St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival – Western Springs: February 6, 2024

St. Jerome’s Laneway, the longest-running festival in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, returns for another massive Waitangi day at Western Springs.

It was a day of sunblock, litres and litres of water, and a widely varied lineup including no fewer than nine New Zealand debut shows from artists around the world. While some were more grateful for the opportunity than others Laneway’s lineup brought flavours of jazz, indie rock, an abundance of hip-hop, and near shoegaze to Auckland’s eager ears.

The gates opened just before midday and I was impressed with the number of fans who poured in early to support Molly Payton launch the festival. With Isaac Kennedy on drums, Reuben Scott on guitar, Damin McCabe on bass, and Molly holding down the front of the band, the small but loud crowd is hit with big instrumental breakdowns and dreamscape-esque walls of sound. Even though it’s hard to make out the lyrics most of the time, Molly Payton brings music to your ears that you can simply sink into. She already has an army of followers supporting her music and is set to tour through the UK later this year so she is someone to keep your eye on. 

The Good Better Best stage is positioned parallel to the Never Let It Rest stage. The two share the role of the main stage and allow for a smooth transition from one act to the next. In this case, Erny Belle and her 6 piece band had been getting ready during the previous set, a little bit awkwardly. As soon as she kicks off her set with a friendly “Kia ora” the audience shifts their focus and the band rolls into a smooth 30-minute set. With Jackson Hobbs drumming using mallets, Dave Kahn and his swampy guitar tone, Tiare Kelly and their supportive keys, acoustic guitar and backing vocals, Navakatoa Tekela-Pule holding it down on the bass, and Rewi McLay putting on finishing touches with his beautiful pedal steel, the band lays down a thick swampy Kiwi country vibe across the entire set which slowly chugs along. Erny mentions that Laneway is their “first-ever festival” and “extra special because I went to Western Springs College”. Other than those two lines, most of the vocals are hard to hear and with the slow pace I made my way across to the first set on the Everything Ecstatic stage; the DJ stage really.

Hanbee nervously introduced her track Weekenders as I arrived. This song, like most of Hanbee’s set, is a steady groove provided by Woo on the DJ decks with Cherry adding guitar flourishes over the top. Unfortunately, the track’s collaborator Hans wasn’t there to sing his verse so Hanbee simply played it over the PA, awkwardly. Hanbee’s tracks make up for it though. The songs of the rest of the set are slow, steady, and make you want to close your eyes and sway like a palm tree in a warm north-western breeze. Unfortunately, Church’s performance at the Pine Tree Bend stage overpowered Hanbee’s set at times. Throughout the day, the sounds that travelled across the showground’s hills would fight each other unless you were in the crowd of people gathered at the front of a stage.

Hemlocke Springs could be heard before she could be seen. Half of the time Hemlocke Springs would scream her lyrics as if the backing track was metal, which it definitely wasn’t. When you did finally see her it was hard to miss her. Her hair blue and her face covered in little white love hearts, Hemlocke Springs was jumping, running, and twerking on every square inch of the stage. It took some time for me to warm up to her performance and almost Micky Mouse-esque voice but after some funny anecdotes, a few hard-hitting breakdowns and drum solos from Marian Li-Pino, I was captured by Hemlocke Springs’ magic. Her music can best be described as a crisp high-five between 80’s synth-pop and lo-fi bedroom pop. For this first-time visit to our country, the Kiwi audience loved her straight away.
Fun fact; Hemlocke Springs takes the little “e” at the end of Hemlock from Lorde’s example.

Blondshell, another first-time visitor to Aotearoa, is the first band to come on stage like a proper rock band, full noise, full energy. The band is made up of Anna Crane on drums, Charlie Ellis on bass, Jeff Frantom on guitar, and Sabrina Mae Teitelbaum as Blondshell. Even though they’re a relatively “new” artist, having released their debut album in 2023, I had heard a lot of good things about Blondshell’s live performance and I was far from disappointed when the band hammered at the audience with their punchy riffs and even harder-hitting lyrics. Blondshell is hard to place, they sit somewhere between a classic yet modern rock sound and the clever, relatable and sassy lyrics put them somewhere between alt-rock and indie-pop; One of my favourites from the festival.

