When walking through the gates of St Jerome’s Laneway Festival in Brisbane, each and every punter (or at least those who arrived early enough) was given a map and schedule, a free bottle of water, and some complimentary sunscreen. That is duty of care in action, right there. Not only that, but Laneway provided festivalgoers with a lineup to crow about. Namely Vance Joy, who had just scooped the coveted number one spot on Triple J’s Hottest 100, and Lorde, who won two Grammys a few days before the event. It was most relevant lineup in the festival’s history.
Five minutes after arriving, The Growl completely blew the roof off the event with their dirty, garage music. The double bass dominated the stage while big, fuzzy riffs emanated from a lone guitarist. The drums were slow and thunderous and the keys swept through when needed, but it was the vocalist’s sultry and gritty delivery that was utterly captivating.
The loud, bluesy numbers held everyone’s attention, but the band seemed to lose their momentum when the double bass was traded in for a traditional rig. Unfortunately, the changeover meant the new tracks didn’t quite have the same gravel, passion, and chaos of their earlier work.
Over at the Carpark Stage, Archy Marshall, aka King Krule, ploughed through his raw indie trade to an ardent crowd of admirers. There’s a Jamie T vibe about him, but he’s a better guitarist and a craftier songsmith with a voice aged beyond his years. It’s hard to believe he’s just 19 years old.
The Englishman’s music was spacey with bare-boned instrumentation, and he was animated and impassioned at the mic similar to the likes of The XX, The Streets, and even Joe Strummer. With vivid lyrics and minimalist guitar patterns, it was his breakthrough single and closer ‘Easy Easy’ that got the people moving, falling into a warmer and fuller indie-pop ending.
It’s been a long journey for Frightened Rabbit, who switched between minor labels for years before signing to Atlantic and releasing Pedestrian Verse, one of the most critically acclaimed albums of 2013. The band greeted the gathered crowd with the anthemic ‘Holy’ before settling into a setlist filled with classic indie rockers like ‘The Modern Leper’ and ‘Old Old Fashioned’.
Frightened Rabbit are serious about their instrumentation and their orchestration. During ‘The Woodpile’, there were four guitars playing four different patterns, but the sum of its parts were a beautiful slice of alt pop, and a testament to the growing talent that the five-piece possess.
“Wow…this is the biggest crowd I’ve ever played to,” said Vance Joy to the swiftly gathering numbers at the front of stage. Keeping his Hottest 100 number one in his back pocket for most of the set, Joy took the opportunity to play some of his deeper cuts, showing that he definitely has the songs to make the grade. But when the musician picked up the ukulele, the audience absolutely lost their collective mind. Big songs ‘Play With Fire’ followed by ‘Riptide’ proved that the live setting only served to magnify his songwriting prowess.
Daughter aren’t exactly the sort of band you’d expect to see at a festival. Their haunting, mournful landscapes would usually feel at home at a more intimate location. The band were placed at the Carpark Stage totally within earshot of the livelier Youth Lagoon, however Daughter’s crowd didn’t seem to care, and instead pushed closer to the stage to let the band’s enveloping sounds wash over them. The volume of the singalong during ‘Youth’ was huge, and seemed to overwhelm singer Elena Tonra as she thanked the crowd profusely. The set ended with ‘Home’ from their 2011 The Wild Youth EP.
There was plenty of activity on the way to back to Alexandria Street as punters packed in tight to check out one of the most hyped bands in the world. Well, believe the hype. Chvrches were unreal, and the vast crowd welcomed the trio to the stage amid flashes of light and mighty roars.
If you’ve seen the videos, you would know what to expect: Lauren Mayberry in the middle and Iain Cook and Martin Doherty at her sides behind the stacked synths. The brooding vocalist exuded charisma, jumped around, played the tambourine and, every so often, danced. ‘We Sink’ and ‘Gun’ made early appearances in the set, eliciting huge responses. Surprisingly, even the deeper cuts on the LP were treated to massive receptions. But the biggest reaction was reserved for the intro to ‘Mother We Share’ as it morphed arpeggio vocal samples into an EDM pop masterpiece.
Haim know how to work an audience. Full of confidence, swagger, and headbanging whenever a solid beat called for it, sisters Alana, Este, and Danielle Haim have generated plenty of buzz since their last visit for Splendour In The Grass. This time, choruses were sang back, mass handclaps erupted in bridges, and each word between songs greeted with an ecstatic roar. A set full of guitar solos, crowd participation, and F words came to a close with ‘The Wire’ followed by an all-in drum off.
Lorde greeted pretty much the entire festival, with punters packed shoulder-to-shoulder to get a glimpse of who is arguably the most talked about musician in the world right now. This woman has buckets of talent and it was all on the display.
As it is on the album, the instrumentation was sharp with snapping fingers and snares coupled with waves of bass and vocal loops – not to mention Lorde’s beautifully harmonised, emotive voice. Backed by two silver suited musicians manning the synths, samplers, and drums, and an impressive light show, the 17-year-old ran through a litany of tracks from the Grammy nominated Pure Heroine.
She walked across stage with her trademark twitch-dance, with ‘Tennis Court’ proving to be an early favourite. A brilliant stripped-back cover The Replacements tune ‘Swingin’ Party’ proved a winner with a small cross-section, but those who stayed to the end were treated to an awe-inspiring rendition of megahit ‘Royals’ and other choice songs from the album.
The Jezabels have been out of the limelight for the best part of a year, but they returned with a new album and the strut of world-beaters. Vocalist Hayley Mary was infallible and off the chart in terms of range and power. The 2011 hit ‘Endless Summer’ was played early on, and she definitely didn’t hold back. Songs from the new album The Brink (released that day) were layered with their typical flair as keyboardist Heather Shannon made up for their conspicuous lack of a bass player. But as Mary stalked the stage with such a magnificent presence, the rest of the band seemed to stand in her shadow.
Danny Brown was in total control of the capacity crowd eating up the bassy beats and indecipherable rhymes that rebounded off the tin roof. As the DJ kicked in and the undeniable, bone-shakingly deep refrain of ‘Dip’ projected through the speakers, the crowd lapped up their final dance of the festival. Brown ended the night with an exceptional performance, and one that saw the crowd respond with enough excitement and fervour to reflect the mood of the day.
