Laneway Festival Review: Non-stop great from go to whoa. Shamir, Battles, Beach House, Flume, Methyl Ethel and more headline.
Well set up with a line-up that didn’t let up, Laneway Festival 2016 was another roaring success, writes Mikey Cahill.
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LANEWAY FESTIVAL 2016 REVIEW
Footscray Community Arts Centre and River’s Edge. Feb 13.
4.5 stars
“Stay woke” is the modus operandi for 2016.
Hitting Laneway Festival early was the key to picking the eyes out of it.
The quality of acts was so high that in a way, it felt like every act was a headliner (apart from Sophie/QT who were a fast food fix, not worthy of a whole set), ready for their time to shine in the sun or beam under a milky way tonight.
That said, your tardy gurnalist missed Banoffee’s opening set of open-hearted trip pop. From a distance the yearning ebb of “You were with her her her, with her her her” glided down Maribyrnong River.
“Hey babe,” Methyl Ethel’s Jake Webb greeted a dashiki-wearing Pharaoh in the front row. Really though, he was saying it to all of us, we were all his babes and he was showing us his babies; the songs from debut album Oh Inhuman Spectacle born in his bedroom and now out in the big bad world, finding their way. Also Gesellschaft, Rogues, Unbalancing Act all sounded reverby like they were wearing moonboots. Then the trio stepped it up with Twilight Driving (soon-to-be-a-hit-in-Europe) and the savage opening line “You might be a better friend,” that led to Gus Rigby (Big Scary) taking centre stage and blowing stacks of sax. Post-Careless Whisper vibes. “I thought a chick sang this,” gawped one punter. The crowd went from mild to wild. Extraterrestrial textural.
Blank Realm’s Dag Rock careered along like Public Image Ltd. covering the The Go Betweens. Palace of Love rained down off-kilter drums and the Queensland band rattled along with shaky wooden balcony timing only they can do so well. Sarah Spencer pressed the advantage home on her keytar and sang the backing vocals on Falling Down The Stairs, kicking up her heels Hello Dolly style. “Move to Melbourne!” shouted someone. “(beat) Yes,” drummer/singer Daniel Spencer replied, dead-bat fashion. Spencer came out from behind the kit for the last two songs looking like a Sensis Project Manager at the work karaoke Christmas party impressing Tracey from Sales. I’ve already gone overboard with the comparisons but I must throw in the discombobulating arrangements of Swedish house and trance producers Minilogue (not Kylie). They’re in time but out. Touring with Laneway Festival gig is big for Blank Realm. They’re in now.
The Internet rocked hard. The always-California, usually-soul collective put ample junk in trunk, bedding down funk in the top bunk. In short, they beefed up tunes from Ego Death. Syd the Kyd got everyone to chant “You f----ed up,” from Just Sayin’/I Tried and controlled the swaying wrists of a huge and hugely appreciative crowd at the Dean Turner Stage. Syd’s snarls and side-eye taunts were made more venomous and playful with that haircut, a cross between Neytiri from Avatar and a skater dude from Kids.
“Good to see kids lapping the good s--- up,” quipped a local jazz authority as Thundercat and his litter put on a set as colourful as their attire, all purples and pink and aqua marine green. Ironically, the white-haired, pale-faced keyboardist painted with the most hues of all as they gave jazz–rock fusion a good name. Sidenote: many, many girls left during the set in twos and ones. “The one thing is that it’s a sausage-fest scene,” added the jazz man.
Shamir Bailey is a kind of a big deal. The genderless Las Vegas disco diva / home boy ripped through an incredibly credible set for an artist with only one album out: Ratchet. Bailey’s castrati-like voice held everyone’s attention and then Shamir got the crowd to sing unaccompanied “It’s tiiiiime to call it off, this tiiiime it’s not my fault” as a married couple in the crowd, Kimothy, pretended to break up and toss away their wedding rings. “Dancing, good times” is the simple, vocodered refrain that starts off Hot Mess and it’s exactly what Shamir and her merry band of misfits gave to the heaving Red Bull Music Academy Presents Future Classic Stage, playing If It Wasn’t True, On The Regular and more. Shamir won 2016’s Best on Ground aka Legend of the Lane.
As inferred earlier, the egalitarian Mistletone duo of Sophie and Ash have championed equal billing bills for years; any one of their acts could have earned that metaphorical extra big, 16 point Coachella font on Mistletone’s stage. Battles served up jumpy, calculated-but-not-lifeless post-rock joints from their new album La Di Da Di and built the whole set to 2007 single Atlas. 47-year-old John Stanier started the show with a crisp pink shirt and as he became more ferocious with his kit, the salmon colours were invaded by sweat-Staniers until the climax of Atlas when he reached up to the highest high hat and smacked it for its insolence eight times, drenched in perspiration, not a dry patch in sight. God it was good. Song of the day. Worth bringing the word “groovy” out of retirement.
