Splendour in the Grass

For the best part of two decades Splendour in the Grass was the biggest date on the Australian winter festival calendar — a three-day July camp-out at North Byron Parklands in Yelgun, north of Byron Bay, pulling the largest international headliners to tour the country. Founded in 2001 by Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco and run through Secret Sounds (majority-owned by Live Nation since 2016), it is currently on hiatus: the 2024 edition was cancelled, no festival ran in 2025, and as of mid-2026 no return has been announced. The Yelgun site itself is on the market.

Splendour started in 2001 as a one-dayer at Belongil Fields in Byron Bay, named after a line from Wordsworth. It stretched to two days in 2002 and three by 2009 as it became the marquee winter booking for international acts.

While approvals for a permanent home were fought out, the festival decamped to Woodfordia in Queensland for 2010 and 2011, returned to Belongil in 2012, then settled at North Byron Parklands from 2013. The Yelgun site won permanent approval in 2019.

Live Nation took a 51% stake in Secret Sounds in 2016 and increased its holding in July 2023. Co-founder Jessica Ducrou left Secret Sounds in June 2024, weeks after the cancellation.

The 2022 edition became the infamous mud year: severe weather forced the cancellation of all first-day main-stage sets, including Gorillaz, hours after organisers had said the show would go on rain, hail or shine. In March 2024 the festival was cancelled outright — two weeks after announcing a lineup topped by Kylie Minogue — citing "unexpected events", with festival costs reported to have risen 30–40%.

In January 2025 organisers confirmed there would be no 2025 edition either, saying the festival needed more time before returning. Through 2026 the 229-hectare North Byron Parklands site has been up for sale with a price guide of $27.5–32.5 million, and no comeback date exists. Whether Splendour returns at all, and where, is an open question.