Photo: Deb Kloeden

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Day three: there have been some rough patches, a few too many drinks, questionable decisions, and questionable toilets. But we’re toughing it out for the final day of Splendour in the Grass because it’s the biggest one yet.

First off the blocks are Skegss. The trio from Byron have carved a name for themselves as one of the best slack-rockers around. It seems almost counter-productive to say, but Skegss have gained themselves a loyal cult following, all of which have packed out the front of the Amphitheatre for their set. The opening riff to Spring Has Sprung is all the crowd needs to start bashing their bodies against each other, and while it’s undoubtedly unadulterated chaos, it’s also the best kind.

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Photo: Deb Kloeden

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Photo: Deb Kloeden

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Brisbane’s Mallrat is visibly overwhelmed by just how many punters have showed up to her set. While she doesn’t let it get the best of her, her audible excitement over how much her fan base has grown over the years makes the 19 year old’s set all the more endearing. She performs tracks from her latest EP, as well as the tracks that shot her into the limelight when she first started releasing tracks. The set ends on Uninvited, and the crowd shows Mallrat just how much they love her by reciting the iconic track word for word.

With their huge comeback, there’s been an equally as huge buzz surrounding electronic duo PNAU’s upcoming set. We expect it to glow with the primary neon of a school disco with a slightly better playlist, and it does exactly that. The stage is a visual delight, especially for those who are already seeing double, but behind their mesmerising stage set up is the purely hedonistic hits the crowd has been waiting for. From Embrace to Chameleon, PNAU have the mainstage in a trace their entire set.

Windang duo Hockey Dad have set up at the GW McLennan stage, and they’ve amassed quite the crowd who are ready to hear the boys bring their best. It may be a late set on the final day of the festival, but that doesn’t mean that punters are at all apprehensive about starting circle pits for what feels like the upteenth time this weekend.

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Photo: Deb Kloeden

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Photo: Deb Kloeden

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Back at the main stage, power duo MGMT are making their first Australian appearance since 2014. Their last set in the country at Falls Festival felt a little too spacey and went over the heads of many, but now armed with a killer fourth record, I’m expecting big (or at least, bigger) things from the two. Despite that the crowd, as ever, are itching for familiarity, MGMT prove, like they did with Little Dark Age, that they’re not to be so quickly dismissed. While Kids and Time To Pretend were well-recieved additions, it was the brooding gothic-electro tracks from their latest that gave the band the edge they were missing before.

A literal and figurative 180 across the festival takes us to Brisbane rays of sunshine, Ball Park Music. For the first time over the past four days, everyone in the crowd is being genuinely well behaved: there’s no shoving or unnecessarily aggressive dancing, and there’s even a suspicious lack of never-ending hand-holding friends squeezing their way into the smallest of gaps in the crowd. Everyone, including Ball Park Music, are ready for a wholesomely good time, and that is exactly what is had. Ball Park have brought a set full of favourites, and it’s partly due to the fact that much of the band’s catalogue are favourites. Exactly How You Are, It’s Nice To Be Alive, The Perfect Life Does Not Exist, and Sad Rude Future Dude are full of such unadulterated joy it showers us with a pure euphoria we don’t deserve.

Festival staples The Wombats are the second-last act for the night. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve stumbled upon a Wombats set at a festival by accident, but, in their defence, their sets have always been a good time. This time around they’ve got their latest record, Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life, to show off, and that’s exactly what they’re here to do. Newer tracks are sandwiched between timeless classics like Kill The Director, Techno Fan, Let’s Dance To Joy Division, and Tokyo (Vampire & Wolves), and judging by the crowd, are as well received as their older faves. The Wombats, as usual, deliver a fun-soaked set. While it isn’t revolutionary, it gets the crowd going, and late on day three, that’s all we’re asking for.

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Photo: Deb Kloeden

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Photo: Deb Kloeden

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It feels as though the entirety of Splendour in the Grass has crammed into the Amphitheatre one final time to see festival headliner Kendrick Lamar. Kung Fu Kenny is a fashionable fifteen late, which, admittedly, makes his appearance all the more exciting when he finally reveals himself to the crowd. Expectations for the set are sky high, but Lamar does nothing but impress. Seeing him perform live, there’s no question that the man is simply a cut above the rest. His performance is on point, and he is one of the few acts capable of holding the attention of scattered fans for a full set. It’s the ending that the wild ride that is Splendour deserves: a contact high that will hopefully keep us going through the back-to-reality Monday we’re about to collectively endure.

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Checkout Deb Kloeden’s galleries of Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3

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SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2018

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AMNPLIFY – DB