Laneway Festival takes detour to a grassy Domain

St Jerome’s Laneway Festival has become the premier national touring event for pop, rock and electronic artists.

Young festival-goers Ally Hocking Howe (19), Sophie Edwards (20), Jasmine Cunningham (20) and Sasha Paul (19) at the Laneway Festival, held at The Domain for the first time. Picture: Jane Dempster

The past decade was a tumultuous period for Australian festivals, as established multi-city events such as the Big Day Out, Soundwave and Future Music all fell silent and left gaping holes in the summer schedules of young music fans.

St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, however, has weathered the storm to become the premier national touring event for pop, rock and electronic artists. From its humble beginnings as a block party held in Melbourne in 2005, Laneway is now a major attraction on the calendar.

“We’ve been a lot slower and steadier in our evolution, and we’ve always built it on a pretty ­realistic break-even,” co-founder Danny Rogers told The Australian. “The biggest headliners we’ve ever had have never been stadium acts.

“Sales are up about 20 per cent on last year — we’re going to do about 100,000 (tickets) across Australia and New Zealand.

“We’re blown away.”

While the festival has developed a reputation for booking both popular and emerging acts each year, Rogers is mindful of the need to listen to younger voices when finalising the artistic line-up.

“I’m 45 now, and as much as I love being part of it, I’m also old enough to be some of the kids’ parents,” he said with a laugh.

“You don’t want your dad booking your festival. I’m really conscious of that, without being worried about it.”

Headlining acts at Laneway Festival this year include British indie pop band The 1975, US hip-hop artist Earl Sweatshirt and British pop singer-songwriter Charli XCX.

On Sunday, about 17,000 people attended the festival’s debut at The Domain in Sydney after the event shifted from Sydney College of the Arts, where it had been based for the past decade.

“We got a bit lost before, but it’s nice having so many stages that we can wander through,” said Ally Hocking Howe, 19, who travelled from Canberra with her friends. “It’s great.”

At the first of five Australian concerts on Saturday, the organisers’ plans were thrown into disarray when The 1975’s singer, Matthew Healy, was taken to hospital with a sudden illness hours before stage time in Brisbane, forcing a late cancellation and a promotion to the main stage for Melbourne rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.

The 2020 Laneway Festival will conclude its five-show run this weekend with events to be held on consecutive days in Adelaide, Melbourne and Fremantle.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Emily Ritchie