Known simply as the Laneway or St. Jerome's Festival, the music festival began in Caledonian Lane in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 in 2004. Emerging as an indie music event, the Laneway Festival has grown rapidly in popularity, receiving favourable reviews in music press.

The festival expanded to Sydney in 2006, Brisbane in 2007, Adelaide in 2008 and Perth in 2009. Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

 reviewed this event as "Australia's most insurgent and unique pop music event" .

It was announced on 1 October 2009, that the festival would begin to visit Auckland, New Zealand from 2010. On 15 November 2010, the organizers held a press conference in Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 announcing that the festival will expand to Southeast Asia. The Singapore leg of the festival will take place on 29 January 2011 at the historic Fort Canning Park. Following the press conference, the band that will headline the festival in Singapore, The Temper Trap

The Temper Trap

The Temper Trap is an Australian indie rock band which formed in 2005. The core members are Jonathon Aherne on bass guitar and vocals, Toby Dundas on drums and programming, Dougy Mandagi on vocals and guitar, and Lorenzo Sillitto on guitar, keyboards and vocals. They are supplemented on tours with...

, made a guest appearance.

More details are to be announced in the upcoming weeks.

History

Located in small laneways and urban areas within the respective cities, St Jerome's provides a unique atmosphere and sound environment, with inventive re-imaginings of typically disused urban spaces. Laneway Festival is also popular for its smaller crowd capacity as opposed to many other Australian music festivals.

The original home of the laneway festival, St Jerome's was shut down in 2009 by developers Colonial First State and Caledonian lane, the festival's original home was demolished in January 2010 to make way for a loading bay for a new indoor shopping mall.

The artist lineup is focused mainly on indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

, giving many Australian bands the opportunity to play alongside international indie bands which have included over the years:

• Peter Bjorn and John
  Peter Bjorn and John
  Peter Bjorn and John are a Swedish indie rock band, formed in Stockholm in 1999 and named after the first names of the band's members: Peter Morén , Björn Yttling and John Eriksson .They are best known for the 2006 single "Young Folks", which...
  
  
• The Walkmen
  The Walkmen
  The Walkmen are an American indie rock band, with members based in New York City and Philadelphia. The band formed in 2000 with three members from Jonathan Fire*Eater—Paul Maroon , Walter Martin , and Matt Barrick —and two from The Recoys, Peter Bauer and Hamilton Leithauser . All but Bauer...
  
  
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
  Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
  Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is an American indie rock group based in Brooklyn, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their debut album, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, was self-released in 2005.-History:...
  
  
• Yo La Tengo
  Yo La Tengo
  Yo La Tengo, sometimes abbreviated as YLT, is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew .Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential...
  
  
• Broken Social Scene
  Broken Social Scene
  Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed in 1999 by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning. Most of its members currently play in various other groups and solo projects, mainly based around the city of Toronto...
  
  
• Les Savy Fav
  Les Savy Fav
  Les Savy Fav is a New York City indie rock band. Their style is influenced by art rock and post-hardcore. The group is known for the stage presence of lead singer Tim Harrington...
  
  
• The Raveonettes
  The Raveonettes
  The Raveonettes are a Danish indie rock duo, consisting of Sune Rose Wagner on guitar, instruments, and vocals, and Sharin Foo on bass, guitar and vocals...
  
  
• Love Is All
  Love is All
  Love Is All is a five-piece indie pop band from Gothenburg, Sweden. It releases songs in English. Paste Magazine has stated that it makes "infectiously lo-fi punk rock laced with saxophone and melodic vocals".-Biography:...
  
  

Australian bands which have played at the Laneway Festival include:

• Dappled Cities Fly
  Dappled Cities Fly
  Dappled Cities are a five-piece indie rock band from Sydney, Australia.-History:The band, originally called Periwinkle, first came together in the leafy, northern Sydney suburb of Pymble in 1997. Dave Rennick and original drummer Hugh Boyce were soon joined by Alex Moore on bass and Tim Derricourt...
  
