One of the premier festivals of the Australian calendar draws ever nearer. It’s probably the best way to shake off those post-Christmas and New Year blues and to bid a begrudging farewell to those long summer days as autumn and winter so rudely interrupt. It’s Laneway Festival and, trying to get our excitement and anticipation at near fever pitch, festival organisers today announced both the dates and the venues for the Australia-wide festival.
If you live in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Fremantle or Brisbane (sorry Darwin and Hobart) then all of the good food, better music and fun-time vibes are heading your way starting early February. The lineup hasn’t been formally announced yet, and organisers say it won’t be until Tuesday the 22nd of September (which is a painful eternity away), but if you had your ears pressed keenly to the musical ground you’d have heard Canadian duo Purity Ring all but confirm their presence with a slip-up on Triple J earlier in the year. Scottish producer Hudson Mohawke did the same thing in an interview earlier this year too.
We thank both acts for being human and at least allowing us a tiny glimpse of what will no doubt be another ridiculous lineup, last year’s including Mac Demarco, FKA Twigs, Royal Blood, Flight Facilities and Future Islands among other stellar talents will be near impossible to top but you can bank that Laneway is going to do it or die trying.
If you find yourself breathing heavily and needing to kill time during the slow drag of the days until the lineup is announced, have a squiz at our survival guide for last year’s Laneway as well as our review of the many, many high points of last year’s edition. We’ll be looking for leaks like a manic plumber until the 22nd.
Dates and venues for Laneway Festival 2016 are:
Fri, Feb 5th: Harts Mill, Port Adelaide
Sat, Feb 6th: RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane
Sun, Feb 7th: Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney
Sat, Feb 13th: Footscray Community Arts Centre And The River’s Edge,
Melbourne
Sun, Feb 14th: Esplanade Reserve and West End, Fremantle