1 00:00:00,920 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: This is gem Nation with Jones. 2 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:10,840 Speaker 2: Claire Stevens is the host of podcast Mamma Mania Mania Mia, 3 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:12,000 Speaker 2: the canceled podcast. 4 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:13,320 Speaker 1: Should it be Mama mea Mania? 5 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:15,319 Speaker 2: Maybe it should be. I've given them a new name. 6 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 3: Claire, Hi, Hi, how are you going? 7 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: Well? You're on the phone. Are you don't tell me 8 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:22,000 Speaker 1: you're at Splendor in the Grass. 9 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 3: I'm not. I'm not. Thank God. 10 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 2: I went to bed last night and I couldn't get comfortable. 11 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 2: My leg was sore. But at least I'm not there. 12 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 2: That's a yardstick for the rest of my life. At 13 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 2: least I'm not there. So talk us through what's happened. 14 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 2: This is a music festival just around Byron Bay, and 15 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 2: what went wrong? 16 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:44,519 Speaker 3: So, I mean, I've never been more grateful to not 17 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,480 Speaker 3: be a cool person because I was so far away 18 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:50,080 Speaker 3: from ever going to Splendor in the Grass. So I 19 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 3: think we all know it's been a really challenging time 20 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 3: in recent years with the pandemic and fires and floods 21 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 3: and all sorts of things not going as planned. But 22 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 3: watching people arrive at Splendor in the Grass, which is 23 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 3: a music and art festival in Barron Bay with hope 24 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:09,120 Speaker 3: in their eyes, and then watching the ground beneath them 25 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:14,320 Speaker 3: turn into a trench was actually devastating. At eleven am 26 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 3: on Friday, festival goers received a text saying the day 27 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 3: would go ahead rain, hail or shine, but hours later, 28 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 3: the Day one performances were canceled due to extreme weather 29 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:28,840 Speaker 3: and the previous night people had experienced fifteen hour cues 30 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 3: and flooded. 31 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 2: Campsite fifteen hours. 32 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 3: Fifteen hour cues and there was no food, no water 33 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 3: out They were just stuck on the road. People ended 34 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 3: up parking in Wooly's car park. Cars got bogged, they 35 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:47,800 Speaker 3: ran out of fuel, people's batteries died, toilets and the 36 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 3: toilets are disgusting. Then Day one gets canceled, so people 37 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 3: were absolutely serious and got refunded for that day. Then 38 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 3: day two who goes ahead? 39 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 4: That some people's tents are blown away, which is always 40 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:08,919 Speaker 4: an issue, and people have made gum boots out of 41 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 4: garbage bags and grown men. 42 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 3: Were sliding around in the mud. It took people six 43 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:19,680 Speaker 3: hours to get buses out of the festival because there 44 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:23,799 Speaker 3: were also bus driver shortages. And then if you wanted 45 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:28,160 Speaker 3: to leave because you had been damp for four days 46 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:32,519 Speaker 3: by now, you couldn't because The way it's set up 47 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 3: is that if you're camping, all the cars are parked 48 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 3: in a certain way that you can't just decide to 49 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 3: get out and leave. So there were all these tiktoks 50 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 3: of people absolutely frustrated and crying and saying, I need 51 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 3: to get out and I can't. So do you. When 52 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 3: was the last time you, guys went to a music festival. 53 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 3: Have you ever experienced something like this? No. 54 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 2: My idea of experiencing music is that I have a 55 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 2: cheese plates, it's in the middle of the afternoon, and 56 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 2: the music's not too loud. 57 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:04,800 Speaker 1: That's me, and there's a toilet. 58 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 5: I went to the big day out on the Gold 59 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 5: Coast many years ago, and I think Silver Chair were there. 60 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: It was massive and I didn't like it. You know, 61 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:14,800 Speaker 1: that's how much we're not a festival go you know, 62 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:17,639 Speaker 1: I'm just not a festival guy. I'm not a festival guy. 63 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,360 Speaker 3: No, And I have never been more grateful. But I'm 64 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 3: not a festival person that I'm like you, Amanda. I 65 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 3: need the comfort and the luxuries. I don't need to 66 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:30,679 Speaker 3: be in a tent and I be around the mud 67 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 3: And I think it's funny that there was a VIP sections. 