Laneway Festival Review 2023 @ Brisbane Showgrounds
St. Jermone’s Laneway Festival ‘23 at Brisbane Showgrounds.
Written by Gabi Rankine
Following the crowds throughout the streets of the valley heading in what you can only assume is the direction of the festivals front gate. Watching friends meet up as you went, grinning from ear to ear about the music packed day ahead, we were greeted by the wonderful team at Laneway welcoming us in. Music already swelling throughout the streets, inviting you into the Brisbane Showgrounds.
At first glance once through the gates and collecting wristbands, we’re welcomed with food vans already pumping, friends laughing and racing to their first sets with the good vibes already in full swing.
The Lazy Eyes
Sydney’s fast growing 4 piece band, The Lazy Eyes took to the massive Never Let It Rest stage at 1:35pm on Saturday. Playing their triple j Like A Version from 2022 ‘More Than A Woman’, the boys had the whole crowd kicking off the day with the right vibes. While settling in for what we know will be a long and exciting day ahead of us, we get blessed with a soft rain shower that’s more than refreshing. With the energetic boys finding each other on stage with ease, head banging and playing the sickest riffs, the rain just kept coming and it was bliss for such a hot early afternoon.
Throughout The Lazy Eyes, you could see Phoebe Bridgers doing her soundcheck at the Good Better Best Stage right next to Never Let It Rest and very quickly you can see cheeky grins on punters faces, stoked for what’s to come.
Before racing off to catch our next must see band, a quick trip to the Better Beer tent was in order. With the fast moving staff cracking open dozens of cold ones for the thirsty festival goers we were blessed with a free Better Beer cap. The first 100 people to visit were gifted these beautiful white caps with their signature brand on top. With one of the best alcoholic ginger beer’s in hand, who can say no to a free hat too?
The Beths
Sprinting off to the next band on our must see list, we ended up at the Hell Fck Yeah Stage under a massive tent. Rocking out with The Beths and getting to hear ‘Expert In A Dying Field’ live, it was an absolute treat. Surprisingly the absolutely packed Hell Fkc Yeah Stage became less humid as their set went on while patrons continued to dance and move around. Slowly as the set carry’s on, the crowd became bigger, with patrons trying to get in early for The Backseat Lovers who were to take the stage next.
The Backseat Lovers
Hanging around in the middle of the Hell Fkc Yeah tent, with now lukewarm beers and red bulls in hand, the slowly and very painful wait began for The Backseat Lovers to finally take the stage. After an excruciating wait of a whole 30 minutes, and the patrons becoming restless, the smoke began to slowly roll in on stage, and the crowd went absolutely wild. The American alternative rock band has accumulated quite a large following from Australian music lovers. With the heat and humidity now returning to the tent, the band enters the stage with a long, dramatic and audience engaging intro with the musically slowly swelling and consuming us. With what we know to be the beginning of the end to our voices from screaming and cheering, the band dives right into their captivating 45 minute set.
From their latest album released in late October of 2022, the band brought so much emotion to the Hell Fkc Yeah Stage with one of their quickly rising songs ‘Growing/Dying’. With Joshua Harmon on lead vocals, putting every bit of raw emotion into each song, it was a live set I never wanted end. In the middle of the set, swapping from an acoustic to electric guitar, the band breaks into their hit song ‘Kilby Girl’. The crowd absolutely absorbed in the pure bliss that is The Backseat Lovers, forgetting about the world outside of the tent. We danced, sung, cried and loved together.
Coming towards the end of the set, the fire alarm was set off (no real fire thankfully) but for 2-3 songs there was a continuous “WHOOOOOP WHOOOOP” in the background that made patrons feel a little uneasy. After the band being able to say it was a false alarm, patrons decided to make the most of it by mimicking the sound in union, collectively hundreds of people going “WHOOOOP WHOOOOP WHOOOP”.
The band closes out their set with one of their popular songs from the ‘When We Were Friends’ album, the fire alarm finally being turned off now. The smoke machines going on, creating a hazy, sweaty and day dreamy feeling to the Hell Fkc Yeah Stage.
Taking a quick but much needed break from dancing and standing, finding some food was in order. Laneway came prepared with a fabulous app to help you coordinate gig plans and find out what artist clashes with who, so you can best plan your day out alongside a site map to help navigate the large Showgrounds. With a large variety of food and drink vans, the options were hard to choose from. From pizza, to poke bowls, dipping dots, sushi and even freshly made juices, Laneway came very well prepared to cater to everyone.
With the festival in full swing, the rest of the day almost becomes a blur of dancing, screaming along to your favourite songs, friends and smiles. Catching the back end of FINNEAS’s set at the Good Better Best Stage, you could find people sitting down on the grass and settling into the stands with fresh drinks in hand and food being shared amongst their groups.
Girl In Red
Girl In Red soon kicked off at the Never Let It Rest Stage next to Good Better Best. With arms waving, screaming patrons and the harsh afternoon sun kicking in, Girl In Red goes straight into her iconic song ‘Bad Idea’.
During her iconic hit song ‘i wanna be your girlfriend’, Marie joined the crowd by running into the middle of the mosh, patrons making way for her and creating special moments while singing her hit song.
The Jungle Giants
When 5:40pm rolled around, the whole showgrounds surrounding the Good Better Best Stage and Never Let It Rest Stage, was absolutely filled to the brim with patrons pilling in, shoulder to shoulder ready for Jungle Giants to take to the Good Better Best Stage.
The explosive and high energy Australian band brought in a killer set. With songs like ‘Used to Be in Love’, ‘Feel the Way I Do’, and Heavy Hearted had the whole crowd jumping. As the band has recently been doing, trusting their fans by throwing out a few disposable film cameras into the crowd, trusting they’ll make a safe return back to the band by the end of the set, somehow always comes back around. Capturing and sharing special moments between friends, later shared by the band on social media.
Engaging with the crowd during one of the bands favourite songs ‘Something Got Between Us’, from their 2021 album ‘Love Signs’. Lead singer, Sam Hales leads us through a singalong during the refrain of the song “Hey, never gonna let you go, not this time.” was sung from the whole crowd along with the band, sharing a special moment for everyone.
100 Gecs
While racing back to the Everything Ecstatic Stage trying to catch the end of 100 Gecs, I was greeted by an intense hyper pop mosh pit, that truly did not disappoint. Finding myself sprinting in and getting to the middle of the large and energised mosh, I got to enjoy and jump along to their hit songs ‘Torture Me (feat. Skrillex)’, ‘Stupid Horse’, and they finished their set with their hit song ‘money machine’. With the “wizard” outfits you could say, the iconic duo brought the energy to Laneway and did not disappoint.
One of my absolute favourite things about live music, and festivals especially is finding new artists. Not going simply for the bands you know, but for the new bands you get to hear live for the first time and discover. Some of my all time favourite artists have come from simply going to music festivals with no clue of the lineup, and getting to explore new music live.
Fred Again
British DJ, Fred Again, had the Showgrounds absolutely going off. The crowd jumping, people on eachothers shoulders and simply loving the techno music. The sky filled with strong oranges, pinks and soft yellows, it was a perfect way to welcome in the night. The energy was absolutely ecstatic and the whole set was something you want to never end, to relive over and over again. It was simply, and easily put, pure bliss. The bass pumping, hands waving along to songs like ‘Rumble’, and ‘Turn On The Lights again…(feat. Future)’ had the crowd pumping.
Slowthai
Hands down one of the most intense mosh pits of the day. The British rapper took over the Everything Ecstatic Stage and I had to hold onto the barrier for dear life. The mosh came alive, moving like one living thing and it was intense. During songs like ‘Selfish’, ‘Doorman’, ‘i know nothing’, and more, it quickly got hot. Security was good to make sure we were hydrated by continuously passing out water after every song, and at one stage in the middle of the set, spraying the crowd with a hose which felt like absolutely bliss and a reward for surviving the mosh.
Joji
With a quick sprint from Slowthai at the Everything Ecstatic Stage to the Never Let It Rest Stage, we got comfortable in the stands. Enjoying the last few songs from the angel, Phoebe Bridgers, Joji quickly followed not too long after. With the hilarious banter on stage, farting sounds and the Scooby doo “rehehehe” meme being played over the speakers, the crowd was in for a treat. We even got early access to listen to a new song that was announced soon to be released, with patrons stoked for this exclusive content and to be the first to hear it live, almost everyone had their phone out ready, only for Ed Sheeran ‘Shape Of You’ to take over the speakers. Moving from the stands into the crowd towards the end of the set, we got to come together and cry our hearts out to Joji’s top song ‘Glimpse of Us’. With the song taking #10 in this years triple j Hottest 100, it’s a song that everyone at Laneway would be familiar with. Looking up while singing with your mates, you’d find yourself under the full moon, with the sky clear and stars out. A moment that i’m going to hold onto for a very, long time.
Hockey Dad
While some patrons stayed for Haim at the Good Better Best Stage, others, myself included made a mad dash to the Hell Fck Yeah Stage to catch one last set for the day. We got to dance what little energy we had left to an energetic and classic set of Hockey Dad. Billy and Zach brought such an energetic and crazy end to the night. With multiple people crowd surfing, jumping onto others shoulders and simply jumping up and down, you can never go wrong with seeing Hockey Dad live. Leading us through ‘Sweet Release’, ‘Germaphobe’, ‘I Missed Out’ and of course ‘Join The Club’ to finish the night.
Catch our full gallery by Max Wenke featuring all your favourite bands from Laneway 2023 at Brisbane Showgrounds here!
