Splendid impressions: summing up this year's festival

SPLENDOUR in the Grass 2015 is over but the dry mud in the shoes, the ringing in the ears and the temporary tattoos purchased during a drunken evening will linger for a little longer.

Splendour was a winter wonderland that appeared in North Byron Shire and was home to thousands of people looking to go down the rabbit hole, and down the hole they went.

>> PHOTO GALLERY: Splendour in the Grass 2015

This is what we saw, heard, overheard, witnessed, danced to, gossiped about, loved and hated from the weekend.

First impression: Walking 30 minutes from the car to the gates on Friday only to find the entrance already looking akin to a Tough Mudder circuit.

Splendour in the Grass in the mud. Photo Mireille Merlet-Shaw / Northern Star Mireille Merlet-Shaw

Parking woes: The trip to and from North Byron Park-lands was quick and relatively easy despite the rain and thousands of patrons leaving at the same time.

Parking woes 2: Trying to find your car 10 hours after arriving, while tired, in the rain and in a parking lot with no colour coding, street names, landmarks took longer than driving out of Yelgun.

Lismore locals rocking out at Splendour in the Grass 2015. Photo: Nolan Verheij-Full / Northern Star Nolan Verheij-Full

As soon as it began raining on Friday evening young princesses in shorts and felt hats turned into slugs.
At the same time, handsome young princes in tank tops and shorts turned into frogs.

Splendour in the Grass 2015. Photo: Nolan Verheij-Full / Northern Star Nolan Verheij-Full

On Saturday the mud became so sticky that we lost a shoe twice before getting to the Azealia Banks show.
While rescuing our shoes we found two German backpackers who had been under the mud since Friday. They were very grateful.

Friends helping eachother up the muddy hill near the amphitheatre. Splendour in the Grass. Photo: Nolan Verheij-Full / Northern Star Nolan Verheij-Full

No matter how muddy, or how cold or rainy the weather was, You C*nt Stop the Music was the place to be for some impromptu dance with some crazy characters.
Nice to see local Aboriginal performer Dhinawan Dreaming offering some Original Australian dancing workshops to punters.
Also among locals, it was great to see DJ SI Lo playing to a die-hard crowd under the rain at the Tipi Forest on Friday night.

Not only music is available at Splendour in the Grass, there is also circus, cabaret, burlesque and other arts. A Catt

Another local who was hard at work all weekend was cabaret extraordinaire Mae Wild (aka Ilona Harker) at the Global Village.
Visiting the Gyuto monks and watching them create a sand mandala only to destroy it
Florence Welch proving that she is supernatural by wearing white while surrounded by thousands of people covered in mud.

Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine, Splendour in the Grass 2015. Photo: Nolan Verheij-Full / Northern Star Nolan Verheij-Full

An inflatable boat with a punter on it 'crowd sailing' during The Rubens show.
Azealia Banks and her fantastic show on Saturday. Shame we only knew the lyrics to The 212.
Peking Duk providing the best dance set of the festival.

Punters gathered to watch the Dandy Warhols at the Amphitheatre stage, Splendour in the Grass 2015. Photo: Nolan Verheij-Full / Northern Star Nolan Verheij-Full

Client Liaison showing other bands what a live show should be like.
The Pope of electro pop, Paul Mac, getting Rita Puru, former Lismore resident Ngaiire and Brendan Mclean on stage with him.
Kudos to those children that braved the noise, the mud and the annoying parents and had a fantastic time at Little Splendour.

The drug-busting dogs for looking so cute and terrifying at the same time.
People half drunk at home wearing cosy clothes tweeting that they wanted to be at Splendour.