Laneway 2015 @ RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane, 31.01.2015 – Part 2

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As ever, there is a GPS tracker for the day, for as long as my phone battery runs for. As I have my laptop with me, I’m able to sneakily charge it up between bands from the comfortable confines of the VIP bar area with its luxurious and much appreciated air con.

At least I think I did.

Looking at the stats it says that I covered 6.33km over a total time of 8:22, which isn’t as long as I was at the festival for, with at least 90 minutes missing. Also comparing this to 2012, when it was at its previously more concentrated location at the showgrounds, it shows I covered a similar distance of 6.61km. Incredibly the 2013 data shows a total distance of 15.68km over a total time of 10:11 hours. I can’t find any 2014, I don’t know why. Maybe I just forgot to set a tracker going, which is very unlike me, even if I suddenly remember after an hour or two. Thinking back, I might have had a problem with my phone which meant it didn’t record even though it was running. Either way, it’s odd and ever-so-slightly unbelievable that I would walk 15.68km when the stages were closer together and only 6.33km this year with the stages more spread out. Very odd.

Highlights of the second part of the day are Royal Blood, Courtney Barnett and Angel Olsen. I wasn’t expecting Royal Blood to be this good and for a two piece, they sound massive. I probably should have checked them out during that time when they were being a Brisbane band, a fact they seem to have carefully airbrushed from their official biography.

It’s frustrating that there’s a massive clash between Angel Olsen and Royal Blood, both acts I would have liked to have seen for the entire lengths of their respective sets. Her latest album, Burn Your Fire for No Witness, is ok but nowhere near as good as its predecessor (and her debut album), Half Way Home. I only see a couple of songs before having to walk to the other side of the festival site but come back via a trip visit to Seekae to see the end of her set. Annoyingly she finishes in advance of her advertised set times, so I only get to catch the last song. The disappointment is fleeting with Courtney Barnett starting straight after and she continues to impress.

The lowlights from the second part of the day are Highasakite, who have that contemporary Scandinavian sound but are just fairly dull, with that that made for triple j radio play sound (and other glossy FM ‘alternative music’ radio stations), when compared to a number of their peers.

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