It has been a tumultuous festival season, with Harvest abruptly getting the scythe and Big Day Out spiralling downward into its very own sideshow. Thank the music festival gods, then, for Laneway. Much like the Meredith-based festivals, St Jerome’s Laneway Festival sticks to a winning formula, but it also knows when to adapt and expand.
Last year’s heaving Flume set showed the growing potential of what was once known as the ‘carpark stage’. At this year’s festival, the Dean Turner Stage expands a good deal further to contain triple j heavy-hitters like Vance Joy, Haim and CHVRCHES. With a boost in size comes a boost in ticket sales, so the ‘how big is too big?’ question comes into play when the walk to the main stage becomes lengthy and cumbersome. On the plus side, luring most punters to the far end of the festival space made the Moreland Street and River stages more accessible and these smaller settings offered some of the shadiest spots, as well as some of the day’s best sets.
Clashes are another Laneway staple and I got my first troubling clash of the day on arrival, between Cass McCombs and Autre Ne Veut. I opted for the emotive crooning of Autre Ne Veut, who delivered a focused, heartfelt performance at the intimate Red Bull stage.
Over on the Moreland Street Stage, Kirin J Callinan wasn’t causing as much trouble as he did at Sugar Mountain as he pounded through songs from the Embracism album in his oddly transfixing manner. He announced a slow song and cheekily added “please don’t go” but my Laneway app was buzzing and urging me to don a 36” chain for Run The Jewels. El-P was one of my favourite performers at last year’s festival and having Killer Mike on stage this time around made for double the fun.
The trek to the front of the Dean Turner Stage led to Adalita, who movingly paid tribute to Turner before “rocking out.” Having seen the intense Savages in action a couple of nights earlier, I missed the bulk of their set but couldn’t resist catching a couple of their spiky post-punk songs on the way down to the River Stage. All I wanted to do at this stage was lie on the dry grass with a beer and listen to something breezy, so Dick Diver cropped up in tropical board shorts and did all the work for me. Back on Moreland St, Unknown Mortal Orchestra delivered one of the best sets of the day, with some wonderful psychedelic guitar wig-outs on show. The following Parquet Courts set revealed the Brooklyn four-piece to be an unremarkable live act, but it didn’t make me love their album any less.
Kurt Vile played my two favourites from his latest album early in the set, so I then moved on and momentarily joined a huge crowd lapping up Haim, then witnessed Earl Sweatshirt taking the piss out of the pale, hipster crowd. Over on the Dean Turner side, Lorde chided “You’re a bit quiet, Melbourne” (which, predictably, made the crowd more rowdy). The Queen Bee of Laneway put on an effortless, slick performance and the audience embraced her quirky, intelligent pop songs. As the sun dropped, I ended the day at the stage where I started, but with more dancing, thanks to Jamie xx and Four Tet. The closing sets offered a gentle comedown to a well organised, high quality festival that just keeps going from strength to strength.
BY CHRIS GIRDLER
Photos by Nick Irving
Loved: Blacksmithing.
Hated: Shifty gate-jumpers.
Drank: Mostly water.
