Saint Jerome is quoted as saying: "Good, better, best. Never let it rest. 'Til your good is better and your better is best." You might have noticed the stage names.
It’s a little motivational-speakery for a saint, but it does fit his namesake festival, which certainly hasn’t rested since its rather humble beginnings in a speakeasy in Caledonian Lane. Fun fact: the St Jerome moniker stems from founder Jerome Borazio.
While some traditionalists might have missed the origins, you can’t go wrong with a lineup as versatile and location as beautiful as Laneway offered.
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While smaller festivals struggle for crowds left, right and centre, Laneway Festival popped up and reminded us all why it’s such a staple on Australia’s festival calendar, attracting massive crowds to Flemington Racecourse for its Melbourne iteration.
Flemington has pretty much mastered festival hosting duties, especially when it’s 29 degrees and without a cloud in the sky. Practically it’s fantastic for major events, the lush grass and greenery – shrouded by those beautiful hills to stage left – is a paradise as far as festival grounds go.
The other major plaudit goes to the decision to set up both main stages directly next to each other (a la Good Things) to eliminate most clashes between major acts and the need for lengthy set-up enforced breaks between sets.
This kept the momentum going brilliantly and really enabled the best possible result from such a lengthy lineup across a single-day festival. Overall, it was a very professional, accessible, and dynamite delivery.
The lineup was superb and performed brilliantly, especially considering there’s a lot of pressure on acts at a day festival. As Yard Act noted before their set, “you’ll have as much fun as possible in the afternoon at the third stage of a festival seeing an act you may or may not know.” Luckily, we knew and loved Yard Act, terracotta frogs and all, and they sound much better live than we’d anticipated. Special credit to Sam Shipstone here, he brings it all together.
Fontaines D.C. dropped any of the crowd interaction but replaced it with sublime vocals, which sounded incredibly close to their recordings, an unusual and impressive feat in the post-punk genre. Grian Chatten is supremely talented.
Fred Again…was expectedly engaging, bringing all that Boiler Room energy that trusted him so vociferously into the mainstream. Choosing to schedule him with no clashes was dicey considering the flatness of the venue, it made getting anywhere near the stage damn-near impossible, but the world record attempt at people on shoulders probably justified it in the end.
Special mention goes to Ross From Friends who played as a trio (presumably with Chandler and Joey) replete with saxophonists and all. Saint Jerome would have been proud.
Find out more about Laneway here.