  
• Augie March
  Augie March
  Augie March are an Australian indie/pop rock band. Formed in 1996 in Shepparton, Victoria, the band currently consists of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Glenn Richards, lead guitarist Adam Donovan, bassist Edmondo Ammendola, drummer David Williams, and keyboardist Kiernan Box...
  
  
• Youth Group
  Youth Group
  Youth Group are a rock band based in Newtown, Sydney, Australia signed to Ivy League Records.- Biography :Youth Group formed in Sydney in the late 1990s. They have released four albums in Australia, with the three most recent albums also gaining releases worldwide...
  
  
• The Sleepy Jackson
  The Sleepy Jackson
  The Sleepy Jackson are an Australian alternative rock band formed in Perth, Western Australia. The band's name was inspired by a former drummer who was narcoleptic. The band revolves around the distinctive vocal style of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Luke Steele...
  
  
• New Buffalo
  New Buffalo (band)
  Sally Seltmann is a Melbourne-based singer-songwriter. Until 2009, she performed under the alias New Buffalo.-Biography:...
  
  
• The Avalanches
  The Avalanches
  The Avalanches are an Australian electronic music group formed in 1997 with mainstays Robbie Chater on keyboards, Tony Diblasi on keyboards, bass and backing vocals, and Darren Seltmann on vocals and keyboards. They are known for their live DJ sets and their debut album Since I Left You , which was...
  
  

2008 Lineup

The 2008 St Jerome's Laneway Festival lineup includes international and Australian acts:

• Feist
  Leslie Feist
  Leslie Feist , known professionally as simply Feist, is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, both as a solo artist and as a member of the indie rock group Broken Social Scene....
  
  
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
• Gotye
  Gotye
  Wouter "Wally" De Backer , also known professionally by his stage name Gotye , is a Belgian-Australian multi-instrumental musician and singer-songwriter. He has released three studio albums independently and one remix album featuring remixes of tracks from his first two albums...
  
  
• The Cool Kids
  The Cool Kids
  The Cool Kids is an American hip hop group. Consisting of rappers Antoine "Sir Michael Rocks" Reed and Evan "Chuck Inglish" Ingersoll , the group is based in Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan...
  
  
• Broken Social Scene
  Broken Social Scene
  Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed in 1999 by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning. Most of its members currently play in various other groups and solo projects, mainly based around the city of Toronto...
  
   Presents Spirit If...
  Spirit If...
  Spirit If... is the debut solo album by Broken Social Scene co-founder Kevin Drew. It was released on September 18, 2007. The album is the first in a series entitled Broken Social Scene Presents:, with each album in the series being a particular member's solo efforts, assisted by fellow Broken...
  
  
• Okkervil River
• Dan Deacon
  Dan Deacon
  Dan Deacon is an American composer and electronic musician based out of Baltimore, Maryland. Since 2003, Deacon has released eight albums under several different labels...
  
  ^†
• Via Tania
  Via Tania
  Via Tania is an Australian-born, Chicago-based musician named Tania Bowers. Tania originally started performing in Sydney during the 1990s with her sister Kim Bowers in noise outfit named Spdfgh....
  
  ^†
• The Panics
  The Panics
  The Panics are an ARIA Award–winning indie rock band originally from Perth, Western Australia, and currently based in Melbourne, Victoria.-History:...
  
  
• Bridezilla
  Bridezilla (band)
  Bridezilla are a five-piece indie band from Sydney, Australia that began playing together in 2005.The band - Holiday Sidewinder, , who also plays rhythm guitar on most tracks, Pia May, the band's guitarist, Millie Hall, plays both the Saxophone and the keyboard, Daisy Tulley, plays the violin, and...
  
  
• The Holidays
  The Holidays
  The Holidays are an Australian indie pop/soul band. Formed in Sydney in 2006, the band consists of Simon Jones, Will Magnus, Alex Kortt and Andrew Kerridge...
  
  
• Devastations
• The Brunettes
  The Brunettes
  The Brunettes are an indie pop or twee pop group from New Zealand formed in 1998. The band consists of core members Jonathan Bree and Heather Mansfield with additional contributions from part-time band members including James Milne , Ryan McPhun , Harry Cundy, and most recently,...
  
