St. Jeromes Laneway Festival @ Ft. Canning Park

By Marney Beliveau  •  in Reports
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On January 29th St. Jeromes Laneway Festival or ‘Rainway’ as most festivalites fondly dubbed it, was held at in Singapore’s Ft. Canning Park. It was the first ever time that this Australian fest made tracks and brought itself all the way up to SE Asia.

The day started out with sunshine and was kicked off by the experimental, all female rock band, Warpaint. As people trickled into the park, the areas in front of the stage (and the beverage stand) soon became crowded. Ladyhawke pleasantly surprised us when she took the stage next. With an upbeat set, she got the place adequately rocking for so early in the afternoon.

The clouds started to gather when Beach House took the stage and lulled us into a daze with their sweet, melancholic sounds. Their set gave us a previously never before heard track (we’re so special!) and it also marked the beginning of the rain. Maybe chillwaves make god cry?

Holy F*** set left the crowd a bit confused. Not only did we suffer from the “should we dance so early in the day?” conundrum but they kept introducing themselves as other Canadian bands, from Bachman Turner Overdrive to Broken Social Scene. You would too, if saying your own band name on stage would’ve cost you a fine of SG50,000.

!!! not only got the crowd moving but inspired an affinity for male short shorts which we’re sure will take off soon. Yeasayer followed and continued to build on the amazing performances of the day. Despite the mud, no one was sitting still when the disco infused ‘ONE’ came on.

After that it was hard to judge who was more intense – the rain or Foals.  The entire band had so much passion, energy and emotion and got the whole crowd memorised and rocking out. ‘Spanish Sahara’ was definitely a crowd pleaser, as the touching song could be felt so much better live.

Temper Trap graced us with their very last live show before going to record album #2. The set was tight, you could tell the band has been touring straight for 2 years, with impeccable live timing. One thing that caught us off guard is that there was a curious breeze in front of the lead singer, dramatically flapping his t-shirt in the wind, yet wind machine alone does not a closing act make.  Closing the night off with ‘Sweet Disposition’ was nice, but far from a highlight.

All in all, from the rain, the mud, the ups, the downs, we’d do it all over again in a heartbeat! How about KL next year?

Check out our snaps from the day in the gallery. For all Laneway info, head to the website.