Far from the laneways it originated in, the boutique St Jerome’s Laneway Festival is now a three country, seven city touring juggernaut, with huge crowds and unthinkable logistics. And though it still attracts the fringe acts that gave it its idealic indie reputation in its early days, it also attracts (or, rather, predicts) bands who litter the triple j Hottest 100, proving they are as much on the pulse of the “what’s hot now” mainstream as the next festival, if not moreso. With this including electronic artists like Flume (this year) and SBTRKT (last year), this also sees a much more diverse crowd coming into the grounds than one might have a few years ago. Does this mean the festival has changed? Definitely. After all, the crowd is as much of a festival as the acts and its surroundings. But does that mean the festival is any less enjoyable for a fan of the Laneways of the past? Well, let’s a look…
In Sydney, the festival’s new layout at the College of the Arts now incorporates some of the surrounding fields, increasing festival size and capacity by a couple of thousand; there was even a screen this year at the main stage! This made its rainy day sell out even more impressive. And thankfully, in spite of the rain, it wasn’t a mudfest – though the weather was one of the more horrid in memory. Hot one minute, cold, windy and rainy the next. What is this, Melbourne!?
To keep true to the Laneway name, however, they did make use of some of the laneways around the area with artwork and stalls, such as in “Brick Lane” which had a badge factory and a vinyl store, not to mention the food trucks littered around, including one of our favourites, Eat Art Truck. The pulled pork roll as usual was a must eat. An extra nice touch were the “MS” “MR” signs at the toilets (which were plentiful, thanks in part to taking over areas that used to be home to stages where bands like Les Savy Fav have played in previous years), in salute to the band of the same name who were gracing the festival.
Real Estate were playing some nice grooves as I entered the venue, attracting plenty of punters who relaxed on the grass to their sweet sounds, which included some new tracks and plenty of crowd pleasers. But it was Julia Holter who I was most keen to see in the early afternoon, so I made my way to the Future Classic Stage. I’d read a bit about her but hadn’t really listened, so this was very much her debut to my ears. She was ethereal on the keys with a backing two piece on the cello and drums. The music was simply beautiful, sometimes in the most straightforward of melodies, other times reminiscent of an artist like Bjork, such as the stunning “Marienbad”.
This was a truly epic track that built up and then broke down, while the weather did much the same. Rain hit the stage as they moved into “Four Gardens”, meaning they had to move the Cello and perform the track sans strings until they had the instrument out of harms way. “Goddess Eyes” off of Ekstasis closed the set, with haunting melodies and a bass loop creeping over the vocals. It may not have been your usual festival act, but at a festival like Laneway – which embraces the fringe as much as the popular – it definitely works.
It occurred to me when I was watching Snakadaktal, next, that I’d never seen them before. For some reason, in spite of hearing much of their music periodically over the years (“Air” being one of my favourites), they were different to what I expected. Not in a bad way at all, actually a far more solid and approachable band than I had remembered them as. Which, upon going back to their music post-Laneway, I can’t quite work out how I’d come to that conclusion in the first place… but I digress. I went over to catch some of The Rubens over on the main stage next, where the crowds were out in force, unsurprisingly. They thanked their fans ahead of “My Gun” for voting them so high in the countdown, and were playing a solid set. But a set I’ve seen many times before, as coverage on this site will probably indicate. So I kept moving and caught some of High Highs.
High Highs are a band who incorporate quite a lot of influences into their music. From melodic electronica to guitar driven tunes, and even throwing a little bit of folk in for good measure, the band – performing as a three piece – were simply a keyboardist, guitarist and drummer, and they worked together remarkably well. I was truly impressed and haven’t stopped listening to them since I returned from the event. Wondering where the majority of the crowd was post-Rubens, it turned out they’d all gone to Alpine, who received a hero’s welcome. I’m not sure anyone told the crowd they weren’t the headliners, because they certainly acted like it, packing out the Courtyard Stage (where the main stage usually is) to levels that weren’t seen again for the rest of the day. It was only natural, I suppose, that with more people came bigger shitfights at the smaller stages, but still, this was the only time of the day that it was an issue. I guess you can’t blame everyone for wanting to see the Melbourne band. With huge amounts of energy and the incredible reception from the crowd, this was the best set I’ve ever seen from the group, as they pumped out favourites from “Hands” to “Gasoline” and everything in between.
I made tracks next to see Polica, where the natural amphitheater made things a little less hectic; though people were already getting positioned for Of Monsters and Men on the stage next door, who themselves were busy getting their gear set up. Having seen Polica in Austin ever so briefly and not being terribly blown away, I must admit I was totally floored by her set today. The energy, the music and the lead’s presence were all second to none. The four piece were well served by some excellent live production, and were another of many bands to road test some new material as they reach the end of their latest record’s touring cycle. The Minneapolis band definitely gives an act like Portishead a run for their money, especially with track that ended the set, featuring two drummers going at full blast. Absolutely incredible.
“Dirty Paws”, meanwhile, opened the anticipated Of Monsters and Men set, which admittedly had lost a bit of the spark I felt when catching them at the Oxford Art Factory in mid-2012. In reality, they just haven’t stopped since then, and it sort of felt like they were just going through the motions now. That’s not to say it wasn’t a fun set; the music speaks for itself, and the eight piece and Hottest 100 favourites easily had the crowd on their side from the first note. “From Finner” followed with accordion and thousands of hands waving, ahead of “Slow and steady”, a huge singalong for “Mountain Sound”, “King And Lionheart”, while “Little Talks” of course received the biggest reception of all. It was a fun set, especially surrounded by thousands of Sydneysiders in a great mood, but certainly the band must be looking forward to heading home.
