Revellers arrived in droves today for the annual St Jerome’s Laneway Festival at Brisbane Showgrounds.
The intense summer's day saw thousands of music lovers hit the CBD, donning an array of weird and wonderful festival attire. Food vendors, vintage clothing stores, multiple bars as well as a Red Bull tent and Better Beer Garden presented festival goers with a bit of everything to sink their teeth into. Over four stages, numerous acts from around the world treated Brisbane to a wonderful day of varied music, and the array of shaded seating areas was a welcome offering after eight hours of sun.
Finneas
A young crowd gathered at the main stage to meet Billie Eilish’s big brother, Finneas early in the day. The Grammy award winner was met with screams from an excited and eager audience as he blasted out his first song ‘Naked’. The American's set started upbeat before settling into a more mellow sound with ‘I Lost a Friend’ and a few piano solos to end the set.
Julia Jacklin
An intimate, 40 minutes took place at Hell Fck Yeah! stage for Julia Jacklin fans. The huge tent gave Julia and her four-piece, predominantly female band a big welcome. The set was packed with well-known songs such as ‘Pressure to Party’ and ‘Lydia Wears A Cross’. It was ‘Don’t Know How to Keep Loving You’ that really stole the show with Julia’s powerful and passionate voice carrying through the tent and translating into full-body goosebumps.
The Jungle Giants
Australian festival favourites, and local Brisbanites, The Jungle Giants came on with a bang with ‘Bad Dream’. Lead singer and frontman Sam Hales set the tone for the afternoon as he hailed "Let’s Dance Baby" to a pumping crowd. Fellow Brisbaner, Sycco was invited on stage for ‘Treat You Right’ which was a treat indeed. The band interacted with the crowd like no other, even sending disposable cameras out to the masses to capture all the action from the crowd.
Fred Again..
As the sun began to set, crowds swelled as a highly anticipated British producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and DJ made his appearance. For Fred’s first festival in the Southern Hemisphere, he began with 'Kyle (I Found You)', singing softly whilst playing piano. The audience was then taken on a journey of his ‘Actual Life’ expressed through his albums of the same name, a literal audio diary of Fred’s last two years. The anthems came in a flurry as the crowd drank every moment up to tunes such as ‘Turn On The Lights Again’. As the truly special performance came to a close, he belted out ‘Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing)’ and ended with ‘Billie (Loving Arms)’ and ‘Delilah (Pull Me Out Of This)’.
Phoebe Bridgers
A huge reception met Phoebe Bridgers, as she entered the stage with a backdrop of stars, her band members dressed in skeleton suits playing to ‘Motion Sickness’. The show became slightly political with Bridgers stating: “I love abortion, I want to stress if anyone’s had it, it’s not a big deal” alluding to her own recent experience. The emotive performance continued with the indie-pop artist singing ‘Kyoto’ a song dedicated to her father, it being the first time she had played it live after his passing.
Haim
The last act of the night on the Good Better Best Stage was rock band, Haim, comprised of three sisters, Este, Danielle, and Alana. The ladies entered one by one in matching outfits, of leather trousers and black bikini tops to ‘Now I’m In It’, ending with them drumming their hearts out. The crowd had shifted to their smaller, core fanbase who knew each song word for word. After a packed show, the band encored with ‘The Wire’ and ‘The Steps’ to finish a wonderful day of Music at Brisbane’s Showgrounds.
