Were You at Laneway? Check out the Pics from the Melbourne leg of the festival HERE

Compare and contrast – check out the pics and review from St Jerome’s Laneway Festival Adelaide…
PIcs HERE
Review HERE

Looking down Caledonian Lane on any other day, all one would see is a couple of dump masters and bins, along with that god-awful smell of garbage; setting the aroma for a gloomy and hardly welcoming little laneway. The graffiti painted walls lead the way to St Jerome’s, a tiny little bar in the middle of the lane that hosts its own music festival each year – one that’s been labelled Australia’s most unique. It’s on this day that everything uninviting and repulsive about the laneway is supposedly forgotten and thousands of eager music enthusiasts make their way into the heart of Melbourne’s CBD for the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival.

It seemed from the outset (with the first lineup announcement) that St Jerome’s had become a little too big for its boots, hence the festival increased its ticket availability and stretched the grounds out onto the adjoining Lonsdale Street. The move was a great idea considering the ever growing number of punters interested in the festival, what with the additional Melbourne date added last year. Moreover, by staying true to its original alleyway and keeping the Caledonian Lane stage, the organisers didn’t jeopardise their roots. There were enough indie acts on the day’s bill to whet any music fan’s appetite – or wet any indie kid’s pants.

The festival was in a massive buzz from the offset, as the Lonsdale Street Stage kicked off the festival with local boys The Basics, whose drummer would later headline that very same stage. The trio zoomed through a collection of new and old songs after starting a little later than expected and the blocked off street began to fill. The Basics set somewhat of a running theme for the following slew of acts, with the fun, pop fuelled intensity of – œRattle My Chain’ and – œJust Hold On’ blaring so loud the whole city could hear.

The upbeat vibe of Lonsdale Street was doing its best job to keep up in the laneway, with locals The Holidays, followed by New Zealand’s Brunettes both setting their own bright mood. As the sun started stinging necks all round on the perfectly weathered day (much different from the earlier ominous weather vibes), the Brunettes struck the perfect notes on their tiny stage. Heather Mansfield sounded great from the offset with – œB-A-B-Y’ getting the stubborn indie crowds’ heads bobbing. The crammed six musicians mixed up combinations of keys, xylophone, clarinet and trumpet alongside more common rock elements, and threw in some vocal variation and harmonies to make sure festival goers were given a perfect opposite to the gloomy, Bad Seeds rip offs of the Devastations playing outside on Lonsdale. Good lungs were a must if punters wanted to breathe and see anything down Caledonian though, and the ever increasing number of people entering the festival meant that there was soon no room to move. One’s best bet for the day was to find a spot and hold their ground.

Okkervil River hit the main stage mid afternoon and proved themselves as one of the biggest surprises and highlights of the entire day. The Texan seven-piece mixed folk rock with elements of heavier blues and country whilst frontman Will Sheff proved himself to be one hell of an entertainer – running about the stage, complementing the crowd and yelling for participation. Disappointingly the crowd didn’t join in nearly as much as Sheff would have enjoyed – with clapping along and participating in the show seemingly too difficult for most. Such inaction seemed typical of the target audience as such upbeat music brought little reaction until much later on.

On the back of their J Award for Cruel Guards, The Panics delivered a solid hour consisting mainly of tracks from the aforementioned album. Jae Laffer introduced – œDon’t Fight It’ as the song people would recognise from Neighbours, though despite any commercial gain The Panics have been receiving their tunes were received happily. Whilst the now tremendously packed Lonsdale Street hosted one local act, another rocked out Caledonian in a far different manner. Bringing some rawness and manic energy to St Jerome’s, The Vasco Era’s hardcore blues smacked the faces of all the passive indie-goers who’d crammed themselves in. The trio have proven themselves as a mighty touring force in the last 12 months (and previous) and the experience clearly paid off with each showing awesome live energy. Not surprisingly though, the hardcore blues did seem a little lost in the overall scene of pop and folk.

