Laneway Festival, Sydney

On Saturday I went to Mardi Gras, and I most post up a few photos of that tomorrow. I also pranged the car by driving it in to a pole in a carpark... not sharing pictures of that, its embarassing enough driving around with the battle scars.

But on Sunday, I went to the St Jerome's Laneway Festival, which despite the humid weather, was good fun. It was set up really well, with two outdoor stages and an indoor venue. It wasn't too crowded, there was a nice crowd, and it was over 18's so no kids. As the lovely Heather put it, it was a bit of a boutique festival, and that gave it a nice feel. Also, a lot of my friends ended up being there as we had all bought tickets so long ago that we forgot to tell each other we were going, so that was a pleasant surprise.

Some of the highlights were The Crayon Fields starting off the day in the Basement venue, Camera Obscura rocking out on the park stage, Peter, Bjorn and John playing a great set and of course Yo La Tengo getting the crowd going at the end. I particularly enjoyed Camera Obscura, a band whose music I have had little to do with but will endeavour to get to know better because they played a great set. The lead singer also had a super cute haircut.

Peter, Bjorn and John were fantastic, I am a big fan of their album Writer's Block, and the song Young Folks is undeniably catchy. Plus they are Swedes, and hence are cute with cute accents to match. The performance of Young Folks with Tracey from Camera Obscura singing the part of Victoria Bergman was great, and had the crowd singing along and dancing. The bass line just makes you want to move in that song, and the whistling refrain is sooo catchy. Super fun!

I found a recording of the performance that someone made on YouTube if you want to check it, I will post it in a bit.

Yo La Tengo were also great... I found the extended guitar playing earlier in the set to be a little indulgent, but as the set became more poppy stylistically, I soon found forgiveness in my heart and really enjoyed their performance. A great way to finish the night.

Youth Group also played a solid set, they are a band that handles live performance extremely well, and it was great to hear their cover of Forever Young and their song Shadowland played live. The Crayon Fields suited the cosy basement venue really well and I am thinking of investing in their album.

I heard bits of pieces of sets by Love is All (seemed quite fun), Sleepy Jackson (I wasn't that taken with what I heard), My Disco (loud!), The Walkmen (was busy eating crappy overpriced food at the time), Holly Throsby (I love acoustic, but she is a bit drab). Another strong performance came from Fionn Reagan, except he was a bit lost behind a big hat and oversized sunglasses... I would have preferred to see his face while he was singing. It also looked a bit faux Bob Dylan.

Here's a few snapshots we took on the day on my camera phone. Unfortunately without a media pass I wasn't allowed to take along a "professional" camera, so couldn't take any pics of performances.

Anyway, I'd definitely recommend Laneway Festival, depending on future lineups, but it was worth the dosh and was an enjoyable experience. There were even real toilets to use, not just portaloos. Food and drink was super expensive though, but that comes with the territory really. The next gig I'm going to will probably be to see The Waifs at the Metro in April, which I am really looking forward to as A Brief History... was a travelling companion for me on my iPod and I've heard they are amazing live. Back to the acoustic stuff again, these days my tastes are swinging between blues and roots/acoustic to indie pop/rock.