Laneway Festival, 6th February 2011

- Sydney College of the Arts

The day started pretty well, with an enjoyable car ride with Karla and her friends to Rozelle. Courtney insisted on going a particular way, despite mine and Linda's assertions that we should go straight. It then turned out we were right and that we had to do a twenty minute lap around Five Dock. It only frustrated me because I knew where we were and so did Linda.

In the end we got there, and I had to wait for Gareth to turn up with my ticket. He was late because the bus was really slow and took forever to get there. Karla and Courtney waited for me, which was nice of them.

Gareth finally arrived with Garth, and we could enter. We got through the gates and straight away Garth got targeted by a sniffer dog. The cop was really angry and Garth sort of took it as a joke to begin with. I think because of that they wanted him even worse, and they dragged him off to do a strip search. Garth denies he ever had anything on him, and the police did eventually let him go half an hour later.
He said to us that this female cop was really overzealous and plainly wanted to bust Garth for something. I think it was a bit of a joke, the cops were so ridiculously forceful and angry to people who were just turning up in the morning, and were really relaxed. It wasn't a good way to start a festival.

Anyway, by the time we got Garth back he'd missed The Holidays and Gareth Angus and I went to see a bit of The Antlers. I only saw one song - I'm seeing them on Thursday so there'll be a more thorough run-down soon enough.

After that we were hungry so we went to get some food. Once we'd had a bit we went and caught one song from Stornoway. The song, Zorbing, sounded awesome live but I just downloaded it and it's a bit underwhelming on record.

We went then to get a good spot at Local Natives. We were down near the front. I reckon the sound box dude got this set nailed down. Their sound was really really excellent, and as a group the band was tight. However I'm just not a fan of their music. I really don't like their "doo doo"s that they do and particularly live it makes them look even stupider in my eyes.
I won't dwell on it too long, because they were really polished.

Once their set finished, Gareth and Garth headed off for Beach House. I stayed because Cloud Control were on next and I had a good spot. I spotted Addie, Alice and Grace so I joined them. Lauren and Casey turned up too.
Cloud Control were their usual energetic selves, they played no old stuff though. I was really tempted to yell out the Tim special, "MEXICO!" haha, but I didn't.
Their sound was crap to start with, but it got fixed up and ended up good. They played "Pursuit of Happiness" which was very enjoyable, because nobody knew what was going on haha. They mixed a rap song (50 Cent?) into There's Nothing In The Water We Can't Fight. A fun set from them anyway, and I don't really regret missing Beach House to see them.

I went with the group to get some more food in the break. I sat down for a while but then discovered that no-one had any intention of seeing a band in the next slot. This annoyed me slightly and I went to see Blonde Redhead by myself because no-one wanted to go. This proved to be a good decision. Blonde Redhead were really smooth, precise and slick. I had no-idea what they'd look like, but it turned out to be a mindfuck.
The drummer and guitarist are these two Italian identical twins, tall and skinny, both with grey hair and white shirts. They looked EXACTLY the same. Kazu is this middle aged Japanese woman with a completely freakishly awesome voice, and they are awesome as a group. They were a bit late and finished with 23. Their was a consensus around me that the drummer was awesome. He drummed with the drumstick held a weird way in his left hand, backhanded or something. They were so smooth and professional though, they've been playing together for nearly 20 years now and it shows. I remember School of Seven Bells in an interview after they'd opened for their headline shows saying how professional and just how good a band they were, and I can tell it's true. I'm really glad I saw them - and every band should have a Japanese lead - just ask Deerhoof!

Now that I was by myself, I tried to get over to Yeasayer at the main stage as quickly as I could. It didn't turn out that well though, by the time I got there it was already almost full and I followed other people through the crowd as well as I could. Eventually though we got stuck and couldn't go any further. I was well back but I don't mind - I'll be seeing them tonight. They are another really entertaining band to see, and stick really well together. Anand Wilder, their resident Indian member, is so good to watch, as well as Ira, their bass player.
They really started off the final three final acts with their energy and excited the crowd a lot.

Once they finished I managed to get really close to the front as people left, for the next act Foals. Foals were really good, very energetic and good fun. Blue Blood is a great live song, and I will have to give their new album a better listen.

Cut Copy rounded off the day with an hour long set. I'd managed to get right to the front for them. They played all the good stuff. They were really true to their songs I thought, they didn't muck around and wanted everyone to have a really good time to finish off the day. They were well suited to finish the day off with and their music really suited the ending. Listening to their music live, I reckon Dan just goes to a nightclub every weekend and takes ecstasy. He obviously just loves electronic pop music, and the passion for it shows in their music. In Ghost Colours is one of my favourite albums, so to hear it live was really excellent. I think they were worth the ticket by themselves.

Overall the day was pretty excellent. It was annoying though that often people would talk to each other during songs they didn't know, which I thought was a bit disrespectful to the bands and to the other people trying to watch when the people next to you are shouting about rubbish you care nothing about.
I'm a bit skeptical too that the College of the Arts is the best place for the festival either, it's a really nice location but all of the stages were too cramped, and if you weren't near the front it was really hard to see anything. Maybe they should let less people in, but that would cost money I suppose. With the bands that they had though, it made up for it.