Twelve years after its inception, Laneway Festival is in the middle of an identity crisis. It introduced itself to the world as the tastemaker’s Big Day Out, a counter culture alternative to Australia’s small and homogenous festival scene. Now that the Big Day Out is presumed dead and the rest of the scene has moved onto camping festivals and genre based blowouts, Laneway, the one-time insurgent, has become the establishment. While the lineup this year reflected efforts to retain the festival’s indie cred, the winds of change could be felt in every Visa ‘Waveshades’ promotion (sunglasses you can pay with) and half empty punk band moshpit. A good lineup ensured that Laneway was still a fun time, but this festival-for-everyone is going to have to do some soul searching in years to come lest it risk become nothing for no one.
Much to its credit, the festival did a great job of showcasing the strength and diversity of Australia’s music scene. Perhaps the best evidence of this was Koi Child’s set on the Dean Turner Stage, an incredible showing from one of the most compelling live acts in the country.
Julia Jacklin played a typically impressive show on the chilled out Spinning Top Stage. The full effect of her vocals were lost in the terrible acoustics of a festival stage but she was perfect for those looking to ease their way into the day.
Camp Cope tore through their debut album in front of a huge crowd. Hearing them play to a career-best crowd in Footscray was easily one of the highlights of the day, though the long, skinny mainstage made it hard to feel like a part of the atmosphere unless you were one of the few people lucky enough to reach the front.
Next Whitney and Car Seat Headrest went back to back on the Dean Turner Stage. There was little enthusiasm for Whitney’s acclaimed brand of mellow jam-rock, though they put on a good show regardless. By contrast, Car Seat Headrest managed to stir a small crowd of devoted fans into a frenzy with a tight performance of their new album.
The most likeable act of the day was clearly A.B. Original. Though their music deals with heavy themes, their irrepressible charisma had the crowd yelling ‘F**k the police’ like it was a cricket chant.
King Gizzard played a frantic set on the main stage to one of the biggest crowds of the day. It’s cool seeing the hardest working band in the world crack the mainstream but watching guys in muscle shirts slam dance to psych rock will never not be surreal. Mick Jenkins brought a lot of energy and a catalogue of danceable tracks to the Future Classics stage but struggled to force enthusiasm out of a half-interested crowd.
From the talk on the day it was obvious most of the crowd were there for Tame Impala and that based on the size of the mainstage, many of them were going to leave disappointed. If you were lucky, you saw Tame play a solid set, remarkable mostly for how closely it replicated their recordings. If you were like most people, you were standing next to a food truck around the corner trying to catch a glimpse of the screen.
This reflects the contradiction at the heart of Laneway, now a mainstream festival dressed up as an indie one. Their continued support for alternative and upcoming artists is admirable, but when you’re trying to force an arena’s worth of people into the carpark of an industrial estate while leaving acclaimed international acts like White Lung and Whitney with tiny crowds, you need to start asking who exactly you’re trying to appeal to.
Words by Tiernan Morrison
Image by David Harris
