Indie loving at Laneway
The second edition of the indie-centric Laneway Festival in Singapore proved that the outdoor event is geared up for the long haul in this region.
MORE, more, more! That seemed the plan for Singapore’s second Laneway Festival, with more acts, bigger names and the addition of a second stage. This year’s festival took place at Fort Canning Park on Feb 12. Eager to prove that the festival’s debut on the island wasn’t a fluke, the organisers raised the bar with 14 acts, up from nine last year. Though featuring a smaller line-up than its Australian counterpart, the final leg of Laneway in Singapore still boasted some of the best acts of the festival including Laura Marling, The Horrors, Feist and M83.
The festival, which began in Melbourne in 2004, has grown steadily in profile through the years. This recent edition across the causeway underlined the fact that Laneway is here to stay in this region with fans from Kuala Lumpur right to Manila and beyond making the trip to Singapore.
More importantly, the festival again gave indie music fans a chance to catch performers who were still at the tipping point between critical and commercial success, or in hipster-speak “still indie enough to be cool”, like Anna Calvi, Austra and Cults.
Fans, especially the large Malaysian contingent (who paid RM328 a ticket) started trickling in as early as 11am, along with gloomy clouds and the threat of rain. Survivors from last year’s ‘Rainway’ mudfight came prepared this time around, armed with umbrellas and ponchos. Luckily the clouds never made good on their threat, only drizzling occasionally during the otherwise scorching Sunday afternoon.
“The line-up was bigger this year. All the bands were loving being at Laneway as much as we were all loving their music. That’s the magicof the festival, the love goes both ways,” said Azhan Hasri, 23, who made the road trip to Singapore from his hometown of Ipoh.
In a bold decision, the organisers deployed two stages, so one band could play while the other set up, allowing the festival to run with dizzying F1-pitstop like efficiency. In theory, this allowed the attendees to watch every single performer. In reality, however, it meant planning which acts one was willing to skip to go to the porta-potty. With a turnout of nearly 8,000 people, lining up for drinks or the toilet could literally take the entire set.
“We got some stellar band performances, nauseatingly hot weather, beer queues that stretched on forever and a mixed crowd of hipsters, misfits and in-betweeners dancing as friends; Laneway was everything a festival should be – and perhaps more,” said Lim Yuet Lin, 29, from Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Kicking-off the festival were New York indie pop duo Cults, sounding more live and less electronic, courtesy of a having full five-man touring band. Screens on both sides of the stage (which was neatly divided into two with a cloth barrier) gave fans a good view of the stage, even if they were in front of the wrong one. With the quick rotation between bands, most didn’t have time to personalise the stage, but California sunshine rock outfit Girls prettied up its set, ducktaping flowers to the mic-stands, keyboards and even speakers. Frontman Christopher Owens slunk onto the stage, looking so haggard that some audiences shouted “hey, Kurt Cobain’s back!”
Visibly shaken, he explained everything with the opening song I Will Always Love You, a tune popularised by Whitney Houston, who had passed away earlier that morning. Fans caught up in the moment joined in, easily making for the most rousing singalong of the day. A long time fan of the legendary diva, Owens’ emotional state lent a sombre mood to the band’s usually upbeat music, until the impossibly chirpy Honey Bunny raised everyone’s spirits again, ending the set on a happier note.
Next, Brooklyn outfit The Drums kept to its set, mostly playing its older songs like Down By The Water,
Me And The Moon and Let’s Go Surfing. Even then, some lyrics like on Best Friend – “you were my best friend but then you died/and how will I survive” seem to carry additional meaning.
One of the highlights of the festival was English singer-songwriter Anna Calvi, who knew her way around a guitar. She reminded the audience what a live show was about: spontaneity. Opening with an instrumental guitar solo Rider
To The Sea, she ended on a similar note with a near metal version of
Love Won’t Be Leaving, electrifying fans with her wild shredding skills. Perhaps the odd woman out in the largely electronica-pop line-up, Calvi’s intense performance was criminally under-watched, most people walking over to the other stage to get front row spots for chill wave act – Twin Shadow.
Much to the sunbaked festival goers’ relief, the harsh sun went down just in time for the headlining performances. Demure English folk singer Laura Marling looked divine with the spotlights forming a halo around her, keeping a small smile throughout her set. Mixing up songs from her latest album A Creature
I Don’t Know with her earlier two records, the 30-minutes she spent on stage seem far too short.
Some fans sounded nearly hysterical, wailing for Marling to play her big hit Sophia. Either a shout out to her older fans, or a dig at the newer ones, she instead chose to play the title song from her first album, Alas I
Cannot Swim. Incorporating her new style of phasing between singing and narration, it was a true treat to those familiar with her older work.
A few minutes of silence midway through The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s set was one of the few hitches of the entire day, but it was painfully obvious when even frontman Kip Berman’s apology couldn’t be heard due to his mic going dead. The error was sorted out quickly, but it nonetheless marred the Pains’ set.
Luckily, Malaysian fans have a chance to catch this band again when it plays KLPAC in Kuala Lumpur on March 4.
Back to Laneway, Canadian folksinger turned rocker Leslie Feist came on just after 11pm – saving the best for last.
Accompanied by a massive entourage, Feist was, hands down, the most lush performance of the event. The darker sound of Feist’s latest album Metals, completely reimagined her older happy-pop tunes like Mushaboom, My Moon My
Man and Sea Lion. Having more time on stage, she could take a moment to banter with her audience.
“We’re going to do what no right minded band should do at a outdoor festival, I’m going to sing a quiet pearl of a song and hope you guys make it a thousand times louder. So come on guys, sing your lungs out!” hollered Feist before breaking out into Feel It All.
The last band of the night, French electronic outfit M83, lived up to its namesake, making a galaxy of sounds accompanied by an equally impressive light show. Ending its set past midnight, appropriately with infectiously catchy Midnight
City, M83 knocked it out of the (Fort Canning) park, giving a suitably epic closer to the festival.