Ronald WanThe continuous downpour did not dampen the amazing crowd soaked in rain and caked in mud at the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival
And some thought it was the Glastonbury.
Photo Credit: Ryan Chang
Music lovers, hipsters and indie-spirited youths at the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival were spotted soaking in the incessant rain and rolling around in the muddy fields of Fort Canning last Saturday, a scene some would mistake from the famous Glastonbury Festival in England.
Foals, Photo Credit: Bryan Soon
It kept raining, and raining, and raining throughout the day but no amount of rain could dampen the unwavering indie spirit of the happy crowd clad in ponchos, raincoats and Wellington boots, including this writer. Even the lighters flickered gallantly during the haunting ballad ‘Spanish Sahara’ by UK band Foals, the penultimate act of the night.
“We can’t control the weather, but we can control music. Music has prevailed,” enthused co-founder and organiser Danny Rogers at the end of the night.
Ladyhawke, Photo Credit: Ryan Chang
Indeed, the show went on despite the skies pouring as early as 1pm. All-girl band Warpaint kick-started the festival followed by New Zealander Ladyhawke. The singer-songwriter performed favourites such as ‘My Delirium’ and ‘Paris is Burning’, the latter a track heard on TV shows like Ugly Betty and fashion runways.
Beach House, Photo Credit: Bryan Soon
The rain didn’t bring the Beach House down either by the time the third act came on. The American duo hypnotised the crowd with its atmospheric sound, performing hits such as ‘Norway’ from its recent critically acclaimed album Teen Dream. Singer Victoria Legrand, dressed in a pop turquoise-green coat, performed on the organ like an enchanted creature tossing her auburn hair in psychedelic motion.
Holy F***, Photo Credit: Bryan Soon
The evening continued with Deerhunter and Holy F***, the latter an electronica band that, for the lack of a better word, electrified with its dream-esque effects using instruments such as a 35mm film synchroniser and toy keyboards. Forget the laptops and turn tables, this is electronic music in its strangest yet beautiful form.
Avid music fan Melvin Poon said, “I don’t know what the hell are they doing but they sure sound impressive! Who makes music from a film synchroniser!”
!!!, Photo Credit: Ryan Chang
And the night took on an interesting turn when !!! (pronounced as Chk Chk Chk) came on. Lead singer Nic Offer (pictured below), clad in a ‘I Love Singapore’ tee and skimpy shorts (he obviously didn’t check the weather forecast), went ballistic in professing his love for the Singaporean fans. He jumped into the crowd at least thrice (who’s counting amidst the mayhem!!!), sang with the fans with the microphone in his mouth and played with a groupie’s bra thrown onstage.
Obviously, the fun had just started and the band from Sacramento performed perhaps one of the longest sets. In fact, the dance-punk band had time to pay tribute to the Artiste Formerly Known as Prince with a cover. No, it wasn’t ‘Purple Rain’ in case you’re wondering.
Fans caught onto the playfulness of the night too. Concertgoer Janice Liu claimed, “This is my virgin music festival and damn I had a muddy good time!” Audiences were spotted kissing in the rain, wrestling and sliding freestyle on a muddy slope, and downing beer laced with – you guessed it – rainwater. This abashed writer even spotted a gleeful woman flashing herself topless.
Yeasayer, Photo Credit: Bryan Soon
New York rock band Yeasayer (pictured below) performed next during a rain reprieve but as soon as UK band Foals came on, the torrent started again. The band, known for its post-punk roots, performed songs furiously from their latest album, Total Life Forever, with lead singer Yannis Philippakis tearing up the stage with his inebriated antics (spotted downing a Jack Daniel’s) from knocking off the drum, swinging the microphone in a precarious fashion to getting tangled with the mic. It was a performance hinging on anger and wrath, much like the savage rain.
The Temper Trap, Photo Credit: Aloysius Lim
But as the rain clouds slowly parted, the crowd cheered (and shivered) for the highly anticipated last act of the night, The Temper Trap.The much-lauded quintet from Melbourne appeared to screams and catcalls and Indonesian-born lead singer Dougy Mandagi thanked the crowd profusely for braving the rain throughout the night before launching into the song ‘Fools’. Mandagi’s signature falsetto moved the crowd, which continued with ‘Fader’, ‘Down River’ and ‘Resurrection’.
The wild and eventful night had to end somehow as the festival overran by a good hour. And The Temper Trap closed on a bittersweet note with the hit that had appeared in several TV shows, advertisements (automobiles in particular) and the indie crowd’s favourite movie 500 Days of Summer – ‘Sweet Disposition’.
The Temper Trap, Photo Credit: Aloysisus Lim
As the crowd erupted into cheers and sang along to the lyrics, “And while our blood’s still young, it’s so young, it runs and we won’t stop till it’s over, won’t stop to surrender”, it was evident the play-hard and die-hard spirit of the Laneway Festival would not stop to give in to the temperamental weather.
The photographer’s camera was unfortunately damaged in the rain. Images from the organiser will be available soon.
All photos are courtesy of Aloysius Lim, Bryan Soon, Ryan Chang (The Deck Media Group Pte Ltd).