  ^†
• Little Red
  Little Red
  Little Red is a rock band from Melbourne, Australia consisting of Adrian Beltrame , Dominic Byrne , Quang Dinh , Tom Hartney and Taka Honda .-Biography:...
  
  
• Rudely Interrupted
• Stars
  Stars (band)
  Stars is an indie pop band from Canada. Originally formed in Toronto by vocalist Torquil Campbell and keyboardist Chris Seligman, the band relocated to New York City and then subsequently to Montreal, where they are currently based.-History:...
  
  
• Violent Soho
  Violent Soho
  Violent Soho are a band from Brisbane, Queensland. The band formed in 2004. They are a quartet, with Luke Boerdam on guitar/vocals, James Tidswell on guitar/vocals, Luke Henery on bass and Michael Richards on drums...
  
  
• Batrider

^†: Not playing Adelaide

2009 Lineup

• Girl Talk
  Girl Talk (musician)
  Gregg Michael Gillis , better known by his stage name Girl Talk, is an American musician specializing in mashups and digital sampling. Gillis has released five LPs on the record label Illegal Art and EPs on 333 and 12 Apostles....
  
  
• Stereolab
  Stereolab
  Stereolab are an alternative music band formed in 1990 in London, England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier , both of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes...
  
  
• Architecture in Helsinki
  Architecture in Helsinki
  Architecture in Helsinki is an Australian indie pop band which consists of Cameron Bird, Gus Franklin, Jamie Mildren, Sam Perry, and Kellie Sutherland...
  
  
• The Hold Steady
  The Hold Steady
  The Hold Steady is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2004. The band consists of Craig Finn , Tad Kubler , Galen Polivka , Bobby Drake , and Steve Selvidge...
  
  
• The Drones
  The Drones
  The Drones are an Australian rock group who rose to prominence during the early 2000s. They are influenced by a variety of bands and soloists including Neil Young, The Velvet Underground, Bad Brains, Suicide, Green on Red, The Birthday Party, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and Nina Simone.- The Sound...
  
  
• Cut Off Your Hands
  Cut Off Your Hands
  Cut Off Your Hands are an indie pop band from New Zealand influenced largely by post punk and indie pop groups such as The Smiths, Gang of Four, Orange Juice, Talking Heads, as well as NZ post-punk of The Mint Chicks and This Night Creeps...
  
  
• Four Tet
  Four Tet
  Kieran Hebden is a post-rock and electronic musician. Hebden first came to prominence as a member of the band Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist under the moniker of Four Tet....
  
  
• Tame Impala
  Tame Impala
  Tame Impala are a psychedelic rock band from Perth, Australia. They are signed to Modular Records. The band came to prominence in 2010 with the release of their first debut album, Innerspeaker. Their name refers to the impala, a medium sized antelope...
  
  
• El Guincho
  El Guincho
  El Guincho is the recording alias of Spanish musician Pablo Díaz-Reixa. Also a member of Coconot, Díaz-Reixa rose to prominence with his 2008 album, Alegranza!. His musical style relies heavily on the use of sampling and incorporates elements of Afrobeat, dub, Tropicália and rock and roll...
  
  
• Jay Reatard
  Jay Reatard
  Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr. , better known by the stage name Jay Reatard, was an American musician from Memphis, Tennessee. Lindsey was signed to Matador Records...
  
  
• Buraka Som Sistema
  Buraka Som Sistema
  Buraka Som Sistema is an electronic dance music project from Portugal, specializing in a fusion of techno beats with the African kuduro genre, and are generally credited with creating the "progressive kuduro" variant and have been awarded an MTV European Music Award.-Origins:Buraka Som Sistema was...
  
  
• The Temper Trap
  The Temper Trap
  The Temper Trap is an Australian indie rock band which formed in 2005. The core members are Jonathon Aherne on bass guitar and vocals, Toby Dundas on drums and programming, Dougy Mandagi on vocals and guitar, and Lorenzo Sillitto on guitar, keyboards and vocals. They are supplemented on tours with...
  
  
• No Age
  No Age
  No Age is a two-person American indie rock group consisting of guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Allen Spunt. The band is based in Los Angeles and is currently signed to Sub Pop records...
  