If Lonsdale Street wasn’t packed enough before six o’clock, the organisation of having the four biggest acts on the same stage ensured that “sardines” would be an understatement. Seemingly fans of Australia, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah returned to our shores yet again and were met with open arms. Whilst still reluctant to give much appreciation, the crowd had picked up their applause volume for the American quintet, whose singer Alec Ounsworth has one of the most bizarre voices going around – nasal and often sounding similar to Thom Yorke. Ounsworth wasn’t exactly what one could call a frontman, with his laid back stage presence hardly doing more than strumming and singing. Still, not bounding around like Okkervil River meant that CYHSY sounded spot on. Yells of “Said Dance” from the crowd during Satan Said Dance highlighted the boys set early on – and sparked a change in the attitude of the crowd as a whole.

Clearly the most anticipated international guest of the day, Leslie Feist made sure she lived up to expectations. The folksy heart of Feist’s music was prevalent; though live she and her band had a rock edge that meant the sound was much fuller than any of her recordings. Playing songs mostly from last year’s The Reminder, Feist delighted from her first note. I Feel It All and My Moon My Man provided such rock moments with an intensity most wouldn’t have expected, whilst So Sorry and the Bee Gees cover Inside and Out ( a cover that Feist so beautifully made her own on Open Season ) made for much softer tracks that demonstrated how gentle her voice can be. The mix was balanced well, and her inclusion of Broken Social Scene members made for a crowded stage and some really fun antics – most of the invited members playing some additional form of percussion. Feist told of New Buffalo giving her “a certain song” because New Buffalo believed the song was for her, before beginning 1234 and having the audience learn a three part harmonization to sing along. The track was the song of the festival, with everyone finally singing along. Having started several minutes late, Feist kept playing until she was told she had to finish.

Despite the fact that three international acts would play in Caledonian Lane ( Stars, Still Flyin’ and Cool Kids ) it was two local artists that had everyone gathered for the festival’s climax. The first was Melbourne’s own Gotye, whose Laneway appearance would finish up his whole summer of touring and festival appearances. However, as Wally de Backer walked on stage and began playing no sound came from the stage and instead the in-between-sets soundtrack continued. Thankfully the sound cut in before Gotye began the heavy drums of The Only Way and despite the initial problem he was steadily under way. Consisting mostly of Like Drawing Blood tracks, de Backer moved around between piano, drums, samplers and additional percussion as a one man juggernaut creating the sounds of a full band. His self proclaimed dance track featuring MC Hammer’s Can’t Touch This received a roar of approval, as did favourite Heart’s A Mess – which de Backer revealed had brought girls to tears at Adelaide Laneway when he failed to play it. Following Feist’s lead, Gotye taught the crowd a two part harmony for his closing track Learnalilgivinanlovin which the home crowd participated in a little vacantly before de Backer drew to a close with the upbeat percussion and visuals.

If anyone ever needs someone to write a book on how to work crowds, they should hire Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes of The Presets. Always a festival highlight, the Sydney duo were the only act that managed to move the entire crowd into a frenzy of dance. Having to shorten their set – if only slightly – due to other acts running over time and the obvious noise restraints of being in the heart of the city, the pair still managed to cram in all the favourites – Down Down Down, Are You The One?, Girl’, Girl And The Sea and Kitty In The Middle – as well as new tracks Kicking and Screaming and My People. It seemed despite the bevy of international goods on show during the day, The Presets were the seminal act. This was no more obvious than during their closing track when Hamilton yelled “this is the last chorus of the last song of the festival… Go hard or go home”. The entire crowd of Lonsdale Street erupted into a bouncing pit (the same crowd that hadn’t reacted with much movement to any band all day) and The Presets finished working their festival magic.

The addition of Lonsdale Street was an awesome move for Laneway Festival as more acts, many more people and a much larger atmosphere were all available. Whilst the music of the day was top notch, there are crowding issues that probably need to be ironed out as moving the short distance between stages took upwards of twenty minutes. Punters choosing to find a spot and keep it wouldn’t have had too much of an issue though, and aside from the oddly placed speech of Deputy Lord Mayor Gary Singer (who awkwardly claimed the festival was “kicking ass”) everything on stage was of excellent quality and lived up to live expectations.

Check out the pics from Melbourne’s Laneway festival HERE

Compare Laneway experiences – check out the Adelaide review “HERE”:http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/reviews/events/12420/St-Jerome’s-Laneway-Festival-230208-Fowler’s-Courtyard.htm