'Darkest night of my life': Chaos in Splendor on the Grass as rain wreaks havoc

Jaide Fisher, 26, traveling with friends and colleagues from Hawkesbury, was still queuing outside the festival at 8.30am on Friday, having arrived at 5.30pm on Thursday.

“We finally decided to sleep on the back of our ute at 2.30 this morning as we hadn’t been moving for hours. We make a very uncomfortable bed to our Eskys on the ute tray,” he says.

Fisher said all he wanted to do was “get out of here” but said the trio had spent $1000 each on the festival and were worried they would not receive a refund.

“We don’t even want to go in anymore, but we wouldn’t leave if we were going to throw all that money away. After this experience, I will probably never go again,” he said as the line reached 15 hours.

The artist who will be performing on Friday said Era and the Herald they worry about how they will get to the site on Friday in time to perform.

“The ground staff did their best, but there was a lack of communication and we weren’t sure what would happen,” said one player. Era and The Herald.

One of the sources working behind the scenes said even the backstage area had been flooded, and they were concerned about how much of the stage and performance area would handle the flooding.

“Homeland is very high because of the recent rains, it just took a little longer for everything to flood.”

This is the first festival since 2019, and organizers have increased capacity from 40,000 to 50,000 – adding additional pressure to the campsites, trails and performance areas.

In a statement posted to the festival’s Facebook page, organizers blamed staff shortages and weather problems, but were determined to move on.

“We’re doing the best we can – the show will be rain, sleet or shine,” the statement said.

Chris Harrington drove to the festival from Melbourne with his partner Emma, ​​hoping to camp out on their first Splendor.

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

“We only covered about 4 km in those eight hours. We haven’t moved at all over the last two games,” said Harrington.

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

“Everything was booked, but luckily we have friends who live here and we might be able to camp in their backyard,” he said.

Another participant, Jacqui Withers, managed to get into the location and set up his tent but was forced to sleep in his car because the rain flooded his tent.

“This is the darkest night of my life,” he said.

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

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“We didn’t have access to food, water or toilets for about five hours,” he said.

Middlemist said the festival needed to be cancelled.

“It is very unsafe to camp here. There was only one SES worker directing people to different areas, all the campsites we were supposed to be in [at] under water,” he said.

“It’s a real shit show, coming from Sydney too we were in our car for almost 18 hours yesterday, fuel gone. It was just awful.”

Middlemist said stalls at the festival now sell rubber boots for $80.

Melbourne resident Aylin Ergin, 25, arrived on the pitch on Wednesday and said she had witnessed the chaos unfolding.

Ergin said traffic retreated more than four kilometers on Thursday, the main day of arrivals.

Ergin said the festival conditions didn’t get any better after being inside the venue.

“It really is a swamp, everything is covered in mud and some is ankle deep,” he said.

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