Day 2: Brisbane
Welcome
Yesterday we played our first show of the Laneway tour in Brisbane, Australia.
Liz began her day with an early morning visit to a local bouldering gym. Jonathan began his day with a visit to the bakery and then some guitar practise. Tristan and I were much more sensible and went for a run to have a look at the impressive structure that connects North and South Brisbane across the Brisbane river. The Story Bridge is a steel cantilever design with a total length of 777 metres and a longest span of 282 metres and has been open since 1940, carrying nearly 100,000 vehicles per day. I was so impressed with this piece of infrastructure that I awarded it 20,000 boints placing it right up the top of the leaderboard.
Story Bridge - 20,000 boints
Ben - 2000 boints
Liz - 0 boints
Jon - 0 boints
Tristan - 0 boints
After our run Tristan and I grabbed breakfast from King Street bakery where I enjoyed a mushroom and feta tart, and half of a pain au nutella.
A very pleasant part of our morning was our reunion with Gabe, who is doing our front-of-house sound for the Laneway shows.
Gabe in the back seat of the Staria.
We all assembled in the lobby at 11.20am and boarded the van to drive the hundred metres to Brisbane Showgrounds, where the festival is set. Our journey was far from straightforward, with two full unloads and reloads of the van happening before we found the correct stage. We set up our gear and then headed to the artist area for some media time which consisted of an interview and getting our polaroid taken.
At 1.30pm we played our first show of 2023. I think the stage we performed on was called the Fuck Hell Yeah stage, or something similar. It was in a huge marquee which protected us from both the searing sun, and then the rain that came part way through our set. It was a classic festival situation with very little time to setup and zero time to soundcheck - just how we like it. Everything came together in time and we delivered a nice performance with very few errors.
Setting up the stage at the beginning of the day.
This is what our stage looked like from the audience but instead of us Julia Jacklin is performing.
The festival was a marvel of organisation. There are four stages - two main stages next to each other that showcase the headline acts, plus an alternative music stage and an electronica stage. Everything was well laid out and there was easy access to food and water, as well as seating and umbrellas.
The umbrella and seating area.
The signage was all clear and easy to read from a great distance.
The two main stages.
The Brisbane Showgrounds as seen from the camera on the roof of our hotel. This shot was taken during Phoebe Bridgers’ set.
It was nice finishing our work day early and I enjoyed getting to wander around and see many of the other acts. Not only did I enjoy all of the excellent music but I learned how to hype up a festival crowd using personalised local terminology.
The official Laneway afterparty took place at a venue in Brisbane’s famous Fortitude Valley and featured a scorching midnight DJ set by none other than Elizabeth Stokes. We carved up the dance floor in a big way while Liz dropped nonstop heaters until her contracted time had elapsed. It was 2am when we finally got to bed and we tried to snatch a few hours of sleep before an early flight the next morning.
