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Laneway Festival Sydney 2023 // Photo Daniel Boud

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LANEWAY FESTIVAL
@ Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane,
4th February 2023
(Live Review)

Review by Tammy Whitelaw

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HAIM Laneway Festival Brisbane 2023 // Photo -CharlieHardy

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Laneway Festival made its triumphant return after a 3-year hiatus, celebrating their 18th birthday in style.  From humble beginnings in the laneways of Melbourne, the festival has grown into a full-scale traveling show, graduating to huge venues like Brisbane Showgrounds.

With the Auckland leg of the tour a wash out, Brisbane became the first shows in the Southern Hemisphere for many of the acts on the line-up.  The pandemic induced hiatus on festivals and international touring also meant that for a lot of punters, today marked their first ever festival experience.  As Brisbane sweltered through a heatwave in the days leading up to Laneway, Saturday’s day time showers were a welcome relief.  Walking into the showgrounds, it was a joy to see all the smiling faces and perfectly executed festival outfits. 

The main arena with the two main stages side by side is a great setup with acts playing back-to-back sets with little break in-between. Local ladies Felivand, Sycco and Mallrat ruled the main stages in the early afternoon with Triple J Unearthed artist Felivand serenading eager fans with tracks from her debut album Ties.  Sycco bounced around the stage, a smile on her face the entire time, delivering her hit Dribble with an undeniably effortless level of cool.  Mallrat declared her love for her hometown of Brisbane between energetic performances of older tracks Groceries and Better and newer hits Teeth and Rockstar.

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Mallrat – Laneway Festival Sydney 2023 // Photo Daniel Boud

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It’s hard to fathom an artist responsible for some of the biggest pop hits of the past few years gets a mid-afternoon slot on the line-up, but Finneas embraces it wholeheartedly.  He clearly loves what he does and there is certainly no ego present on stage at all.  You can tell when someone genuinely loves what they do and for Finneas, that is music.  He’s spotted many times throughout the day side of stage checking out the other acts on the bill, declaring during his set that he’s genuinely a “Fan of so many acts today”.

With a line-up jam-packed with so many great artists, it can be a hectic day darting between stages, but they’re close enough together that you never really miss much.  Julia Jacklin draws the crowd over to the HELL FCK YEAH stage for her afternoon slot.  Jacklin never disappoints, and her set is a testament to her natural talent.  She’s one of the finest voices in Australian music and Don’t Know How to Keep Loving You showcases her range perfectly, even live.

One of the most talked about acts on the line-up was definitely Fred Again.  The UK producer easily pulled one of the biggest crowds of the day.  Hitting the stage as the sun began to set, Fred eases the crowd in with his dreamy electro tracks Kyle (I Found You) and Bleu (Better With You) before kicking into party mode.  Having worked with big-name artists like George Ezra and Ed Sheeran, Fred is carving out a place of his own with his own tunes, sharing tracks from his Actual Life series of records. There was something magical about dancing along to Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing) with thousands of music fans at a festival again.

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Yard Act – Laneway Festival Sydney 2023 // Photo Daniel Boud

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Elton John approved Leeds band Yard Act tore up the Hell Fck Yeah stage despite the majority of the Laneway crowd still at the main stage for Fred Again.  Playing tracks off their debut album The Overload to a small but eager crowd, the band played like the stage tent was bursting at the seams. 

It was a stark shift in energy with Phoebe Bridgers taking to the stage after Fred Again’s energetic set.  Walking out to Disturbed’s The Sickness, the sad girl energy was high as Phoebe launched into Motion Sickness.  The Brisbane crowd were lucky to experience a couple of firsts for Phoebe’s set including the live debut of the new Boygenius track, Emily I’m Sorry.  Phoebe also played Kyoto (a song about the complicated relationship with her father) for the first time since he passed earlier this year.  The connection Phoebe has with her fans is unlike any other act on the Laneway bill, so it’s no surprised everyone complied with her requests to scream along with her during the outro to I Know The End.

Headliner’s Haim first played Laneway back in 2014 and this year the trio are closing out the main stage.  Three albums in, the sister’s tight set is complete with synchronised drumming, dance moves and Este’s natural comedic talent.  The Haim sisters spent a few days in Brisbane leading up to the festival, hitting up local bars Greaser and Scratch, Este tells the crowd “I don’t know if you guys know, but all 3 Haim sisters are single at the moment. And we’re feral”.  The sisters return for a roaring encore of their mega-hit The Wire and finishing up with The Steps.  Este encourages the crowd to keep the party going, shouting “See you at the bar”.

Laneway has to be one of the friendliest festivals I’ve encountered in a long time.  The eclectic crowd brought together by the genre-bending line-up were all just happy to be there enjoying live music in a festival setting again.  It’s so great to have Laneway back, it’s secured its place as one of Australia’s favourite festivals, no doubt to get bigger and better every year.

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Phoebe Bridgers Laneway Festival Brisbane 2023 // Photo -CharlieHardy

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Check out Cowbo Visuals full gallery of the Sydney event HERE

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Follow LANEWAY FESTIVAL
WEBSITE – TIKTOK – FACEBOOK
 INSTAGRAM – TWITTER – SPOTIFY

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Fred Again – Laneway Festival Sydney 2023 // Photo Daniel Boud

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Press Release 7th February 2023 (below) HERE

LANEWAY FESTIVAL’s
record-breaking return;

Adelaide, Melbourne
and Perth up next

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AMNPLIFY – DB