God-dammit, after I vowed not to go to the Laneway Festival again because it was so unenjoyable last time around (something which had nothing to do with the music), they're making it really fucking hard for me. However, I've seen Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Okkervil River, and Broken Social Scene live before, so the only one I'm desperate to see is Feist. Don't get me wrong, all those bands were and are terrific and the Okkervil River gig in particular is one of the best I've seen, but the thought of spending another 12 hours crammed into a stinky laneway which is subway-at-rush-hour type full of people, the vast majority of whom spending those 12 hours getting progressively sweatier and drunker and more obnoxious, just to hear 40-minutes sets, and having no down-time whatsoever between acts because when there's no band on stage the music from the D.J. tent gets pumped through the loud-speakers so that by the end of the 12 hours my ears are practically bleeding . . . no, I think I'll keep an eye out for side-shows instead.
Also, with Joanna Newsome, Bjork, and Sufjan Stevens all performing, it's looking like the Sydney Festival is going to be one of the best music festivals this summer. Go figure!