Another favourite performance of the festival, and more first-time visitors to Aotearoa, were Domi & JD Beck. Known to be child prodigies and with collaborations like Anderson Paak, Thundercat, Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, and even Herbie Hancock, I was understandably excited to see these masters work their magic live. I was lucky enough to catch their set from start to finish and was transported into their world of complex jazz. With keyboards and drums squeezed together, facing each other, lined by two pink fluffy trees, in front of an ever-changing landscape they quickly kick into wildly fast-paced neo-jazz. The entire audience seems to want nothing but to be blown away by mind-boggling solos and otherworldly jazz sub-genres. Domi & JD Beck are funny too, breaking their set up with short anecdotes, yo-mama jokes, and constantly joking that this next tune will be their last song.

All the late arrivals must have headed straight for the main stage as Daily J, now steadily on their way to becoming the next biggest Kiwi band, suddenly found a huge crowd in front of them. Blenheim-born brothers Jayden, Jonny, and Jesse Paul, and their best mates Rick Everard and Josh Parker know the deep dark musical magic of transporting a whole festival crowd to the white sands of an isolated beach somewhere in the Pacific. The band was thrilled to be there, as Jayden said “It’s so special to be here, it’s giving me shivers from my head through my spine.”

It is really special of Laneway, a festival that is known to bring international artists to Aotearoa for the first time, to feature Kiwi artists and give them the massive and often well-deserved opportunity to play in front of thousands of people, and amongst such epic international names.

Faye Webster, another first-time visitor to Aotearoa, was unfortunately met with technical difficulty after the first song of her set that was severe enough for Faye and the band to momentarily leave the stage. The stage was nicely dressed including the huge head of a Roman statue in the likeness of Faye with eyes that lit up. Throughout the set, the band brought some beautiful sounds to the dedicated fans packing in close on the festival grounds. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make out any of the words and most of the tracks were a bit slow for my liking when they’re performed live so I went to check on the Pine Tree Bend stage instead.

Local legends Homebrew held the attention of a large audience ready to sing along. I was just as impressed with all the people around me who knew and rapped every single word along with the 9-piece band on stage. I don’t listen to hip-hop a lot because too often I find it’s misogynistic and too macho for my liking but Homebrew is the opposite. The lyrics cover serious topics like alcoholism, drug misuse, and the rough upbringing as its results. Homebrew is even labelled as ‘conscious rap’ which fits perfectly. Regardless, the band is tight, musically talented, and Tom Scott has got seriously good flow. During the entire set, the MCs would break into chants calling out David Seymour and calls of “Honour the treaty!” Very topical on a festival that takes place during Waitangi. 

I should have done some research on Cordae before seeing their set at Laneway so I could have avoided disappointment. Cordae’s DJ spun club favourites but managed some seriously dubious, janky, and disappointing transitions. Going a step further, as an MC, he also shouted for people to come to the stage and do this and do that, muting the songs. 

I decided to check some of the other stages but unfortunately, there’s not much to go for Pretty Girl either. She’s made very cool soundscapes that deserve appreciation but they were overpowered by the typical club four-on-the-flour you’d expect from the DJ stage. Aside from that, Pretty Girl’s lack of enthusiasm simply gave me the impression she didn’t want to be there.

With both Cordae and Pretty Girl, I feel they would have hit better towards the end of the night, even if they weren’t on the main stage because there would be bigger acts to accommodate for. The club scene just doesn’t feel quite at home in the lazy, tropical 4 pm heat of the afternoon. Judging by the number of people hanging out and occupying every inch of shade that can be found in the scorching grounds, I’d say I wasn’t the only one who thought similarly.

Raye was the complete opposite. Her band was epic, all in shirts and bow ties, even while it was sweltering hot. Olivia Thompson on bass, Daniella Bernard on keys, Paul Murray on guitar, Mike Cordone on trumpet, and Matt Brooks leading them all on drums. But Raye was the star of it all. She easily brought the best vocal performance to Laneway, the most character, the funniest anecdotes, and the deepest love for the audience. Her music is a fusion of retro pop and urban dance but “covers a lot of flavours” and is simply put, reminiscent of Amy Winehouse. This was Raye’s first visit to our beautiful Aotearoa. I can only hope there will be many more!

I knew a little bit about D4vd (pronounced David) after his interview with bFM in January but I had not expected him to hit this hard. I knew him as a Fortnite-streaming 18-year-old turned artist who made songs on his iPhone to avoid copyright issues in his streaming that blew up. However, at the festival, D4vd had a drummer and guitarist playing some hard-hitting riff rock behind him.