  
• John Steel Singers
  John Steel Singers
  The John Steel Singers are a six piece band from Brisbane, Australia, named after a toy horse that band member Tim Morrissey named John Steel. They were formed in 2007 when Morrissey and Scott Bromiley decided to start making music together and were soon joined by Ross Chandler, Pete Bernoth, Pat...
  
  
• Canyons
• Pivot
  Pivot (band)
  Pivot is a United States rock band from Raleigh, North Carolina featuring Brian Kelly on vocals, Eric Hambright on guitar, Mike Hambright on bass, and Phil Cicco on drums.-Discography:*1999 - Self Titled EP*2003 - Simple Machines...
  
  
• Port O'Brien
  Port O'Brien
  Port O'Brien are an American musical group combining elements of acoustic, folk and indie rock.They are named after a bay in Alaska featuring a now-abandoned cannery on Kodiak Island where founder member Van Pierszalowski's parents met...
  
  
• Holly Throsby
  Holly Throsby
  Holly Throsby is a songwriter, vocalist, guitarist and pianist from Sydney, Australia. Throsby was nominated for an Australian Recording Industry Association 'Best Female Artist' Award in 2006 for Under the Town and in the same category in 2008 for A Loud Call.- Career :Holly Throsby was raised...
  
  
• Born Ruffians
  Born Ruffians
  Born Ruffians, formerly known as Mornington Drive, are a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2004, originally from Midland, Ontario, located near Georgian Bay. They are currently signed to Warp Records. The members are Luke Lalonde , Mitch Derosier and Steven Hamelin...
  
  
• Mountains in the Sky
• Tim Fite
  Tim Fite
  Tim Fite is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, living and working in Brooklyn. His past releases have run the gamut from indie to alternative to country to hip hop.-History:...
  
  
• Still Flyin'
  Still Flyin'
  Still Flyin’ is an American Indie Pop band based in San Francisco, founded in 2004 by Sean Rawls.-Name of the Band:The band is based on the song “Never Gonna Touch the Ground”, a song that Rawls wrote and performed in a prior band, Je Suis France. After moving to San Francisco, Rawls recorded the...
  
  
• Daedelus
• Spiral Stairs
• Papa VS Pretty
  Papa VS Pretty
  Papa Vs Pretty is an ARIA-nominated Australian rock band from Sydney, New South Wales. Originally the solo act of then 15-year old Thomas Rawle in 2006, Papa Vs Pretty became its current three-piece band in 2008 with the addition of Rawle’s friends Angus Gardiner and Tom Myers Papa Vs Pretty is...
  
  

2010 Lineup

• Echo & The Bunnymen
  Echo & the Bunnymen
  Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...
  
   - No Melbourne
• Midnight Juggernauts
  Midnight Juggernauts
  Midnight Juggernauts are a band from Melbourne, Australia composed of Andrew Szekeres, Vincent Vendetta, and Daniel Stricker. The band has been described as anything from 'prog dance meets cosmic film scores', to 'slasher-flick disco' to 'deadpan landscape',...
  
   - Melbourne only
• Florence & The Machine
• Black Lips
  Black Lips
  Black Lips are a "Flower Punk" band from Atlanta, Georgia.-History:The band formed in 1999 in Dunwoody, Georgia after guitarist Cole Alexander and bassist Jared Swilley left the Renegades, and guitarist Ben Eberbaugh left the Reruns. Alexander and Swilley were known for their crude antics both...
  
  
• The xx
  The xx
  The xx are an English indie pop band, formed in London in 2005. The band's members met while studying at Elliott School, the same school that produced Hot Chip, Burial and Four Tet. They became a trio when their second guitarist and keyboardist, Baria Qureshi, departed in late 2009. In September...
  
  
• Cut Off Your Hands
  Cut Off Your Hands
  Cut Off Your Hands are an indie pop band from New Zealand influenced largely by post punk and indie pop groups such as The Smiths, Gang of Four, Orange Juice, Talking Heads, as well as NZ post-punk of The Mint Chicks and This Night Creeps...
  
