The St. Jerome's Laneway Festival, commonly referred to as Laneway, began in Caledonian Lane, Melbourne, Australia, on Sunday, February 27, 2005. Beginning as predominantly an indie music event, the festival grew in popularity and expanded to five Australian cities—Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Fremantle—as well as Auckland, New Zealand, and Singapore.

History

2005

St. Jerome's Laneway Festival had its roots in the "St. Jerome's Summer Series" each Sunday afternoon, created by Jerome Borazio and Danny Rogers and featuring new bands of the time, including The Presets and Architecture in Helsinki. They then included a monthly Saturday night called "Brains", which was actually a residency for musical act The Avalanches, and Borazio and Rogers eventually convinced The Avalanches that they could close the lane, remove the bins and stage a laneway party. With the addition of promotional material and other acts, the inaugural St. Jerome's Laneway Festival was launched. The line-up included: The Avalanches, Art of Fighting, Eskimo Joe, The Dears, Cut Copy, Architecture in Helsinki, Clare Bowditch, the Feeding Set and Gersey. Following a total attendance of 1,400 people at the first Laneway Festival, it was announced later in 2005 that Laneway was expanding to Sydney.

2006

In 2006, both Melbourne and Sydney hosted a line-up of both international and domestic artists, including: Broken Social Scene, Les Savy Fav, Gossip, Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Avalanches, The Posies, The Hold Steady, The Raveonettes and The Drones.

2007

Just as Sydney's Laneway was becoming further established, Brisbane venue The Zoo staged the festival in 2007. A combination of street party and music show included performances from The Walkmen, Yo La Tengo, Peter Bjorn and John, Camera Obscura and Snowman.

2008

In 2008, Laneway found a home at the Fowler's Live venue in Adelaide. Laneway Festival 2008 included performances by Feist, Gotye, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Presets, Stars, The Vasco Era, The Panics and Okkervil River.

2009

Laneway Festival Perth happened for the first time in 2009, which was well-reviewed by FasterLouder. The 2009 event featured Girl Talk, Stereolab, Architecture In Helsinki, The Hold Steady, The Drones, Cut Off Your Hands, Four Tet, Tame Impala, El Guincho, Jay Reatard, Buraka Som Sistema (DJ/MC set), The Temper Trap and No Age. An announcement in October 2009 confirmed that the festival would be held in Auckland, New Zealand, from 2010 onwards.

2010

In 2010, Laneway Festival implemented some significant changes to adapt to the growing stature of the event. After some considerable issues with the Melbourne site in 2009, Laneway left its original venue and moved to the inner western suburb of Footscray, with the support of the Footscray Community Arts Centre. The Sydney event relocated from the site at Macquarie Square in the CBD to the courtyards of the Sydney College of the Arts in Rozelle. The inaugural festival in Auckland, New Zealand, sold out. The line-up in 2010 included: Florence & the Machine, Mumford and Sons, The XX, Kid Sam and Wild Beasts. In November 2010, the organisers announced Singapore as the first city to host the festival in South-east Asia.

2011

For the inaugural Laneway Festival Singapore, music fans from all over Asia travelled to the Canning Park venue. Paul Kay, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time Out Hong Kong, wrote of "a lineup that mixed unimpeachable indie credibility with balls-out, dance-till-you-drop rock'n'roll euphoria". The 2011 list of acts featured: Foals, Warpaint, Beach House, Two Door Cinema Club, Yeasayer, Deerhunter, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti and !!!, among others. Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis called it "the best line-up we've been a part of for a very long time," while the Vine website's Marcus Teague wrote: "the top-to-bottom completeness of this year's Laneway line-up will be hard to beat in future years. Its roster of quality new bands coupled with on-the-cusp outright stars is veritably unmatched by any other festival. There's next to no filler ... It also seems to breed a discerning music fan that's (largely) focussed on the music." In March, Laneway Festival co-hosted a day party at the American SXSW festival—alongside North American agency The Windish Agency, independent British promoter Eat Your Own Ears, and Austin, Texas publication Austinist—which featured Twin Shadow, Foster the People, Givers, Hanni El Khatib and Jamie Woon, among others. Eat Your Own Ears then invited the Laneway organisers to curate a stage at the August Field Day London event for the first time, which featured Matthew Dear, The Horrors and James Blake.