“I started making these songs on my iPhone, all the way in Texas, living with my sister so I thought it was only right to bring her on this run of shows. Everybody say hey Emily!”

David’s much younger sister walks on and repeats “Thanks for being here” after him. She even goes off with a pre-planned cartwheel.
D4vd is reinventing bedroom pop, now bedroom pop-rock, and I’m keen to see where he’ll go from here. After this first visit, I’d say he’s very welcome back to Aotearoa.

As I make my way back to the main stage Dominic Fike’s band jogs on to mild applause. However, the crowd screams as Dominic himself confidently walks on moments later. Not only does he write killer songs he’s an entertainer through and through, sharing anecdotes, making jokes, and accepting a very small Spiderman hat from the audience. Towards the end of the set, he even jumps into the crowd during 3 Nights, his best-known song, letting the audience sing it in its entirety.

“Today I went surfing out in your beautiful waters. I’m red as a cherry, but I love it here. I’m looking for a dual citizenship so if anyone wants to marry me, send me your enquiries.”

The band covers “Can’t Stop” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and jokingly hints at songs by The Killers and Gorrilaz over the top of their own songs. Dominic goes on to mention he “wrote this next song with a Beatle, can you believe it? I won.”

Towards the end of the set the band goes full rock, as do the lights. From the moment he walked on stage until the moment he left, Dominic Fike was one with the audience, and yet he wasn’t. He was engaging from start to finish and yet he was something distant and special to behold. He’s effortlessly cool and seriously talented and I sincerely hope he gets his wish of living in Aotearoa.

Dope Lemon is slowly becoming a regular in Aotearoa. I had planned to catch more of his set until a friend told me off because I would miss Dominic Fike and I would get the opportunity to catch Dope Lemon again soon enough. Indeed, I hear rumours of Angus and Julia Stone touring again. Well, for those who don’t know, Dope Lemon is Angus Stone’s mid-life crisis and like most mid-life crises we may have hidden opinions and criticisms but it’s often best just to sit back and enjoy the show. That’s what Dope Lemon brings, as the day was finally cooling down most people gathered around the Pine Tree Bend stage simply sat back or bopped from side to side as the band grooved and the air began to smell real nice. I am generally not a huge fan of surf rock but if it’s done well I can make an exception; in Dope Lemon’s case, I did. The whole vibe of the band is, in one word, steezy. They’re all wearing cool suits that look like they’re thrifted yet they’re cohesive throughout the band. Angus is slow in all his movements, lifting his hat off his hat in a long salute to the audience, or climbing onto the drum riser via a bit of a detour to jam with the drummer. Someone guides two dancers in papier-mâché cat heads onto the stage to complement his latest and most well-known tune, and with that, his set wraps up nicely.

Steve Lacy played his first Laneway when he was 18, as part of The Internet and now he’s headlining the festival. I wish he hadn’t. I have never seen an artist as sloppy as Steve Lacy, a shame, because the rest of his band was clearly much more talented and respectful of the opportunity. To compare, Steve would freestyle half of his songs while the rest of his band would be the backbone he so dearly needed. I don’t mean freestyle rap here either, Steve would sing incomprehensibly in falsetto and painfully finish songs halfway through. Steve wore sunnies and a grey hoodie, while the rest of his band wore much cooler outfits. Steve played his guitar as if he were drunk while the rest of his band knew their sounds. Steve even took a request from the audience for one of his own songs, forgot the words, thought he remembered them, tried again, and failed. I was sincerely unimpressed with Steve Lacy.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, playing their first show in Aotearoa in seven years, was the real headliner for me. The band would play nearly non-stop, using dreaming soundscapes and breakdowns to transition from song to song. In fact, I only remember the band stopping one time to thank the audience for “making our return home so good”. Other than that the band wouldn’t be afraid to make time changes, key changes, or full genre changes in the middle of playing. At one point the band made a sudden change from their familiar Kiwi Pink Floyd-esque sound to a very Kiwi ska tune. The band was incredibly well rehearsed while there was equally enough room for improvised solos from all members of the band. It was both good and bad that UMO played on the smaller stage, on one hand, it was much easier to get closer to the band, on the other, the band deserved to be on the main stage more than Stormzy or Steve Lacy. But then again, I don’t like hip-hop as much as R&B, jazz, rock, or pop so I am somewhat biased. 

Koen Aldershof

Photos courtesy Chontalle Musson & Tom Grut

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