  
• Bachelorette
  Bachelorette (singer)
  Bachelorette is the musical project of New Zealander Annabel Alpers. Formed in 2004 in Christchurch, Bachelorette mixes '60s psychedelia and girl-group pop with folk and vintage electronics...
  
  
• Chris Knox
  Chris Knox
  Chris Knox is a New Zealand rock and roll musician, cartoonist, and DVD reviewer who emerged during the punk rock era with his bands The Enemy and Toy Love. After Toy Love disbanded in the early 1980s, he formed the group Tall Dwarfs with guitarist Alec Bathgate, much loved for their honest,...
  
   And The Nothing
• The Naked and Famous
  The Naked and Famous
  -Studio albums:-EPs:-Singles:-B-sides:-Music videos:-In popular culture:"All of This" was featured in the fourth episode of The Secret Circle....
  
  
• The 3D's
• Daniel Johnston
  Daniel Johnston
  Daniel Dale Johnston is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and artist. Johnston was the subject of the 2006 documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston. He currently lives in Waller, Texas....
  
   – No Adelaide
• Sarah Blasko
  Sarah Blasko
  Sarah Elizabeth Blaskow , is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. After fronting Sydney-based band Acquiesce from the mid-1990s, Blasko developed her solo career from 2002. In 2007, she won the 'Best Pop Release' for What the Sea Wants, the Sea Will Have at the ARIA Music Awards, which...
  
  
• Street Chant
• N.A.S.A
• Eddy Current Suppression Ring
  Eddy Current Suppression Ring
  Eddy Current Suppression Ring is a Melbourne-based Australian rock group which rose to prominence in 2008.-Biography:The band formed in 2003 when several band members started jamming at the Christmas party at a vinyl pressing plant where they worked. They encouraged now-lead singer Brendan...
  
  
• Hockey
  Hockey (band)
  Hockey is an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon.-Members:Until October 2010, the band consisted of singer Benjamin Grubin, guitarist Brian Stuart White, bassist Jeremy Reynolds, drummer Anthony Stassi and touring keyboardist Ryan Dolliver, and have been compared in their sound to bands...
  
  
• Dappled Cities
• Mumford & Sons
  Mumford & Sons
  Mumford & Sons are a British folk rock band. The band consists of Marcus Mumford , Ben Lovett , Country Winston Marshall , and Ted Dwane...
  
  
• The Very Best
• Radioclit
• Warpaint
  Warpaint (band)
  Warpaint is an American art rock group from Los Angeles, formed in 2004. The band's members are Emily Kokal , Theresa Wayman , Jenny Lee Lindberg , and Stella Mozgawa . The band's membership has also included actress Shannyn Sossamon and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer...
  
  
• Wild Beasts
  Wild Beasts
  Wild Beasts are an indie rock band from Kendal in Cumbria. They released their first single, "Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants", on Bad Sneakers Records in November 2006, and subsequently signed to Domino Records. They have released three acclaimed albums, Limbo, Panto in 2008, Two Dancers in...
  
   – No Adelaide
• Whitley
  Whitley
  -Places:United Kingdom*Whitley Bay, town in Tyne and Wear *Whitley, Berkshire, suburb of Reading*Whitley, Cheshire, village near Warrington*Whitley, Coventry, suburb of Coventry...
  
  
• The Middle East
  The Middle East (band)
  The Middle East were a musical collective based in Townsville in Queensland, Australia. Forming in 2005, the group played locally and completed several East Coast tours of mainly Christian festivals throughout Australia. Motivation behind the naming of the band is unclear...
  
  
• Kid Sam
  Kid Sam
  Kid Sam are a Melbourne based duo. The bands first gig was in 2006 and it is made up of cousins Kieran and Kishore Ryan. Their debut self titled album was released in 2009 to positive reviews and they went on their first national headline tour in 2010. Kid Sam were nominated for a J Award and the...
  
  
• Dirty Three
  Dirty Three
  Dirty Three are an instrumental trio consisting of Warren Ellis , Mick Turner and Jim White , originating from Melbourne, Australia. Since the Dirty Three formed in 1992, they have spent a lot of time overseas...
  
  – Melbourne only

External links

• Official Website
• Myspace
• Pitchfork Media Review