Laneway 2014

Friday has to be one of the best days of my life. OF MY LIFE! It was my second Laneway experience, and I had no idea how it was going to top last year. However, it definitely did. The line-up was amazing, the company I had was fantastic, and the atmosphere at Hart's Mill in Port Adelaide was absolutely phenomenal.

My friends and me at the barrier for the whole day!!! (I'm the asian on the left with the awkward mouth)

With a plan in mind, armed with sunscreen and bottles of water, and the patience to stand 9 hours in the same spot, we were in for a good time. Here are some of the acts and highlights of the day:



Kirin J Callinan
In our absolute eagerness to be at the front for the later acts, we positioned ourself at the stage very early on in the day. At the time, we were treated to a strange, eclectic and hilarious performance by this man, Kirin J Callinan. My first impressions: mullet, shirtless, camouflage pants. He's a one-man show. I was a little apprehensive about him, as I wasn't entirely sure about the genre of music he was performing. But his last song, "Toddler", was definitely crowd favourite, and what made me warm to him. With no music, and with an intro from the man himself, telling us to 'use your imaginations', he sang about being a toddler, 'not a baby, not yet a boy'. I don't think I've ever laughed this hard in public. My friend, Bec, and I did some heckling afterwards. Kirin had a tattoo of the word 'quesadilla' on his stomach, so we asked if he liked other Mexican food as well, such as tacos and burritos. He said he only like quesadillas. Well, at least he's a man of his words...

Vance Joy

The artist who's song "Riptide" was crowned number 1 in Triple J's Hottest 100 2013 was surely going to get a large crowd, and I was so glad I was up at the barrier. As King Krule was playing on the neighbouring stage, we were treated to some excellent pre-set views of this fine young specimen. Vance Joy (real name James Keogh) is a babe-oh-babe, and yes, I did take a few sneaky snaps of him bending over while setting up his guitars. The night before, in my intense Laneway prep, I think I watched about a million videos of James playing, and was really hoping he'd do a cover of "Dancing in the Dark". This didn't happen, but I don't mind, because he was just so fantastic. His voice is like heaven, and his guitar skills are amazing. I think I squealed while watching him just because I know that he loves Ben Howard as well, and it just got me mega excited. At the end of his set, Bec and I did some more heckling. We said things like "nice perm" and "love your song about the ocean, or something". We got some great interaction when we yelled loud enough so he could hear "is that a perm or is it al naturale?" to which he responded, with a chuckle, "it's real". What a charmer. There were a few times during his set he would say the cutest things like "stay hydrated guys...wait, they didn't ask me to say that, I just really believe in it, and feel like you should stand up for in what you believe in, and I believe in staying hydrated", and "it's really bad when it's hot because you put sunscreen on, and then you start sweating, and then the sunscreen gets in your eye, and it hurts so much, but like YOLO...but not really YOLO, like opposite of YOLO because I want to live longer...". I just couldn't get over his adorableness!

Haim

How can there be so many hotties in one family?! I do not understand. But what I do know is that seeing these sisters live made me love them even more. Seeing Este's bass face in person is actually one of the most amazing things ever. Everyone needs to experience this. Don't know what I'm talking about? Check this. There's even a twitter account dedicated to it. Este had some hilarious banter with the audience. One being she said yes to marry someone, but then was like "hold on, I need to see your face...oh yep, you're hot, I'll marry you". Alana is one sexy mofo. I wish to be her. She just owns the stage. She has such great stage presence and confidence. Damn. And Danielle...she's so quiet, but her voice is amazing. Ily these girls. So so much. Can I please be the fourth sister?

CHVRCHES
This was the most heartbreaking moment of the night. Despite being up the front at the neighbouring stage, this was one of the sets I was most looking forward to. At the time that CHVRCHES was meant to begin their set, Lauren Mayberry came on stage and said they were trying to work out some technical difficulties, and would try and start as soon as possible. However, it was a while before an organiser of the festival came out and said that nothing was working. 10 minutes until Lorde was meant to start, Lauren sang a very sweet acapella version of "The Mother We Share". I was in tears at the perfection of her voice, and being so upset at being given a taste, and knowing that's all they could do. The lads came on stage as well, and they did a proper of version of the song again. Unfortunately, it was the only song to work with their synth equipment. They did promise they'll be back in Australia on tour. Fingers crossed!! I later tweeted about how upset I was about the situation, but excited about the prospect of them being back and touring, and the CHVRCHES twitter account favourited it!

Lorde

Oh my Lorde, this performance was amazing. The crowd was insane!! When Lorde got on stage, the screaming was so so loud and deafening. I was screaming like a little girl, as always. I could not believe she was standing 5 metres in front of me. She is actually perfection. She was flawless. I can't even. She definitely deserved her Grammy wins. "Royals" went offfffff.
















So, as you can see, standing at the front of the stage and not moving for 9 hours, in the sweltering heat, with sore and numb feet, and now with a burnt, red and raw shoulder, and some amazing memories, it was wellll worth it. Laneway 2014, you did good. You did so good. Looking forward to 2015, with bigger and better acts!