St Jerome’s Laneway Festival
30th January 2017
Albert Park, Auckland, New Zealand
Photography by Crawford Photography.
This was the first year that Laneway Festival has “branched out” (I’m sorry) to Albert Park – a beautiful green space in the central city known for it’s beautiful gardens and many leafy trees to provide shade from the hot summer sun synonymous with Auckland’s leg of the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival. A staunch contrast from the parking lot concrete versions of the festival in years gone by – it seems that this years Festival was the best yet, with positive comments from everyone I have talked to.
This years lineup was impressive to say the least, despite some cancellations from some of the headlining acts. There were stand out performances from Canadian act White Lung, the Australian psychedelic rock stylings of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Dunedin Flying Nun legends The Chills, Ex Kiwis The Veils, the British electronic-pop upstarts Glass Animals, and of course the headlining act Tame Impala – but by far the stand out act of the day was the Swedish Alt/Hardcore Rockers Refused. Appearing on stage with a bang, Refused frontman David Sandström was a mic-flinging, energizer-rabbit man possessed. Those in attendance will have a hard time forgetting him screaming “The world is a complete shitstorm! Look what’s happening in America… Britain… Sweden… Music should be about revolution, revolt and rebellion!” before diving into the crowd to sing their next song amongst the congregated mix of new and old fans. The absolutely crushing version of ‘New Noise’ as their set closer would have made even the staunchest non-believer stand up and pay attention to what Refused was laying down.
Overall, for what is sometimes unfairly dubbed as a ‘Hipster Festival’, Laneway proved that it doesn’t take much more than a beautiful day hanging out with your mates sampling some of the best new (and old) music from around the world to have the time of your life. I for one can’t wait for time to roll around again when next years dates and lineup are announced so I can get excited all over again!
Ambient Light photographer Connor Crawford was at Laneway to shoot all of the action, and has kindly provided us with this gallery of images below. You can check out his full gallery on his facebook page, or you can follow him on his Instagram.
Were you there at Albert Park to partake in this amazing celebration music and culture that is Laneway Festival? Or have you been to Laneway in a different location before? How much did you love this years festival!? Tell me about it in the comments below!
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