Posted by kluster on February 5, 2010
For the last few years running St Jeromes Laneway Festival organisers have proven that they know how to successfully curate an independent music festival. Thankfully 2010’s efforts allowed them to maintain their unsoiled reputation. We use the word thankfully because we all know how ugly a festival line-up fall from grace can be. Yes, Big Day Out, we are looking at you.
We managed to squeeze in quite a few bands during the course of the day and not one disappointed. The new venue provided ticket holders with more room to move - in space imparting a rather 20th-century-institutional vibe - and the fact that all stages were completely removed from one another meant that they each ended up developing a vibe of their own.
Speaking of institutions, Whitley, post beginning their set with sounds twinged with musical grandiosity, admitted there could think of no better place to play than somewhere reminiscent of an insane asylum. Over on the Clock Tower stage (Playschool imagery, anyone?) Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit were warming up with a spot of ethereal guitar-driven indie rock. ‘Keep Yourself Warm’ rounded up what proved, for us, a pleasing first-time FR experience.
Wild Beasts win Kluster’s non-existent award for Most Pleasant Surprise of The Day in The Form of a Band. Stepping out onto the stage to the sounds of an extended si-fi-esque voiceover they won over the audience with their delightfully discombobulated sound – encapsulating theatrical vocal lines, pulsating beats and windswept hair served on a bed of singer swapping, with a side of Jamaican undertones.
Next up we had Mumford & Sons*. From the opening song and title track from their album, ‘Sigh No More’ to closing M&S did more than just prove their competent musicality; they extended on the audience’s comprehension of it. The four-part-harmonised ‘Timshel’ rang loud and true across the Carpark Stage. ‘White Blank Page’ was delivered with the kind of conviction that suggested all four band members were reliving the heartache portrayed by its lyrics. It’s hard to understand how such a fully formed sound could come from a mostly drum-less, four-piece. But come it did and continued until the closing notes. Over at the Inner Sanctum, The XX did not manage to live up to our - possibly too - high expectations.
Daniel Johnston... It’s hard to know exactly where to begin, never mind end, with this performance. Yes, he had a rather impressive five-piece band backing him for the majority of the set – they were certainly worth watching. Yes, he is something of a messed-up musical demigod. But, try as we might, we can’t seem to get the image of him shakily leaning on the music stand for the acoustic-openers section of the set out of our head. He seemed pained, broken and, we hate to say, a little bit pitiful.
Over at the Clock Tower, Blacks Lips were anything but broken. For that reason their rollicking balls-to-the-wall, bluesy rock’n’roll is the recipient for Kluster’s (again, nonexistent) award for Inspirers of Best Crowd Participation at the Festival. We’re talking trios of crowd surfers and circle work, my friends. Radioclit featured next on our schedule. Their reggae-inspired, chaotic, dance hall set provided the lift our tired bodies needed…
…To be ready for the ever-dynamic Florence and the Machine. Taking to the stage with her trademark grandiosity and adorning a purple, bat-winged leotard, Florence Welch almost literally launched into ‘My Boy Builds Coffins’. The crowd was awed. Welch’s stage presence works in synergy with her powerful vocals, resulting in what turned out to be the most forceful live performance we experienced that day.
We reluctantly tore ourselves away from the Carpark stage, fighting through the heaving masses, desperate to catch the last few songs of Eddie Current Suppression Ring. Over in the Inner Sanctum there was a lot of speaker-standing and roof-hopping going on, in front of a crowd clearly amped to be watching this Melbourne band. We must admit, part of us that was rather dismayed a timetable clash had caused us to miss the majority of this set.
With the closing notes of ECSR still reverberating around our heads we headed for the exit. Our confidence in festivals restored.
*Point of interest: when this band was booked their album was barely on the shelves. Certainly none of the hype that currently surrounded them existed. Goes a long way towards confirming the previously tabled successful-curation argument raised in the first paragraph.
Were you there? Don't let us do all the talking, tell us your thoughts via a comment or two.
laneway festival, giveaway, florence & the machine, the xx, whitley, frightened rabbit, wild beasts, mumford & sons, daniel johnston, black lips, radioclit, eddie current suppression ring