The first Laneway Festival in Adelaide was in 2008 and it was a charmingly simple festival, with a small crowd and only two stages.
There were a few niggling problems but it was a promising start. Over the years, the promoters have progressively added an extra two stages, but problems with the organisation of the site were even more pronounced this year than ever before.
Having turned into a twilight event in 2010, Kings Of Convenience started this year’s event at 5:30pm, providing a quiet start to the day at the new – and best – stage in the natural amphitheatre of George St. With the sun still out, the Norwegian indie folk duo of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe played the first half of their set by themselves, highlighted with “Love Is No Big Truth”.
With an extra drummer, bassist, and electric guitarist coming on stage in the second half, the band sounded perfectly filled out without losing any of their peaceful and calming nature.
Following that was Julia Holter at the Fowler’s Live stage, who started off with a disappointingly small crowd for her brand of experimental ambient pop.
Together with a cellist and drummer, her songs had a muscularity to them that’s not always the case on her recordings. Opening with “Für Felix” off of her recent Ekstatis album, she also played a new song that almost had the crowd dancing.
By the time she played the gorgeous set highlight “Our Sorrows”, the audience had grown exponentially, before the US singer closed with “Four Gardens”.
Despite playing at the same time as The Rubens, indie rockers Real Estate pulled a good sized crowd at the Register St Stage. The five-piece’s unassuming and pleasant tunes didn’t seem to be all that appreciated though; despite it being guitarist Matthew Mondanile’s birthday, the crowd never really seemed engaged with the band.
Things started to get messy when trying to navigate the site. Getting through the crowd in the Courtyard Stage to get to Fowler’s Live is difficult every year, but the numbers brewing for Of Monsters and Men made heading into the festival’s only indoor stage to see El-P impossible.
Thankfully Minneapolis group Poliça were playing at the George St stage, and their very danceable brand of electronica and R&B went down well with punters Despite missing a member, they were having a visibly great time. With a big crowd brewing in George St, UK R&B singer Jessie Ware followed.
Despite her obviously wanting to banter with the punters, her short 30-minute time slot forced the band to rush through most of her 2012 debut, Devotion.
Opening with that album’s title track, she managed to keep the dancing going with “Running”, “Sweet Talk” and a sumptuously extended version of “No To Love”, whilst the slower “Wildest Moments” and “Night Light” sounded pitch perfect.
From there it can only be said that things got very ugly.
Heading back to Fowler’s to see US rockers The Men proved impossible, with the gates to the courtyard stage locked. With Yeasayer finishing up their set and the audience at the Courtyard Stage dispersing, the crowd behind the gate started getting understandably angry as the very small amount of security – and police – didn’t allow them to enter the courtyard despite there being plenty of room.
With the time for Alt-J’s set getting closer and the gates still locked, some people resorted to jumping the fence as the crowd was getting even more distressed and desperate. Whilst some punters were overheard discussing their plans to make an early exit to the after-party, those who were feeling confused had the option of seeing rock duo Japandroids back at the Register St Stage, which was comparatively roomy.
While the Vancouver group had a great energy, it was once again frustrating to see a lack of security presence resulting in dangerous and reckless crowd behaviour. Despite this, the band was incredible to watch, with “Young Hearts Spark Fire” and “Younger Us” being surprising set highlights. It was of course “The House That Heaven Built” that had the masses going silly.
Thankfully by that time, things had calmed down somewhat at the Courtyard Stage, and the crowd was a bit more manageable as UK singer Natasha Khan aka Bat For Lashes begun her headlining set. With a four-piece band backing her, it was without a doubt the best sounding set of the day.
Although it was dominated with songs off her 2012 album The Haunted Man – “Marilyn”, “Laura”, “Oh Yeah”, “All Your Gold”, a stunning version of the title track, past hits “Daniel” and “What’s a Girl Supposed to Do?” got the best reaction from the festival-goers.
It takes more than the act to make a great show though.
Unfortunately the crowd was horrendously rowdy by that point, with a punter deciding to climb the very tall lamp in the middle of the courtyard and Khan having to ask him to come down before she could play on.
Two crowd members managed to storm the stage too – the fact that this even happened and the lack of security presence following it was simply embarrassing.
None of this phased Khan though – seemingly unable to wipe the smile off her face she thanked the crowd, looking happily bemused and referring to them as “the most beautiful, weirdest, and raucous audience” of the festival. It was a very apt summation.
With most people leaving after Khan’s wonderful set, it left Manchester producer Holy Other to play a fifty-minute show of his signature melancholic electronica to a roomy Fowler’s Live.
Playing in complete darkness, the remaining punters were treated to a beautifully intimate and back-to-basics set. It was a real highlight, with his slow moving and sensuous dance music a perfect end to a taxing day.
For years it has felt like Laneway Festival organisers have provided band-aid solutions to problems in and around the Adelaide site despite it always feeling too big for its boots.
This year proved that organisers have to make some serious adjustments if they want to continue the festival in Adelaide, either through limiting crowd numbers or changing sites.
The bands were generally solid, but it was a frustrating festival to experience. With the Big Day Out still fresh in the minds of punters, it was clear how poorly run Adelaide Laneway is.
Security presence was inadequate, the food selection was disappointing, and despite minor adjustments the site layout continues to be maddening to navigate. When combined, this all contributed to a strong feeling of negativity and apathy amongst festival-goers.
Fans have been reasonably vocal about the issues experienced in Adelaide this year; hopefully in 2014 organisers listen and take as much care in the other aspects of their festival as they obviously do in compiling the lineup.
