Laneway Festival – Albert Park January 30, 2017

One thing seems unanimous…everyone loves the choice of Albert Park as the new location of the Laneway Festival in Auckland. Really, the music seemed to take a back seat to the setting this time around and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The entire park and adjacent Princes Street suddenly became just a great place to hang out in…plenty of sun, plenty of shade, plenty of good food and, yes, there were a few dozen or so musical acts on hand just to make things that much better.

13th Floor photographer David Watson has sent through a massive amount of photos for you to sift through…you can find them at the bottom of this post.

Here’s what 13th Floor writer Kate Powell thought of the event:

In Albert Park, Laneway finally metamorphosed into the festival it always should have been. With its leafy boroughs providing ample shade and, as the evening wore on and the light shifted, ambiance, it felt like Laneway had come home.

The line-up featured the usual assortment of young acts on the cusp of cultness and a smattering of (relatively speaking) big names. But it must be said that this year was lacking in terms of diversity in both genre and gender. Programing gripes aside,  I still managed to catch a fair few excellent bands (although not all the ones I would have liked). By this late in the day, I am sure you have all read screeds of heady reviews, so I will attempt to sum them up in a sentence like an antipodean Hemmingway. Here goes:

Julia Jacklin: Easy, breezy country elegance from a desert rose.
The Chills: Heavenly pop hits from the Dunedin Sound’s finest.
Whitney: Flirty fun indie pop that had the crowd swooning.
Carseat Headrest: Geek- Chic frontman Will Todelo revives garage revival on par with The Strokes.
Aurora: Theatrically ethereal, Aurora’s songs have a delicate strength that resonated with the jam-packed crowd and were a late afternoon highlight.
Cut Off Your Hands: A vibrant nostalgia trip that included some promising new material.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: whoozy psychedelia that whipped the crowd into a frenzy.
The Veils: Perpetually excellent, perpetually passionate, yet totally depraved. Brilliant.
Tycho: Their richly textured ambience juxtaposed with their sumptuous visuals proved to be the perfect transition as the sun began to slowly sink down.
Glass Animals: Deliciously danceable.
Nick Murphy: In which Nick discovered his rock n’ roll swagger.
Floating Points: Referencing more genres than I can count, their mishmash of electronic psych-rock was an absolute highlight.
Tame Impala: Beautiful vibes, kaleidoscopic music, vibrant visuals, and confetti cannons. What’s not to love?

And here’s what The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda had to say…

I spent most of the daytime interviewing artists back at the hotel, but I did manage to slip away to catch part of White Lung’s set. It seems they’ve moved from punk to an almost metal sound since they were last here in 2014. I loved the energy and the new Thunderdome stage.

I was able to finally settle in after 6 and immediately took in King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s set…three guitars, two drums, seven musicians in all made for a glorious racket.

Next, I slide over to the Fountain Stage, just a few steps away and caught the first 20 minutes of The Veils. Finn Andrews was on fire, giving off a definite Nick Cave vibe, while the band let loose behind him.

I left early so I could check out the last part of Nao’s act. I was mostly unfamiliar with the British soul singer, but she clearly has a following here. She was also at the Thunderdome stage, and by this point is was a bit overcrowded and the sound was somewhat weak. But Nao herself put on a great show.

After wolfing down a tasty lamb pita…no waiting in line required…I rocked up to the Princes Street stage for Nick Murphy, aka Chet Faker. Maybe it was because I was un-inebriated, or otherwise “altered”, but Nick’s brand of indie-rock/dance music left me cold.

No problem…I found an empty park bench and sat down to rest my dogs…I’d been on my feet since 9:30am.

Finally, Tame Impala came on to close the show. It seemed like the perfect way to end the day as confetti cannons blasted and the music pumped through the very enthusiastic crowd.

Yes, Laneway seems to have finally found the home it has always deserved. I can’t wait for next year!

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by David Watson: