Laneway Stream of Consciousness

I'm sweaty from plodding at pace from the train station very early on a Sunday Morning. Almost 48 hours earlier I was plodding in the opposite direction to leave for work on Friday. Thus ends my very long stay in the city for work on Friday. Here are some thoughts on Laneway now.

Okkervil were boss as, best set of the day.

CYHSY sounded great as well, like their albums but more three dimensional. Played most of their self titled, few songs (yankee go, satan said dance) from the second album. Didn't like the second album but they made it sound great live.

Feist - I love Feist. She's multi-talented: great voice and can shred to start with. She also walks with a little spunk and you know that if she's getting it and he's good she'd be making a lot of noise. Didn't play mushaboom.

Gotye probably wont do the same shit in other cities, but he did his one man show with loads of samples and him percussioning everything he could. He is a very good drummer. He played a highly enjoyable mash/remix of A distinctive sound and MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This". Also played the Fourth Floor Collapse version of Worn Out on the piano. Didn't play Heartsamess (omg. i didn't mind).

Presets were loud and I think played the same set they did on Friday night.

Broken Social Scene played a lot of self titled and some Spirit If. Played Shorelines with Feist and a few guys from Stars on the horns - that was well good. Last song they asked the crowd "we have one song left, do you want to hear Ibi dreams of pavement or Backed Out?" and everyone went "duuhhh what?" I was yelling out "PAVEMENT! PAVEMENT! Is J Mascis here? No, then pavement!" Then they played Backed Out... Sadness.

Panics - almost fell asleep a few times. Not that I don't like them I was just really tired.

Stars were much better than I thought they would be. I've never really been fanatical about their music, more just enjoyed it in the background. But they put on an energetic and very polished performance. It helps you realise how this bands get popular before they release albums compared to bands that are produced the shit out of and get popular after their albums. Good work Stars. The lead singer chick was either hungover or jetlagged (or both), but still put on a flawless performance. Professional!

My only gripe was the timetable got raped. Fortunately I was at the one stage the whole time. While the small stage kept to timetable pretty well the mainstage set up time was between 25-50 minutes (I'm looking at you Feist). Seeing as only 20 and 25 were prescribed, the Presets started an hour after they were supposed to finish. A lot of waiting around was to be had. Adelaide stage set up did seem a bit cramped though, so I don't know if it will reocurr. Most of the time seemed to be spent doing sound checks.