For anyone who attended the 2008 Laneway Festival held at the same location, they would have been both pleasantly surprised and relieved at the changes made to this year’s format and layout. The most noticeable difference was the rearrangement of the Uni stage placed next door to Fowler’s to increase the capacity around the courtyard, and remove the bottleneck that marred the first attempt at bringing this festival westward last year. The ease at which punters could access the two stages, one outdoor and one indoor, is the stuff of folklore as far as outdoor festivals are concerned (just ask the punters that attended the Melbourne Laneway the week before). The new layout also provided more vantage points of the Uni stage and much needed access to the Mercury cinema on an extremely hot day, where punters could relax and watch music docos. A wider selection of food and more bars was also welcome.

Crowd numbers seemed on par with last year and people were more chilled, due to the new found spaciousness and the always pleasant lack of bogans. Not once did I queue for a beverage, the toilets or food all day, something which sets this event apart from others. All day I was immersed in various music styles, skipping between both stages trying to capture the most of the 28 acts on display between 11am and 1am. It is worth noting that the Adelaide leg had the latest finishing time compared with the other States and being a Saturday night, and the second last show, bands were definitely in party mode! I cannot attempt to cover everything I saw and heard, so here are some of the highlights…

Tame Impala are the latest psychedelic rock craze to be hyped by the Modular stable. Their live sound was one of the more impressive on the day, as was their cover of Blue Boy’s disco hit Remember Me, more lyrical pop than their penchant for indulgent rock licks and lengthy reprises that held the crowd throughout their set. All in all a great way to get things started.

The first act to really get the crowd moving was El Guincho, the recording alias of Spanish musician Pablo Díaz-Reixa who samples elements of dub, Tropicália and Afrobeat while chanting repetitively over the top. He appeared with a sidekick for the first time in what is usually a one man show due to a variety of mishaps and lost equipment during the tour. Their set started 20 minutes late and after only four songs was cut short by the sound engineer in order to set up for the next act. In what was the first sign of crowd enthusiasm for the day the chant of “one more song” finally got the sound turned back on for a proper finale. This occurred much to the dismay of Canyons whose next set was miniscule. I saw them storm out of the venue with record bags in hand. From this point on the scheduled times of the Fowlers stage were delayed which actually benefited punters by staggering band times so you could see a bit of everyone who performed later.

Cut Off Your Hands were sweltering in the mid-afternoon sun on the outside stage in fashionably skinny black jeans and tees. Lead singer Nick Johnston was super energetic as usual and led the band through all their short punk-pop hits. Standout songs live were Oh Girl, Still Fond and Closed Eyes. Nick announced that guitarist and backing vocalist Michael Ramirez would sadly be leaving the band after the Laneways tour.

The Temper Trap quickly followed up the indie vibe showing even greater musical diversity and musicianship. Singer Dougy’s sweet passionate vocals, showcased perfectly in Sweet Disposition, shared the stage with four band members providing a driving rhythm section and obvious musical talent. For my money these guys are hands down one of the best indie outfits gigging at the moment.

From the showcase of emerging indie talent taking place outside I entered back inside for some electronica from the winner of ‘Best new find of the day”, Daedelus. Dressed in Victorian period tails, shirt and tie Daedelus (AKA Arthur Darlington) played some well conceived and executed beats based around loops and samples all played and mixed live via a Monome controller and laptop. The visual aspect of both Daedelus’s conductor style performance and the running LED lights of the Monome provided a sense of theatrics missing from the other electronic acts on the bill.

Mountains In The Sky is the work of John Lee who, when playing live, enlists the help of live drums and moog from Mathew Watson and Jojo Petrina. Their music is a wandering cinematic electronic journey with strong drums and well crafted synth/guitar lines. Their songs definitely escalated a notch when John picked up the guitar.

A good size crowd gathered outside to watch one of the headline acts, Stereolab. A perennial favourite of mine, Stereolab have shaped and influenced electronic pop over a period of almost 20 years with their sublime vocals, catchy melodies and genre defining sound. Even though the band members may be starting to show some signs of aging their performance was still captivating and faultless, and even better than the last time they performed in Adelaide around 10 years ago. Playing a mix of old and new songs an obvious favourite was Ping pong from their 1994 release Mars Audiac Quintet. This performance hopefully served as a tutorial for the younger members of the crowd and was well received by the older fans.

Leaving the crowd outside midway through The Drones set I decided to head inside to catch a band of which I had heard numerous good live reviews, and Pivot did not disappoint. Many reviewers make a common comparison with Battles which is evident in the intensity of the drumming and wall of sound that this three piece can create, however Pivot has a more melodic side to their music that balances and enhances the driving peaks of drums and guitar. The good size crowd was treated to an energetic display that whilst near impossible to dance too, held people captivated for the all too short 45 minute set. This is definitely a band to see as a solo show in a small club and hopefully they will return soon.

By the end of the night it became clear that the majority of the crowd had come to see Girl Talk, whom has come to prominence of late with his recent mash up album Feed The Animals. The entire crowd gathered before the stage and was clearly thriving on the mix of old and new tunes that the 27-year old Greg Gillis was producing live from a single podium in the middle of the stage. As people from the crowd were beckoned on stage Gillis*lived up to his reputation, dancing manically around the punters and equipment, ripping off his shirt. Whilst I can appreciate the party vibe that Gillis managed to create I was not won over by what is essentially live mash ups. Other similar DJs such as Z-Trip and 2 Many DJ’s bring something else to the equation that Girl Talk is missing, a pizzazz and verve that results in a sound that is much greater than the sum of the individual parts and does not merely rely on dropping old 80s and 90s favourites to get the crowd jumping.

As the gates opened up and the crowd spilt out onto the surrounding streets of the west end it felt like days ago that we had all been standing in the 41 degree heat watching the first few bands take to the stage. Such a feeling is always a good sign as it is symptomatic of a solid day of non-stop music, created by a well rounded lineup and a well managed event. As an ever increasing number of festivals seem to be appearing on stobie poles all around our fair city, Laneways provides a point of difference as a festival that is focused on the music and not the gimmick and promo that has started to pervade the competition.