Holy shit. Laneway Festival was awesome.

I had three big LED video screens to play with, a crowd of people who were looking for some party action, a big-arse stage on the road between Central Tafe and the WA Library, a bottomless rider bar, a ton of pent up energy to put into the show, an awesome timeslot, an awesome lineup… we like these things here at Tomás Ford. That was a super-fun set. I want to do it again.

I had a few people say to me afterwards “That was a great set, where are you from?” Which I’ve come to learn in Perth is a very high compliment. Our cultural cringe is enormous. It’s always quite fun to reply “Fremantle” or if I’m in a contrary, I’m gonna-fuck-your-shit kind of mood, “Rockingham”.

Who else did I see? Hmmm. Boys! Boys! Boys! Were great as usual, but their fantastic Southbound set was always going to be hard to top for me. Voltaire Twins were fun. Wild Beasts were somewhere beween sexy-style Of Montreal and a sex scene from a Twilight movie, so I was a bit confused about weather to get into them or not. Hockey were pretty great for a new hype band, even if their songs aren’t much to write home about they’re tight and interesting enough. I’ll wait for their next record before I committ to fully digging them though.

NASA were scarily awful, like walking into the rave scene from the movie Go. Scratching and mashing up things that shouldn’t be mashed up and doing a lot of shouting “Peeeeeeeeeeeerth!” with delay on their voice. I had my own little Perth-cringe moment when their MC said something along the lines of “This is the last show of the tour so we want a pumping crowd! And the crowds are always pumping in Perth!” Oh dear, I fear you are either lying or very inexperienced in positive crowd reactions.

My non-Me highlight of the day was sitting sidestage for Florence And The Machine. Girlfriend has moves. What an amazing show; I’d never really listened to their music before, but as a performer Florence is entrancing. Her band is tight and inventive despite basing their songs on classic rock sounds; I can’t say I’ve seen anything like her before. Her presence is what I’d expected from Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs but not recieved at Southbound. Her voice is amazing, but it’s more the sensation of total raw emotion you get from watching her sing. Fantastic.

Plus, bitch climbed the lighting scaffolding in 3 inch heels. I was in awe.

Again! I want to do it again!