It was an astonishing moment for Powderfinger fans who were lucky enough to witness the band’s one-off reunion set at Splendour in the Grass, but perhaps just as surprising for a member of the band, too, in drummer Jon Coghill.

In fact, in an interview with ABC today, he revealed that he had no idea the gig was going to be taking place, after being snubbed by his former bandmates – a move he has said is either driven by “bad blood”, or just an innocent mistake.

“When I heard about it, someone texted me to say, ‘Oh I loved the gig’ and stuff like that,” Coghill told the station. “I just thought, what’s going on? And I saw it, and I thought oh that’s a bit strange.

“So I was a bit surprised, but it is what it is.”

Coghill now works as a presenter for the ABC, and was getting contacted left right and centre by people who didn’t realise he’d been replaced by Bernard Fanning’s own drummer instead, with Fanning blaming the last-minute nature of the gig for the exclusion.

“You got to remember that we were together for 20 years and for about the first 10 years of that… I was a bit of a mean guy who didn’t like to lose an argument,” Coghill said, “so if those guys feel like there’s a bit of bad blood, I don’t blame them.

“I was texting Bernie yesterday, and he was saying, ‘look it was sort of a last minute thing and it’s now been blown out of proportion’.”

“All the other guys went down to Splendour, and I didn’t go because I haven’t been for a few years because we got the young kids and it’s a bit hard at the moment,” he continued. “So they got together on a bit of a whim and went up on stage and played with Bernie.”

Seems fair enough, but with no plans on the cards for a follow-up, it’s a bit of a shame he was the only one to miss out on what will go down as one of the biggest surprises in Splendour history.

This. Was. Great. 👌🏼 @splendourinthegrass #powderfinger #wot #yas #splendourinthegrass2017 #sitg2017

A post shared by Brooke Mercer. (@bebmercer) on Jul 22, 2017 at 6:09am PDT

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