Performing at Splendour in the Grass 2011

Picking out a favourite headliner from the 2011 Splendour lineup is no easy task, such is the A-list magnificence on show here among our festival Basics — homegrown rappers Bliss n Eso kick in with their supersized blast of positivity, "Addicted," alongside Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" (trans. "Long Live Life") which has confirmed itself as a worthy anthem for the multitudes following its 2008 release. We've also got Kanye West's "All of the Lights," the fourth single from 2010's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which features a stellar cast of backing vocalists including Rihanna, Fergie, Alicia Keys and Elton John. Pulp, the Hives, the Mars Volta . . . this festival juice is rocket fuel.

Splendour becomes even more splendid, in Next Steps.

You've just heard the artists with the biggest, best-equipped tour buses — now it's time for the festival's backbone, the crucial mid-section of Splendour 2011, where we get to bust a move with Cut Copy ("Need You Now"), scrape the sky with Jebediah ("She's Like a Comet") and rap along with Drapht ("We Own the Night"). Here's where the Kills churn up some sweet sludge with "Future Starts Slow" — the opener on 2011's excellent Blood Pressures — while Does It Offend You, Yeah? bring out their dance-punk big guns on "The Monkeys Are Coming," the lead-off single from this year's Don't Say We Didn't Warn You.

Discover some new names, among our Splendour 2011 Deep Cuts.

While Splendour in the Grass 2011 satisfies that primal festival urge — to see a bunch of your best-loved bands in the flesh, ripping it up in front of the adoring hordes — it also services another need: to uncover artists you may know little or nothing about and, perhaps, initiate a surge of new tunes on your ever-evolving playlists. Candidates for "best fresh acquaintance" include Sydney's buzzed-up Guineafowl, whose calling-card-cut "In Our Circle" was included on 2011 debut EP Hello Anxiety, and Jinja Safari, sporting a mellow campfire vibe that draws on Afro-pop rhythms and traditional pop melodies: check out "Peter Pan."

Two thousand-ten was a pivotal year for Splendour — the switch in venue from Belongil Fields to the fresh pastures of Woodfordia was accomplished with a lineup that many thought would stand in stone as one of the all-time classics. But, given the size and the shape of the 2011 roster, it looks like the biggest winter music festival in Australia is only getting bigger, and better. What more could the connoisseur of al fresco sounds desire? The Queensland three-dayer has gilded its banner space with headliners including Coldplay and Kanye, and stuffed the undercard with a massive range of flavours, from British Sea Power and Warpaint to Alpine and Young the Giant. Big-name Brits include Pulp and the Kaiser Chiefs; Devendra Banhart and Regina Spektor number among the Stateside stars; and home-turf heroes include the Living End and the Herd.