LIVE | St Jerome's Laneway Festival 2017
It was a sweaty day at the St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival in Sydney on Saturday 4th February; however, high-energy performances and high spirits from the punters only served to match the high temperatures of the day.
Dune Rats kicked off the loud, wild party fever that was both expected and much needed as the afternoon grew hotter, launching a thousand Shoeys, and Snapchats captioned “Who’s Scott Green?”
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard delivered a frenzied performance to an eager crowd, and the ground seemed to shake as the mosh pit reached feverish levels of activity and rough but good-natured behaviour.
Revellers who managed to endure the scorching sun throughout the Car Seat Headrest set were rewarded with a classic rock ‘n’ roll set and shout-along sessions to ‘Fill In The Blank’ and ‘Vincent’.
By the time D.D Dumbo took to the stage, the crowd was absolutely buzzing. Playing his 2016 ‘Utopia Defeated’ album track list in its original order worked surprisingly well, given the two lead singles (‘Walrus’ and ‘Satan’) were out of the way by the very start, and yet not one person showed interest in leaving.
Triple J darling Tash Sultana’s ethereal vocals and incredible performance skills were delivered with excellence, and generated an enormous crowd. It was a welcome opportunity to recharge and relax on the grass hill and enjoy the much-appreciated breeze coursing through the festival ground at the time.
But it was all hands on deck again for English outfit Glass Animals, who soon had the crowd dancing and singing along to ‘Youth’ and ‘Gooey’, and closing with the certified banger ‘Pork Soda’.
Next up was the highly anticipated Nick Murphy, who never fails to deliver a moving set brimming with hits. Soaring through tunes from 2014 release ‘Built On Glass’, Murphy brought Marcus Marr on stage to play a long version of their collaborative track ‘Birthday Card’, and a sneaky last minute performance of the 2015 Hottest 100 climber ‘The Trouble With Us’. Murphy ended with his recent single (one of the first since dropping the Chet Faker moniker) ‘Stop Me/Stop You’ to a crowd left begging for more.
There was no time for encores however, as it was now Tame Impala time. The ever-enigmatic Kevin Parker and his band gave the kind of performance that will have people bumping them exclusively on Spotify for weeks after.
The band opened with the dreamy track ‘Nangs’ from 2015’s critically acclaimed ‘Currents’, and set the tone for a sublime set.
During ‘Let It Happen’, one punter was heard saying, “I never want this song to end” – which could easily sum up the atmosphere in the crowd at that time. When the song came to an end after that infectious instrumental break, the ecstatic crowd was showered in light and confetti – much to their extreme delight.
Playing a string of hits from 2012’s ‘Lonerism’ and ‘Currents’, the crowd’s volume only grew with excitement throughout the set. By the time ‘It Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’ blasted from the speakers, they were entirely drowned out. The throng of people stretched as far as the eye could see, and it was clear from the emotion driven sing-along to ‘New Person, Same Old Mistakes’ that no one wanted their set to end.
If Tame Impala was the celestial spacecraft that launched audiences to space, screaming and covered in confetti, then Sydney psych heroes Jagwar Ma were the perfect act tasked with bringing them back to earth; this was done with a bass thumping technicolour party in a lane so narrow you’d be forgiven for forgetting you were outside with thousands of other people, not inside a pre-lockout law Sydney nightclub.
The vivid lightshow complimented a zealous performance of hits from their 2016 release ‘Every Now & Then’ and 2013’s ‘Howlin’ - both of which contain a plethora of infectious tunes beyond the singles featured. The drums and psychedelic chanting in ‘Come Save Me’ were a call to action, and answered with gusto.
Soon enough festival-goers - sunburnt, dehydrated and covered in glitter - reluctantly dispersed in relatively high spirits, and thus ended Laneway for another year.
Here’s hoping it’s not a long twelve-month wait until Laneway 2018!
Event covered and photographed by Jodi Lewis
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