For the second year in a row, one of the biggest shows in the world is right here, exclusively, at Laneway Festival. The event started in 2004 as a boutique offering in an actual laneway and has blossomed into one of Australia’s strongest touring festivals, serving a smorgasbord of musical styles to a 30,000-strong crowd.
The pivot to pop has shifted the festival’s demographic to a younger crowd. Last year, they poured in to see it girl, Charli xcx. This year, it’s queer favourite Chappell Roan, whose campy theatrics are present before she even hits the stage at Flemington Park – it’s in the conical princess hats adorning punters’ heads, the dramatic face paint transforming fans into players in her mega show.
It’s a far cry from her 2023 debut gig in Australia, where she played to venues of just 1000 people.
Romance is in the air at Lucy Dacus’ set as someone drops the knee and proposes during Best Guess. The American singer-songwriter is in typically fine form, and the crowd is audibly pleased to hear a rendition of True Blue by boygenius, Dacus’ supergroup with fellow indie darlings Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker.
Role Model, real name Tucker Pillsbury, keeps the guitars going for a relaxed set of Americana-tinged folk rock, bringing out Wet Leg’s Rhian Teasdale for his hit, Sally, When the Wine Runs Out.
As the sun sets, Geese causes a ruckus at the smaller stage. Led by enigmatic frontman Cameron Winter, the NYC band flits between experimental noise rock and a classic indie sound, buoyed by Winter’s strange, singular voice.
There are flashes of the old Laneway here, and when the riffs kick in on Taxes, it feels transcendent. British band Wolf Alice similarly genre-jumps, with singer Ellie Rowsell’s vocal energy tying the sometimes disparate threads together. The glittering stage is a sign of what’s to come.
On the big screen, an old book emblazoned with the letters CR opens as the medieval castle set on stage comes alive with light. Roan appears in a wedding dress, backed by an all-female band, and for the next 90 minutes we’re on a fantastical ride.
The 27-year-old struts down a runway that splits the crowd in two and cycles through costume changes. The viral hits (and TikTok dances) – Hot To Go!, Femininomenon, Red Wine Supernova – have the crowd singing every word. A faithful cover of Heart’s Barracuda shows the versatility of Roan’s vocals as she flirts with a heavier genre.
Roan’s songs are more guitar-driven live than they are on record, sometimes to their detriment – the gentle synth opening of Good Luck, Babe! transforms into something altogether less subtle or nuanced. But there are still moments of quiet in a bombastic set – Roan holds the crowd with just her voice on The Giver (“the first time I’ve ever sang it correctly”).
By the time Pink Pony Club closes the set, the racecourse has transformed into just that; both the crowd and Roan are ecstatic singing this song about queer liberation. We’re gonna keep on dancing.
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