Liam Tracey's Thoughts

The Basics

Kicking off the day with their 60s-esque pop styling, The Basics seemed to cram as many songs as they could into their late-starting set – opting to ditch the majority of banter that usually comes with their show. The dapper trio played a mix of new and old songs, with Stand Out/Fit In favourites highlighting their shortened stage time. ‘Rattle My Chain’ and ‘Just Hold On’ stood out as Wally de Backer – who would impress more so later on as Gotye – let out some mighty big notes.

Harmonisation is The Basics strongest point and today was no exception, with the elegance of a new track ‘I Don’t Want To Go Down With This Ship’ demonstrating awesome control over their intricate arrangement. The slowed down version of ‘Lookin’ Over My Shoulder’ also impressed as the reworked version of the usually dance worthy number focussed more on vocal control.

The Brunettes

Down in the cramped-as-hell Caledonian Lane, The Brunettes provided the perfectly upbeat escape from the depressing Devastations out on the main stage. The mood of the New Zealand act matched the stingingly bright sun as Heather Mansfield, Jonathon Bree and Co. made their way through the set in much the same fashion as The Basics: with feel good tracks and perfectly suited harmonies.

Advancing on the general rock elements, The Brunettes included a much larger range of instrumentation, with members swapping and changing through xylophone, clarinet, trumpet and various others. Opener ‘B-A-B-Y’ should have set the scene for a head bopping time, though either the nature of the crowd or the cramped environment made for little show of excitement from festival goers. “A smile is as good as a clap for me,” claimed Mansfield when unfortunately no response was given to her introduction of band members.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

These guys seem to be in Australia quite often and returning for an appearance at the indie heavy Laneway seemed fitting for the quintet. By the time they hit the stage, Lonsdale Street was so crammed that moving around became one hell of a feat, and too bad for those wanting to go to another stage or needing to use the facilities – the best option was to stay put and avoid the futile attempt at moving.

Fortunately CYHSY sounded decent enough to warrant the squash, although singer Alec Ounsworth had little stage presence about him and opted to do little more than provide the crowd with his obscure voice. This didn’t seem to faze many though, and ‘Satan Said Dance’ received a cheerful reaction – with the masses yelling “Said Dance” in response to Ounsworth’s silence.

Feist

Feist must have been the most anticipated international act of the day judging by the near impossibility of seeing the stage once she came out, not to mention the crowd actually looking like they were enjoying themselves for the first time all day. The best thing about Feist was that live; she seemed so surprisingly different than she does on the record and had much more of a rock edge as opposed to her usual soft folk appeal, ‘I Feel It All’ and ‘My Moon My Man’ were tracks that had people bopping along and the entrance of Broken Social Scene members to provide additional percussion was genuinely entertaining.
Teaching the crowd a three part harmony seemed a little pointless as few were willing to participate, though the eventual result led into ‘1234’, which a fair chunk of the crowd sang along to anyway.

Gotye

The everywhere-at-once Wally de Backer returned to Lonsdale Street for the second time in the day, only now for his solo efforts. A year of solid touring and festival appearances has given new life to de Backer’s stage presence – especially evident in his mannerisms and ease with the crowd. Off the back of his two sold out Prince Band Room shows that week, and having chosen to leave his travelling mini orchestra behind, Gotye delivered his awesome and unique blend of sampling, pop and rock to a mostly adoring reaction.

Despite initial technical problems that saw him begin ‘The Only Way’ without sound, and later issues with microphone sound on percussion, Gotye sounded amazing as he worked his way through mostly Like Drawing Blood tracks with the addition of the oldie ‘The Only Thing I Know’ and his self-proclaimed dance number featuring a reworking of MC Hammer. The DJ styling received decent approval, though it was favourites, ‘Heart’s A Mess’ and ‘Learnalilgivinanlovin’, that sparked the biggest applause. Gotye proved himself once again to be one hell of a one-man-band, moving between piano, samplers, keys, drums and additional percussion while all the while singing along.

The Presets

Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes have to be two of the best entertainers in the Australian music scene. The extravagance of The Presets live show as a whole is something to behold – from Hamilton’s frontman antics of running about and encouraging the crowd to dance, to Moyes multitasking as well as the terrific lighting extravaganza that is so suited to their style of dance rock. Not to mention, the pair have the best dressed roadie around.

Due to previous acts running overtime, the Sydney duo were forced to cram as much into their set in as little time as they could and despite having to cut their set back – albeit marginally – they still managed to play all the crowd pleasing favourites. New tracks ‘Kicking and Screaming’ and ‘My People’ mixed with all their older favourites – mainly from Beams – and together perfectly suited the darkened end of festival slot. The crowd up Lonsdale Street approved and erupted in a bounding mass of squirming punters. There may have been a slew on internationals on the bill during the day, but it was The Presets who proved to be the highlight, favourite and most worthy of headlining.
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