Lorde performs live on stage during the Laneway Festival on February 2, 2014. Photo / Getty Images
Lorde performs live on stage during the Laneway Festival on February 2, 2014. Photo / Getty Images
Seers, mediums, fortune tellers and clairvoyants, are some of the select few who claim to have the ability to predict the future. Laneway’s co-founder Danny Rogers seems to be another name to add to that list.
For 20 years, the music manager and his business partner and long-time friend, Jerome Borazio have booked artists to play at the successful event mere months before they’ve found mainstream success. Lorde, Billie Eilish and Tame Impala are just a few of those names.
Now, with the festival set to make its Western Springs debut on February 6, allowing 30,000 punters to attend as opposed to the 13,000 they have previously annually hosted at Albert Park, Rogers speaks to the Herald and reflects on the question, “Does Laneway have a crystal ball?”
Tame Impala performs at St Jerome's Laneway Festival on January 26, 2017. Photo / Getty Images
Originally called St. Jerome’s after the bar Borazio owned, the festival’s origin year in 2004 was a celebration of the bar’s one year in business and took place in Melbourne’s Caledonian Lane. But after realising how much fun they had creating it, Rogers and Borazio continued hosting it until it blossomed into a huge event that regularly hosts more than 100,000 Kiwis and Aussies each year, having a lot of luck along the way.
Rogers explains that luck has largely been based on instincts; “I have a good instinct for things and I’ve learned over the years when I can see something happening like I can just feel it,” he says adding he likes to picture things 12 months later to see where the artist might land which sometimes pays off - and sometimes it pays off too early.
“It’s a bit of a guessing game. Sometimes you get it perfectly timed. Sometimes, like say Billie Eilish, when we had Billie play, Billie was doing great, but it wasn’t until the following year that she really blew up. So, everyone was like, ‘You guys had Billie Eilish’. And yeah, we had Billie Eilish, but we were arguably ahead of the game. So, sometimes you can be too far ahead,” he chuckles.
While Kiwis saw Eilish at the 2017 show, they, unfortunately, didn’t get to see her perform in 2018 as a last-minute scheduling conflict saw her pull out of the Auckland leg of the event - which also has shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. But they have seen the other huge stars who have performed including Aussie band Tame Impala and Fred again.
2019 Laneway in Auckland's Albert Park. Photo / Jess Gleeson
When discussing his selection formula, Rogers says it’s less about data and more a combination of gut instinct and listening to those around you to see what music they are enjoying.
“I’ve got a bit of a thing where three or four people that I respect their tastes say something about one act. It can be coincidental that you say, ‘oh, I love Raye’, and someone else says, ‘oh, how good’s Raye?’ And then someone says, ‘Have you heard the Raye song?’ Then I’m like, ‘Okay, let’s pay attention to Raye’.”
He’s referring to one of this year’s headliners, Raye. The 26-year-old is a rising star, earning world recognition with her top hits such as Escapism and Prada which both went viral on TikTok upon their releases ultimately earning chart-topping status and critical acclaim.
While it’s yet to be known exactly how big her career will be, if it’s anything like the festival’s previous acts she may have just booked herself the career launching set.
Billie Eilish performs on stage at St .Jerome's Laneway Festival on February 11, 2018. Photo / Getty Images
This year, Rogers believes he knows who will be making it big in the coming years. Faye Webster.
After releasing her debut album Run and Tell at the age of 16, the 23-year-old American singer-songwriter has gone on to release three studio albums, steadily rising her way up the ranks with festival performances and shows. She’s even landed herself on Barack Obama’s 2020 year-end music list and Rogers believes it’s all been leading up to this year - Webster’s year.
“I would say she’ll be the surprise big act of the show that everyone’s talking about afterwards. With the record coming later this year I think she’s going to be a really really important artist.” He adds, “She is just a really clever songwriter in that she sort of sits in, maybe the artist Mitski’s world, so a little bit of an arty singer-songwriter, really clever songwriter and her young following is really interesting.”
As for who the music manager would want to see return to the Laneway stage, it’s hard to choose. They’ve had a fair few impressive names but he wouldn’t be able to deny one Kiwi star, “I’d love to have Lorde”.
LOWDOWN:
What: St. Jerome’s Laneway festival
Who: Stormzy, Steve Lacey, Dominic Fike, Raye, Faye Webster and more
Lillie Rohan is an Auckland-based reporter covering lifestyle and entertainment stories who joined the Herald in 2020. She specialises in all things relationships and dating, Kiwi celebs we can’t help but love and TV shows you simply cannot miss out on.
