the albums ‘Bring It On’, ‘Liquid Skin’, and ‘In Our Gun’. I have to admit that I haven’t paid much attention to their more recent stuff. In their Splendour set they played some new songs, presumably from their new album ‘Whatever’s On Your Mind’. These newer songs appeared to be missing the experimental Gomez edge and in the end just merged into one song in my head, which is a shame. But it’s not all bad as they played plenty of older songs too including ‘Get Myself Arrested’ and ‘Rhythm and Blues Alibi’, both got the crowd singing and dancing along. The highlight though was the beautiful harmonies of ‘Hangover’.
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