I would give St Jerome’s Laneway Festival 2011 in Auckland a 10/10. Great bands, great sound quality, fashionable/good looking people everywhere, great vibes, fast queues, pass-outs, friendly security – the works, really. It was all very, very good…
St Jerome’s Laneway Festival 2011
Having survived Parachute Festival, an almost-surf lesson at Takapuna, and an impromptu mid-day family conference at my abode in Parnell, we (me/brother/brother’s friend), wandered into town to catch Auckland’s second Laneway Festival at the recently upgraded Aotea Square.
If I ‘rated’ events as such, I would give it a 10/10. Great bands, great sound quality, fashionable/good looking people everywhere, great vibes, fast queues, pass-outs, friendly security – the works, really. It was all very, very good.
Due to the frenetic events of the morning I missed a bunch of the earlier bands, but did manage to catch the second half of Holy Fuck’s set. They played a form of lyric-less, delay-saturated post-rave, which would have been more suited later on in the evening. Nevertheless, the Canadian band pushed the wall musically, and were a joy to listen to.
Below: Holy Fuck. Photo: Oliver Sangster.
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Grafitti were one of the acts I was there to see. Ariel Pink is as wacky on stage as his music is on record…. And the band were no less odd-ball, with ‘Gary Glitter’ (right), and somebody’s bird-watching dad on guitar and keyboards (left). Pink shrieked, growled, mouth-popped, and sang beautifully throughout the set, (but didn’t go as far as arm-farts, as he is known to do). I really rate his music – and now his live perfomance?
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti. Photo: Oliver Sangster.
Laneway had stand-up comedy this year; the routine was something about trains (or something). On a more serious note, I’m glad Mayor Len Brown managed to beat John Banks and the C&R at their own ill-fated game. Go Len!
Mayor Len Brown. Photo: Oliver Sangster.
Yeasayer combine Afro-beats with Irish, Oriental, and a melting pot of other influences to great a unique and special form of progressive dance music. I will let the photos speak for themselves on this one.
Yeasayer. Photo: Oliver Sangster.
Yeasayer. Photos below by Ralph Matthews.
Deerhunter are an amazing band, and lead singer Bradford Cox is a bit of a gentleman. It’s a pity the first cataclysmic drop in their single “Helicopter” got swamped in a technical blow-out, but apart from that, the set went down without a hitch, and we got to witness first-hand some of the most innovative sounds coming out of the current indie-rock movement.
Deerhunter. Photos by Ralph Matthews.
Beach House wrote one of the most beautiful records released in 2010, and I was pleased to see them on the line-up for Laneway Festival. I had to sit down for their dream-incepting brand of nap-core; it didn’t feel right standing to watch a band I normally go to sleep to. They played “Teen Dream” in its entirety, and the performance was one of my highlights of the festival.
Beach House. Photos by Ralph Matthews.
Foals closed the festival in front of a packed-out audience. Though I haven’t given their records a huge amount of rotate recently, I really appreciated their technical proficiency and ingenuity, beautiful song writing, and beautiful performance. They played most of the songs from their latest album, “Total Life Forever”, which I now have on high rotate (funnily enough).
Foals. Photo: Ralph Matthews.
Foals. Photo: Oliver Sangster.
Foals. Photo: Oliver Sangster.
This year’s Laneway Festival was a resounding success – no argument there. It’s not often you get this much forward-thinking, and, well, good music at one place, in one sitting. I got to see my favourite bands, and then go home. That is what I call a good night out.
Words by Theo Sangster, 1 February 2011. Photos by Ralph Matthews, and Oliver Sangster.
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