Splendour In The Grass is an institution for any music lover (or just those keen to party in the bush for four nights), but what makes the weekend so special isn’t just the music, or what’s on the main stage. They say the best festivals are the ones you can go through without even seeing any of the bands, so here’s a list of the off-the-beaten track things that were on offer all weekend. Read our full review of Splendour here.

1. Global Village

The better of the more chilled spaces of the weekend, the Global Village displayed the festival’s more hippie-oriented roots with the addition of the Lotus Palace – a fully built multi-use space, with workshops in African dance and ukelele playing, and capped off each night with an all-star jam band led by Melbourne Ska Orchestra’s Nicky Bomba. Awesome for a chai and a chill in the day, mad for a dance at night.

2. The Forum

The Forum offered a literal shedload of delights for the thinkers of the weekend, including comedy from Greg Fleet, Tom Ballard and Claire Hooper among a tonne of others. This was alongside film screenings, satirist shows and a regular roster of panel discussions on everything from futurism to drug laws.

The highlight of the weekend was a Tony Jones-hosted, not-for-TV Splendour edition of Q&A in which Scott Ludlam went toe-to-toe with Liberal MP Steve Ciobo, while promoter Jess Ducrou and US lawyer Jesselyn Radack watched on.

3. Splendour In The Craft

They had a zine-making class, taught us how to make pom-poms, and then at night got down to a lights-out lycra disco. It was basically a spot hosted by your uber-cool great aunt who used to get on it back in the day but now runs a second-hand clothing store.

4. Tipi Forest

#needsnointroduction #acceptnosubsitutes

Pro Tip: Go in stone sober. Shit is HILARIOUS.

5. Red Bull Music Academy

OK, so this one is kind of on the official lineup, but it’s still the best underground spot of the whole show. Non-stop madness with highlight sets from Remi, Cassius Select, Hiaitus Kaiyote and Africa Hitech, but everyone was raving about Peanut Butter Wolf on Friday and a packed room for Nicolas Jaar to close the weekend. Who says Aussies have crap taste?

Special shout-outs go to: Childish Gambino, felt flap hats, Danny Brown, Go-Pros on sticks, Foals, all of the food.

Huge no-nos: Native American headwear, (actual) flares.

Till next year!

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