68 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 3: There's always a VIP the thing, but it was the 69 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 3: saddest thing you've ever seen. And let's just say that 70 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 3: Chris Hemsworth wasn't there. 71 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:46,960 Speaker 2: I know who was in the VIP So the actual VIPs, oh, I. 72 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 3: Think there were maybe a few reality stuffs Mather, Robbie's 73 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 3: brother wo. 74 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 2: The streets but not showering for four days, who's going 75 00:03:57,480 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 2: to crack on? 76 00:03:58,080 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: And those? 77 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 2: But do you think because it was so it's so horrendous, 78 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 2: that this will be a bonding experience and people will 79 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 2: talk about having survived Splendor in the Grass twenty twenty two. 80 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 3: I think these people will come back and maintain that 81 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 3: it was so much fun and it was excellent. But 82 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 3: I think that that's a bit of It's like you 83 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 3: have to if you just camped in wet and you 84 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 3: are all your clothes are ruined, you've got to justify 85 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:27,360 Speaker 3: it by saying it was just the best weekend you've 86 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:28,480 Speaker 3: ever because when. 87 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:30,160 Speaker 5: You look at you could go to your local sporting 88 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 5: field with your car, get it bogged, set up the tent, 89 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:35,559 Speaker 5: get covered in mud, pay thirteen dollars for a beer 90 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 5: after you've waited five hours for it, and then you 91 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:41,360 Speaker 5: come home and you're listening to song Louie. 92 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 3: Boom, same experience that we should all do that. That 93 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 3: sounds really fun, doesn't it. 94 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,719 Speaker 2: No? Well, look I feel for it because, as you say, 95 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 2: this was the first time, and I saw footage also 96 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 2: of them arriving. It might have been at Ballina Airport 97 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 2: and all the kids had to line up with their 98 00:04:56,839 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 2: bags and the sniffer dogs went along. Who do they 99 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:01,839 Speaker 2: wh else? Do they ever do that too? These kids 100 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 2: have had a couple of hard years. Let's put the 101 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 2: sniffer dogs on them. 102 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: I thought that was get more sniffer dogs on you 103 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 1: know who? I blame the hippies. 104 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,480 Speaker 5: I blame the hippies and woodstock out the hippies and 105 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 5: they had woodstock and that was like great because I 106 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:16,920 Speaker 5: was back in the hippie times. 107 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: But now it's all corporatized, so you get what you 108 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:20,480 Speaker 1: pay for. 109 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 3: I think that people had a good point when they 110 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:26,720 Speaker 3: were like, sorry, all these police, could they be helping 111 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 3: with the chaos that is the festival, Like nobody can 112 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 3: get out anywhere and you've got all these cues, can 113 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:37,160 Speaker 3: can we have some maybe assistance with that rather than 114 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 3: trying to get the sniffer dogs on. 115 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 5: Us, maybe, stated the coppers. If you've got a snatch 116 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:45,160 Speaker 5: strap so I could pull my car out, that's a 117 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 5: that's a rope for getting your car. 118 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 2: Snatch strap. 119 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:49,360 Speaker 1: That's some strap. Yeah, you put it on. 120 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 2: You have to be careful what you asked for. 121 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: Are you sure you're not there, Claire? 122 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:59,920 Speaker 3: I promise, I promise I'm not there. I would never 123 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,599 Speaker 3: I'm just not cool enough for music festivals and thanks 124 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:04,040 Speaker 3: the law. 125 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:07,160 Speaker 5: Yes, absolutely make sure you listen to Claire Stevens and 126 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:10,839 Speaker 5: her sister Jesse, host of podcasts Mama Mia podcast canceled. 127 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:14,280 Speaker 1: Thank you, Claire, We'll catch you next week.