Another band who I wasn’t familiar with were MS MR, whose set I spent getting a spot for Alt-J at the stage next door, making up for missing them at every possible chance I had to see them last year (not to mention the record was one of my favourites). Meanwhile, MS MR were quite the solid band, and attracted a solid crowd of their own. The songs had danceable beats and the deep female vocals of lead singer Lizzy Plapinger (the “MS” to Max Hershenow’s “MR”) that inspire understandable comparisons to artists like Florence and the Machine and Sarah Blasko were entrancing. I’ll definitely be keeping my ear on them in the future.
The Mayor of Leichardt came out next to thank crowds and reinforce his position to keep the fun police from ruining our festival. Fair enough! And then it was time for Alt-J. FINALLY! SUCCESS! The four piece emerged with a backdrop that featured the cover of their Mercury Prize winning album An Awesome Wave, kicking things off fittingly with “Intro”. Personal favourite “Tesselate” came third, and “Something Good” was a surprising favourite of the crowd, next.
The band were trying to play it cool but they were clearly thrilled to be performing, unable to keep the smiles (and/or shock of the size and reaction of the crowd) from shining through. They commented how the last time they were here they played the Oxford Art Factory to a few hundred people, and now they were playing to thousands and thousands. It was cool to see them in their element, and it was a great set. “Fitzpleasure” got everyone dancing, and of course “Breezeblocks” got everyone dancing and singing along. They snuck in a new song (possibly called “Handmade”?) and then played the fabulous “Taro” to close out the set. A truly solid set.
I ran over to check out Perth’s Pond next, and managed to catch the end of Shlomo‘s bass heavy set on the way, which the crowd was absolutely loving. Meanwhile, Pond were looking exceptionally sharp – I think all of them were wearing collars of some kind. This was unusual. Their high energy, rock set, however, was far from unusual, and Nick Allbrook proved the always entertaining frontman. The band plowed through good times and great classic hits including, “You Broke My Cool” and a ‘song about nothing’, “Fantastic Explosion Of Time”. They teased on material from the new album and Allbrook had plenty of moments to interact with the crowd, at one point professing to either the crowd or someone in particular: “if I were steve Waugh… No Michael Clark… Id give you my baggy green… Right now.” Fair enough.
Next it was back to the main stage for four piece Yeasayer, whose set was launched by a robotic voice repeating “Sydney” over and over again, while a crazy fun light show was introduced. And it didn’t let up during the entire set, which I couldn’t pull myself away from. “Henrietta” opened up proceedings, from their latest record Fragrant World, which was surprisingly genuine to its source material, unlike some of their earlier works, such as “2080”, which came third. Much like the first time I saw them at the Oxford Art Factory, this is a track and an album that remains reasonably reinterpreted in the live environment, though it’s no less fun to sing along to.
As the set continued, frontman Chris Keating exploded with more and more energy. By the time “Reagan’s Skeleton” hit he was jumping onto anything he could find on the stage, while still complementing the crowd on their own: “you guys have got a lot of gusto. I like that.” Clearly he was putting out what we were putting in. “O.N.E.” featured an extended singalong with epic tambourine playing an an extended jam, while the aforementioned “Skeleton” totally went off. “Ambling Alp” continued the high energy and had everyone singing along, while favourite from their debut record “Wait for the Summer” ended the set, which was an unexpected highlight of the day.
Speaking of unexpected highlights, the award for best Rock and Roll band of the evening definitely went to Japandroids. The duo had the crowd moshing and surfing to their heavy beats. Such a sweet performance, to say the least. I didn’t actually realise they were a two pieces. something I probably should have known. But their sound is just so huge! “Evil’s Sway” was a natural favourite of the crowd, and I personally enjoyed “The House That Heaven Built”. An ode to one of their favourite tracks, The Gun Club’s “For the Love of Ivy” ended the set, with the guitarist standing on the drum kit as he absolutely let RIP. I think my ears are still ringing. And how!
Meanwhile, at Flume the crowds were absolutely going nuts in a bit of a different fashion, with a fantastic light show to boot, with Australia’s it kit playing all the hits – which, given his album hit #1 by the time this article was published, would I guess now be all his songs?
To close out the night, Bat For Lashes emerged immediately following the end of Flume’s set in a stunning red dress, opening with “Lillies” and supported by an incredible four piece backing band (inc. cello) and an amazing light show. But when you have a voice as impeccable as Natasha’s, you probably don’t need much of anything to wow the crowd. Without question it was the best sounding set of the day. I stood in awe as she went through tracks like “What’s a Girl to Do?”, “Sleep Alone”, “All Your Gold” and “Oh Yeah”, which saw the crowd dance up a storm, and Natasha too. She moved onto the keys next, however, and took the energy down a notch ‘so I don’t pass out!’ and performed the beautiful “Travelling Woman” ahead of the emotionally powerful “Laura”. How do you follow that? With “The Haunted Man”, naturally. It was an incredible sounding, well orchestrated show with some sweet dance moves that will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest in the history of the festival.
As I left the festival grounds, Dan and Brit’s voices from Divine Fits were echoing over the college, and I knew I’d been treated to an absolutely spectacular day of music. I’d discovered some new artists like Julia Holter, reconnected with old favourites like Yeasayer and finally gotten to see Alt-J and Bat for Lashes. Any feeling that might suggest that Laneway is any less the special event it was five years ago is quickly taken away by the quality of the music the festival delivers, and the fantastic experience along the way. Here’s just hoping for better weather in 2014.
