Though still nine months away, speculation for the 2014 Laneway Festival lineup has already begun, with festival organisers revealing the lineup for their stage at the London leg of Field Day, possibly a huge hint at what’s to come at next year’s event.
Field Day, the mammoth one-day boutique festival, is set to take place on May 25th at Victoria Park in East London, with the likes of Bat For Lashes, Animal Collective, and Solange headlining.
According to FasterLouder, the lineup reveal shows off the already growing partnership between Field Day London promoters Eat Your Own Ears and Laneway organisers who have seen a reciprocal guest programming right to stages at each other’s festivals for the past three years.
The Laneway stage will see the likes of Charlie Boyer & The Voyeurs, Chvrches, Dark Bells, Daughter, Django Django, Kurt Vile, Mount Kimbie, and Palma Violets strutting their stuff at the East London event at the end of the month.
Laneway co-founder Danny Rogers revealed his excitement with partnering with the event again, stating, “we’re both honoured and super excited to have such a crazy amazing bunch of acts play our stage, some of whom might even pop up on one or more of forthcoming Laneway events around the world soon!”
Though Rogers hints at a possible appearance of these acts on the 2014 Laneway bill, it does rule out forthcoming Splendour acts Chvrches, Daughter and Palma Violets who will be making the trek to Byron in late July. It’s unlikely we’ll see these acts returning in February so soon after their Splendour performances. “[We’re] super excited to have such a crazy amazing bunch of acts play our stage, some of whom might even pop up on one or more of forthcoming Laneway events!” – Danny Rogers, Laneway Festival
However, there’s also the chance we’ll see similar acts playing the American incarnation of Laneway festival, which will hit the North American city of Detroit this September in Laneway’s first ever US debut, and whose inaugural lineup is set to drop any day now.
The news of Laneway Detroit was first revealed at the festival’s party at Austin’s SXSW conference this year, and was a breakaway hit that saw the likes of Palma Violets, Chvrches, and Parquet Courts rubbing shoulders with several Aussie bands.
Laneway co-founders Danny Rogers and Jerome Borazio were keen to fast-forward an American leg of their indie festival to Detroit because of “its unbelievably dynamic musical past and present – [it] is the perfect location for our first foray into North America.”
The featured performances at SXSW from the likes of Alpine, Vance Joy, and Flume began speculation that these acts would be the first to perform at the new international incarnation of the festival, with the success of previous expansions to New Zealand in 2010 and Singapore in 2011 proving a new site would bode well for the Laneway Festival organisers.
The festival is being co-promoted by American companies Palace Sports & Entertainment and Paradigm Talent Agency for its North American entry. With the help of these established companies the focus is to “bring great music to our fans and we knew we had to bring that to Detroit,” said Lucinda Treat, Palace Sports & Entertainment’s executive vice president for Business Operations and Strategy.
Rogers and Borazio say they’re keen to get more Australasian artists buzzing overseas, and have already been putting in the effort to support Australian music on a global scale, in particular trying to help perpetuate the presence of Aussie music in America. This can be seen in American successes like Gotye, Kimbra, and Tame Impala, who were special additions to the Singapore Laneway lineup last year.
Melbourne’s Alpine are strong contenders to play Laneway Detroit having played Laneway 2013, and will soon head out on an American Tour to launch their debut album A Is For Alpine stateside, before returning home to play Splendour in July. After their success at SXSW 2013, the Melbourne sextet would be a great fit for playing Laneway’s expanded American leg in September.
The press release for the Detroit announcement rightly stated that Laneway Festival is “renowned for its for its forward-thinking, adventurous line-ups and inspired metropolitan locations”. It has previously hosted Feist, Mumford & Sons, Florence + the Machine, Tame Impala, The xx and M83.
This year’s tour, with the inclusion of MS MR, Cloud Nothings, Alt-J, and Bat For Lashes, and a strong mix of local acts marked another successful year, with our Tone Deaf review of the Melbourne Laneway saying it is “fast becoming the most enviable date on the summer festival calendar.“
