For those who missed it at Groove here is what I did on Laneway.
Laneway Festival 2011
Fortitude Valley, Brisbane
04/02/11
In what feels like the hottest day of summer so far, I stick to the shadows as I travel from the train station to this year’s summer indie mecha, St Jeromes Laneway Festval.
Having started some seven years ago in Caledonian Lane in Melbourne and over the years, having boasted the likes of Yo La Tengo, Broken Social Scene and Echo and the Bunneymen, Laneway has gone to new lengths this year with its first international show in Singapore. Having a line-up featuring Foals, Yeasayer, !!!, Les Savy Fav and selling out in Melbourne and Sydney within hours. All eyes are on the festival this year to deliver. This being my first trip to Laneway; I hope it lives up to the hype.
Arriving at gates open was probably not the best idea, with long lines into the entrance and the intense humidity causing me to miss opening band and lofly signed local upstarts Toy Balloon and renamed and reformatted Sydney experimentalists PVT.
Finally getting into the venue, my first stop sees me heading to the Alexandria St Stage to see Baltimore Dream pop Duo, Beach House. In 35 degree heat and every one in the audience melting like a mars bar on bitumen not many bands could pull off laid back dream pop but Beach House persevere with a stage full of diamonds made out of glittered paper, drum machines and organs, they keep the audience intrigued with such songs as Norway, Zebra and Walk in the Park. The only question I have about the set is how lead singer Victoria Legrand can sport a white suit jacket without dying of heat exhaustion.
After Beach House I quickly sprint over to the inner sanctum stage to catch fellow Us'ers The Antlers. A band that is making waves around Australia and the rest of the world, the band are faultless and deliver a performance which easily can be regarded as a highlight of the festival. With frontman Peter Silberman's breath taking vocals and reverb drenched guitar driving the band, The Antlers get everyone in the converted cattle pavilion releasing a well deserved aww. Finishing with upbeat love ballad Two, the band unfortunately for unknown reasons finish early and leave a crowd wanting more.
With some spare time on my hands I go next door to the red bull stage to see Spiral Stairs in DJ mode. A stage that if present at Big Day Out would be full. The red bull stage's presence at the festival is questionable by the amount of interest shown by the festival crowd. None the less Spiral Stairs (festival mainstays and a band that also features Scott Kannberg of Pavement fame) play a good mix of likeable indie rock party tunes.
Before making my way to the car park stage to see Ariel Pink I admire the festivals vintage markets and briefly stick my head in over at the Alexandria stage to see Two Door Cinema Club wowing its audience.
Having received much criticism in the past for the live performances and also high praises for there new album Before Today (Pitchfork awarded lead single from the album, Round and Round its coveted #1 song of the year award for last year) I don't really know what to expect of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti.
With the band appearing on stage early to conduct their own soundcheck as conducted by frontman Ariel Pink. After extending soundcheck into the bands performance time the band finally start the show. Wearing a full body red 70's jumpsuit and a plush toy python, Ariel tries to send the audience into a time warp with a mix of 70's psychedelica and what can be best described as "70's porno music"
It takes sometime before we hear a track off breakthrough album Before Today and with the crowd becoming as agitated as Ariel Pink, tolerance for the flamboyant frontman's attitude/antics grows thin as he harasses his keyboard player throughout the set and also has false starts on songs which leads to holes in the complex atmosphere that this band are trying to create.
Even with the crowds numbers halved I stick to the end of the set which also happens to wrap up rather abruptly without the band playing their breakthrough song, “Round and Round".
While this band didn't try to please the crowd or even each other, their music/performance can be best described as an acquired taste, as if the band were a vineyard they produce good bottles of wine and some awful bottles of port but what they need to keep in mind is not to be focused too much on making the good bottles of wine which they have already mastered, but not converting everyone to beer with their sweaty old bottles of port.
2010 was a big year for Yeasayer, with the release of their second album, Odd Blood, which saw the band take a more electronic approach to their craft, and the band came to Australia for the very first time to play Splendour in the Grass. With tonight being their second trip to our shores in under half a year, the band now have the night as their backdrop instead of the daytime slot they played at Splendour. This allows them to showcase their renowned light show, which although was impressive it appeared as if they borrowed a few ideas from Animal Collective. However, the band played an impressive set with a mix of old and new songs which kept the crowd satisfied. Highlights included Sunrise (which every time I hear I break into dance) and Ambling Alp.
Rushing from Yeasayer to the Inner Sanctum stage, I make it just in time to see New York Post hardcore/indie rockers Les Savy Fav and from the opening chord to the feedback ringing which closes the show this band prove that they are the band to see at this years festival. Frontman Tim Harrington (who is a rather large and hairy gentleman) appears on stage topless, in hot pink legging, hot pants and immediately commands attention of his audience. throughout the next hour sees the frontman venture to the very back of the pavilion through the crowd, spray paints himself silver, attempts to knock over the stages speaker stack, crowd surfs on a security barrier, stages a jewish chair dance and exposes himself (which happened to be the first thing I saw him do).
At times the intense performance reminds me of The Bronx at festivals such as Soundwave. However, with such strong personalities within the band, it soon puts this comparison to bed. There was a point in the show where frontman Tim wound up on the ground right next to me and despite several attempts by me and other punters to help him up he refused and stayed on the ground for the next few songs. It’s the dedication and music which make this band a highlight and quite possibly one of the more engaging bands to see in this day and age. Finishing with latest single "Lets get out of here" off their new album Root for Ruin, we can only hope this band ventures back down under soon.
After leaving the wreckage that Les Savy Fav left in their wake, I head back to the main stage to see festival draw card Foals. Last seen on our shores along with Yeasayer at Splendour in the Grass (Actually the two played at the same time on different stages so I was keen to see them with different time slots). The UK lads are still flogging their biggest release to date, Total Life Forever. While the set is strong there were two main problems with their set.
#1. The band were simply not loud enough, especially considering the band had a headline slot the sound should have been a lot better and it really let them down.
#2. There was little to no variation on their set as to what they played at Splendour in the Grass. While they’re good songs if there is no variation, it just comes off as slack on the bands part. Foals kept some of the crowd happy with songs such as "Spanish Sahara" but I feel that to most of the crowd, they failed to excite.
I try to catch the end of Blue Mountainers Cloud Control but only manage to catch the last few notes.
I make my way back to the Inner Sanctum stage to see last band of the night Californian indie dance punk collective !!! (chk chk chk). Just when I thought there would be no more highlights today !!!, featuring 9 members including a brass section, synths galore and a specialist soul singer come out and deliver one of the most technically solid and entertaining sets of the day. Featuring another flamboyant frontman, Nic Offer, dances around the stage and into the crowd like he was in charge of Cirque Du Solei. He and the band prove to be truly entertaining throughout the show and featuring a live costume change provided by a member of the crowd, they fill their time slot beyond capacity and unfortunately are unable to complete their entire intended set. Falling slightly short of the calibre of Les Savy Fav, !!! definitely come in at a solid second place. Highlights include "Jamie My Intentions are Bass" and "AM/FM".
Although the festival had a few little annoying faults such as the two ATM's running out of cash, no Eftpos at the merch tent, one entry/exit, low level main stage sound and the stages being a bit too close together, the festival remains a success due to the high quality of the bands on show today. Once all these little glitches have been ironed out and as long as lineups keep going from strength to strength this festival has the potential to become one of the best in Australia.
P.S. Hopefully next time it rains instead of the heat!
Bradley Armstrong
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