Laneway Festival announces first acts, location and date

Punters at St Jerome's Laneway Festival at Auckland's Albert Park in January 2017. Photo / nzherald

St Jerome's Laneway Festival has announced its first two acts as well as the date and venue for 2018.

Anderson .Paak and Mac DeMarco will be taking to the stage for Laneway 2018, which will take place at Albert Park on Auckland Anniversary Day, Monday January 29.

Mac DeMarco last played Laneway festival in 2015 and sold out Auckland's Kings Arms in January 2016. The 26-year-old Canadian slack-rocker has carved out a career with his trademark sunny guitar-pop ditties, and he released his latest album This Old Dog earlier this year.

Mac DeMarco will return to New Zealand for Laneway 2018. Photo / supplied

Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals also join the 2018 bill. After achieving breakout success with a number of appearances on Dr Dre's 2016 album Compton, .Paak emerged as one of the top talents in the music business.

The singer, songwriter and producer effortlessly commands elements of funk, soul, hip-hop, RnB and electronica, most notably on his 2016 album Malibu. He's also made guest appearances on hits such as Kaytranada's Glowed Up.

Anderson .Paak will play Laneway with his band The Free Nationals in 2018. Photo / supplied

After a well-received move to its new home of Albert Park precinct in 2017, Laneway Festival has confirmed it will return to the site for 2018, again on Auckland Anniversary Day.

Old fave @Msldemarco is back with new fav @AndersonPaak! Laneway Members presale tickets go on sale at Wednesday 9am https://t.co/7Qpx2ilzJD pic.twitter.com/dHsRBS5w3X

— Laneway Festival NZ (@lanewayfestNZ) August 20, 2017

The full Laneway lineup will be released on Tuesday September 12.