Splendour in the Grass festival-goers look forward to muddy weekend of music

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Music fans are looking forward to two days of live music after Splendour in the Grass organisers confirmed the music festival will go ahead today.

Yesterday's opening day was cancelled after bad weather washed out the event, leaving thousands of fans disappointed. 

But ahead of today's live performances, music fans are optimistic.

Juliette and Brianna Low were trying to snag some gumboots to deal with the mud.

"We just have the Doc Martens, they've been alright," Juliette Low said.

"And we've got our ponchos, but they did sell out yesterday."

The pair are pleased the festival is going ahead today, for the sake of the live music industry, which took a huge hit during the pandemic. 

Brianna said she was keen to see US singer and producer Oliver Tree.

"I'm so excited, if that gets cancelled I'll be very mad."

Luke Brand and Jason Vanlieshout said it had been "an interesting few days".

"Coming up, we weren't expecting the weather to be this bad, it's been full-on," Jason said.

"It's looking a lot better out there today … hoping for a better day and a better tomorrow."

Hundreds of people who turned up on the first day of the three-day event at the North Byron Parklands in the New South Wales Northern Rivers region on Friday found themselves stuck in a car queue for up to eight hours to get in, only to be met with flooded campgrounds.

Organisers made the call to cancel the main stage acts early in the afternoon, as more heavy rain was forecast.

Festival co-founder Jessica Ducrou said pump trucks had been used overnight to try to drain some areas of the sodden site.

"Our team is very busy doing a lot of ground repairs," she said.

"It's definitely going to be muddy, but the sun's coming out and we look forward to a couple of good days ahead of us.

"We do ask people to be patient with us, we are expecting delays, we do want to see the show happen, I think everyone here does as well."

Ms Ducrou says she understands there is a "younger new audience" at this year's event.

"It's a bit of a baptism by fire," she said of the weather.

"But, you know, put a smile on your face and come down and get muddy with us."

This is the first time the festival has gone ahead since the beginning of the pandemic in 2019 and nothing was going to stop some artists from making last-minute appearances at venues around Byron Bay last night.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Christie Johnson said showers were expected to become more isolated today and should mostly clear up by tomorrow.

"There may be the odd burst of heavier rainfall depending on the exact movement of the low but, in general, rainfall totals are likely to be pretty moderate," she said.

Ms Ducrou said everyone could be confident that the event was safe for patrons.

"We wouldn't still have people here if we didn't think it was safe," she said.

"We're just taking the opportunity to do any repairs that we can so that when we open the gates everyone can enjoy the next two days."

She said ticket holders would be refunded for missing Friday's events, after organisers cancelled all performances on the festival's main stages — Amphitheatre, Mix Up, GW McLennan and Park(lands).

Capacity at this year's Splendour, Australia's biggest music festival, increased from 40,000 to 50,000 and the music industry was ready to celebrate after being unable to stage the event over the past two years due to the pandemic.  

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