Right now, I’m not feeling quite so smug. As I mentioned earlier, my l33t hax0r skillz allowed me to jump the queue at Oztix, but this year tickets are being sold by some jokers called Qjump. I guess it was destined to happen after the fiasco that was ticket sales last year.

In an effort to prevent scalpers ruining it for everyone, this year again names and dates of birth must accompany your ticket order. I do think it’s a good idea - as Splendour is a once off event with only 17,500 tickets available, and people travel from around the country to attend. Last year, the tickets sold out in 4 hours. It would have been faster, except both the Oztix website and the phone systems went into meltdown.

Another initiative the Splendour crew are implementing is the offering of Green (or carbon offset) tickets. Last year, for an extra $7, you got to neutralise your travel emissions to and from the show, and to and from the venue. 31% of Splendour punters (that’s 5,425 people) put their money where their mouth is and opted to buy a Green Ticket.

This year, the Green Ticket goes one step further and allows you to neutralise your average carbon emissions over a 48 hour period (not just your travel emissions). Apparently Australians generate on average a total of 28 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions or 77kg a day. Purchasing a Green Ticket this year will neutralise 144kg  of carbon (i.e. covering two days) making you climate neutral for the duration of the show.

The goal is to eventually make Splendour 100% carbon neutral, which should go a ways to appeasing the locals. Byron is a funny little place - the community thrives on tourism, but the locals certainly don’t like the fact that it is constantly inundated by outsiders. It’s a local town, for local people - reminds of that creepy shop from The League of Gentlemen.

Last year was supposed to be the last Splendour in the Grass at Belongil Fields, as that 47 acres of prime real estate has been sold to developers. In order to keep the event in its beautiful traditional surrounds, the festival organisers have joined with a collective of people (investors?) and purchased 650 acres of land in Yelgun only 15 minutes away.

However, the environmental impact of staging a festival at the new grounds is still being debated (even though Splendour has impeccable environment credentials) so this year, Splendour returns to Belongil Fields for almost certainly the final time.

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