Young Kiwi singer Bene performers in front of a packed crowd at Auckland's Laneway festival. Photo/David Watson
Young Kiwi singer Bene performers in front of a packed crowd at Auckland's Laneway festival. Photo/David Watson
"Wear sunscreen," warned Imugi. "Is everyone drinking water?" asked Clairo. "I'm too sweaty up here," declared Bene.
Laneway, the annual Auckland Anniversary Day music festival that attracts up to 12,000 music fans, is normally baking hot.
But as those comments from the day's early performers suggest, it's not normally quite this hot.
Depending on where you stood, temperatures at the Albert Park site reached somewhere into the late 20s. That meant water, and shade, and sunscreen, was at a premium.
Clothing? Four fake bananas rocked around, so did several moonboots, and there was a lot of not very much at all.
The heat on the ground didn't stop artists from sweating up a storm on stage. Among the early highlights were Kiwi rockers Miss June, who created quite the grunge-tinged racket first up on the main stage, yelping, "Hi mum!" and, "Let's start a riot!" between songs.
The day's first real highlight came from Auckland act Imugi, an electronic duo who match psychedelic beats with half-cooed, half-rapped vocals.
They seemed genuinely happy to be there - "This is wild," they declared at one point; "This is insane," at another - and included backing dancers and a surprise appearance by celebrated rap duo Church & AP to help celebrate the occasion.
Imugi play one of Laneway's earlier sets. Photo / Supplied
A pilgrimage of another kind was made to the site's smallest stage, the Thunderdome, as young singer Bene, also young at just 19, took to the stage. Throngs of fans packed the street to support her extremely groovy pop tunes, and confetti canons lent an ecstatic energy to the local's set.
Bene herself, wearing a flowy yellow skirt, rocked out on stage with effortless energy. It was thrilling to see a rising local singer kill a late afternoon slot with the same charisma as any international pop star, and she set the tone for Florence & the Machine, the British pop star who performed at the very first Laneway Festival 10 years ago and was tasked with closing out the festival later this evening.
But it was kids first up who were killing it, including Clairo, an American 20-year-old who posted a lo-fi bedroom video on YouTube and quickly became a viral sensation, wracking up millions of views.
Her main stage set was a surprise highlight, full of beautifully crafted, pared back pop that built into something more danceable as her set progressed. She seems a star in the making - and her young fans in the front row cheering her every move seemed to agree.
A similar kind of vibe greeted Robinson, the Kiwi pop star who was a last-minute replacement for Billie Eilish and is barely into her 20s but proved she had similar drawpower thanks to her streaming hit Nothing to Regret becoming a radio staple recently.
Earlier, R&B singer Ravyn Lenae charmed the Rotunda Stage with her enormous hit Sticky being a highlight. The singer was all about crowd participation, asking for fans for permission to sing a cover before launching into a stunning version of OutKast's Prototype, then making them promise to keep dancing.
Elsewhere, if you were after jangly guitar rock, you were well catered for thanks to an Australian invasion that began with frenetic performer G Flip, who began her set on a drum kit belting out a cover of DMX, before picking up a microphone and delivering something a little more emotional than that opening suggests.
Gang of Youths perform at Auckland's Laneway Festival. Photo/David Watson
Fellow Aussies Middle Kids, Camp Cope and Skeggs followed with varying levels of success with sets scattered around different stages that struggled to pull in numbers seeking to escape the peak midday heat by gathering under trees and queuing for cold drinks.
But lethargy wasn't a problem for Gang of Youths. The Aussie veterans impressed from the outset with a loud main stage show of songs that sounded like Kings of Leon but were slowly layered up and sounded more like something Bruce Springsteen might enjoy.
Other performers set to round out the day include Jon Hopkins, Jorja Smith, rapper Denzel Curry and Florence & the Machine.