Like watching The Dirty Three, Baltimore dream-weavers, dream-givers Beach House allow your frontal lobe enough space to have several epiphanies per song: Maybe I should buy a house in Tottenham. He who dies with the most Twitter followers still dies. Music can heal wounds you didn’t know were there if you surrender to it. Who cares about a horny ex-footballer. See. Looking all white on the night as blue lights carved the crowd apart, Victoria Legrand sang “You blow my mind, I’ll go anywhere you want to,” right to us, not at us, during Levitation. “Peace and Love to all,” farewelled Legrand and band as they floated off stage, walked on the water behind then shuttled off into the oily azure sky.
Something was missing in Hudson Mohawke’s set. He had all of the lights, bells and whistles but there was a gaping hole: no soul.
Australia’s current King of the Beats, Harley Streten was beaming from the get-go. We’d find out why halfway through his show. Initially, Flume’s banter meant well but came off a bit stilted. The Sydney Boy Wonder brought the party though and couples on shoulders, tech bros, RUFUS fans, patient fangirls and everyone in between knew he was treating us to something special when he brought Vince Staples up for the monolithic bass slap and synth wall of death, Smoke and Retribution feat. Kucka. After a day of overindulgence, Flume got the crowd at the Very West Stage on the Very Same Page. Trap arms for Ks. At the tail-end of nine hours of constantly great music I needed a knockout punch and he gave one-two with his still-well-fresh remix of Hermitude’sHyperParadise then followed by declaring “Here is the number one song in the country,” Never Be Like You featuring. Kai. The Toronto singer paraded out dressed in an Inspector Gadget meets Imperator Furiosa beige jacket and absolutely owned it, singing slowly then fast-forwarding her impish upper register in the chorus. “Now I f---ed up and I’m missing you, I’ll never be like you.” News just to hand, Never Be Like You is Flume’s first ARIA Charts #1 and has hit 21 million plays on Soundcloud. Brand new clip right here:
Overheard or In-Your-Face Quotes:
“Smashed it on the crash!!!” - A frothing dude during Thundercat at the octopus-armed drummer.
“Violent Soho!” - Drunk girl yelling at me. Sorry, I missed ‘em. “D!CKHEAD!”
“HELL F--- YEAH!!!” - Thousands of Violent Soho fans getting their collective catharsis on.
“Have you been to Egypt?” - Security guard asking faux-Pharaoh about his dashiki.
“No, is this disrespectful?”
“No no, this dress is great. My name is Ashraf.”
“I don’t need this but thank you.” - Magical Cloudz throwing back a garment after a transfixing midafternoon set of bass burbles and songs that recalled the pathos of Casitone For The Painfully Alone.
“Grimes was s---, we’re leaving.” - Via text.
“It’s almost agnostic, politics in this country.” - Disgruntled chap.
“This set is like a tuning fork.” - Dom Byrne, ex-Little Red now in New Gods and Aphrodite’s Favourite Lovers, regarding Magical Cloudz.
“I get it but I’m over these chavs.” - Bemused-not-amused guy at DMAs.
“HEALTH kicked the s--- out of me.” - Impressed guy after HEALTH. Same goes with METZ.
“Rock’s back this year.” - Tim Janes of Caroline Label Services..
Mikey Young’s remix of Black Cab’s Victorious seeping in interstitially, kosmiche-like.
Spotted:
Uber-rich dance music promoter looking more than ever like Baron Silas Greenback, Danger Mouse’s nemesis.
Adalita, chameleonic and calm. She has reached National Treasure status.
Lord Fascinator being Lord Fascinator.
Dan Kelly and Indra Adams DJing back to back disco goodness like Rick James joyous/odious ode to being too drunk to f---, Give It To Me Baby.
Jerome Borazio joke-promising he wouldn’t play Skrillex at the afterparty like he once did under the guise DJ Mirrorballs.
Thanks everybody for the hugs and high fives and sorry about my sweaty neck.
Endless thanks for the pics, the photos were snapped by Daniel Boud, Katie Fairservice and Jacquie Manning. Thanks Melody from Bossy too, little legend.
Come get some: @joeylightbulb
Originally published as Laneway Festival Review: Non-stop great from go to whoa. Shamir, Battles, Beach House, Flume, Methyl Ethel and more headline.
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