St Jerome's Laneway Festival 2012

Review by Sophie Donovan Images by Ben Ward http://hamburgercemetery.com/ With two years under it's belt, and two location changes, indie music fans headed to Auckland's Silo Park yesterday to check out the third installment of St Jerome's Laneway Festival. Although the name suggests park, the main event took place in the carpark with the two main stages opening onto stretches of concrete. A short walk from the main stage was a grassy knoll with a picnicy vibe which played host to the smaller names of the day. With a variety of food stalls and cool craft markets, the venue was bigger and better to cater for the near sell out crowd of 6500. The only downfall with the packed out venue was the lengthy queues for drink tokens and dodgy phone reception which was a source of frustration for many. On arrival we were welcomed by the epic vocals of Austra, followed by the highly anticipated Cults who although started a little shaky, ended up impressing the crowds. Laneway 2012                 Laneway 2012 2                 Highlights included Girls who played a 45 minute set of some of their greatest tracks from their new album. Girls' quirky lead singer Christopher Owens channelled Kurt Cobain with his 90s cropped tee and green tinted hair which I'm sure will don the heads of many a Girls fan in the weeks to come. Laneway 2012 3                 Laura Marling's poetic folk songs were totally charming and Anna Calvi wowed the socks off fans packed around the smallest stage eager to catch a glimpse. The beautiful vocals of Feist impressed the crowd as she showed off tracks from new album Metals, plus some of the old faves. Laneway 2012 4     Laneway 2012 5                           The Horrors oozed British indie cool, but the crowds really gathered in as M83 took the stage with their super loud electropop set which had everyone dancing. The evening finished up with Aussie headliner Gotye who kept everyone waiting for mega-hit Somebody I Used to Know, which although missing Kimbra, didn't disappoint. Laneway 2012 6   Laneway 2012 7                             With three years under it's belt, this festival is just getting bigger and better and although there are a few teething problems the team pulled together a sensational lineup for alternative music fans. Bring on Laneway 2013! Laneway 2012 8      

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