Brisbane Laneway 2011 @ Alexandria Street, 04.02.2011 – Part 1: Les Savy Fav

They might not have been the headliners or even playing on either of the festivals two main stages, but whoever tweeted “Les Savy Fav played. Some other bands were also present” perfectly summed up this year’s Laneway.

The original plan was to photograph the first three songs and then go and photograph Deerhunter but seconds into the first song, singer Tim Harrington has commandeered my very attractive orange fluoro vest and disappeared into the crowd (I get it back eventually, it stinks of stale beer) and I’m totally hooked and stay for the whole set.  As Time Out said in their review of the Sydney show, “There are two kinds of people in the world: those that love them, and those that haven’t seen them live”.  I start their set in the second group but end it in the first and feel sorry for anyone watching Deerhunter.

Time Off’s review also noted that “The problem with the festival not finishing with Les Savy Fav is that all subsequent bands were shit by comparison”.  Except it’s not just “all the subsequent bands”, it’s all the bands that played.  Even by the end of the day it’s hard to think about anything else.  Everything else has just faded into insignificance. Five days earlier, Sufjan Steven had put in an early mark for Gig Of The Year.  It didn’t even last until the end of the week.

One of the greatest live shows I’ve ever seen.

 

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