2012

In 2012, Laneway Festival selected acts such as M83, Chairlift, SBTRKT, Toro y Moi and Washed Out for that year's events. The festival recorded its highest tickets sales ever in Singapore, Auckland and Sydney in 2012. A Vine review stated: "This year's event seemed the most enjoyable yet … the 2012 Laneway proved that it's now an essential recurring destination on the calendar". Laneway returned to SXSW in 2012—and again in partnership with The Windish Agency, Eat Your Own Ears and Austinist—to co-host the "Austin or Bust" day party that featured DZ Deathrays, Django Django and Chairlift. Laneway's organisers also returned to London's Field Day festival—in collaboration with Last.FM on this occasion—and showcased artists such as Blood Orange, Sleigh Bells, The Vaccines and Kindness.

2013

The Laneway lineup in 2013 included: Bat for Lashes, Japandroids, Divine Fits, Alt-J, Of Monsters and Men, MS MR, Jessie Ware, Flume, Chet Faker, Pond and The Rubens. The Tone Deaf website wrote: "Laneway does not fail to live up to its reputation, putting the mega-corporate festivals to shame with [its] authenticity". The festival continued to stage its events in New Zealand and Singapore, and programmed a stage at Field Day London for the third time. The Field Day stage featured a line-up of acts that included Charlie Boyer & The Voyeurs, Dark Bells and Django Django. On 15 March 2013, Laneway Festival announced it will expand to Detroit, US, to make its North American debut on 14 September 2013. The inaugural Laneway Festival Detroit lineup was announced on 13 May 2013, and included co-headliners Sigur Rós and The National. The Detroit event also featured Chvrches, Solange, Savages, AlunaGeorge, Flume and Icona Pop. After spending some time in Detroit in 2012 at the invitation of the Palace Sports & Entertainment company, Rogers said he knew the city was Laneway's next stop and first American venue: "Detroit is having its rebirth and as Laneway continues to evolve, we can identify with a city that is continuing to evolve as well... It seemed like a great fit and this line-up seals it." On 9 November 2013, Laneway Festival won Music Event of the Year at the West Australian Music Industry Awards.

2014

Laneway Festival sold out five of the seven events in 2014. The festival featured Vance Joy, Lorde, CHVRCHES, Haim, The Jezabels, Earl Sweatshirt, Four Tet, Jamie xx, Frightened Rabbit, Daughter, Warpaint, Danny Brown, Savages and King Krule. Rogers said:"We’re exceptionally proud of this year’s line-up. As usual, the artists have been chosen on the strength of their music and their ability to deliver an insanely great live show. It’s why we couldn’t resist bringing a few international acts back and it’s why we are so thrilled to introduce you to some most exciting new artists this side of the world has seen for the very first time. This country has so many incredibly talented artists; if only we could bring them all along." In 2014, the Perth event relocated from the Perth Cultural Centre to Esplanade Park in the port city of Fremantle. The new venue was chosen due to the event's growth in popularity, accommodating 12,000 people. Laneway also relocated in Adelaide and moved to the historical site of Hart's Mill, Port Adelaide. In regard to the Adelaide move, Rogers explained: "We searched super hard to find a site that we felt could match the experience that other cities have had with Laneway. Renewal SA, the City of Port Adelaide Enfield and a team of locals have worked with us to find a site that ticks all the boxes." New Zealand artist Lorde was scheduled to perform at Laneway Festival Auckland on 27 January 2014; however, due to her attendance at the Grammy Awards ceremony on 26 January in Los Angeles, US, she was unable to perform. In lieu of her performance at the festival, Laneway's promoters announced a special stand-alone Lorde performance at the festival site at Silo Park, which was held on 29 January 2014.

2015

The festival put women at the front in 2015, with the likes of FKA twigs, St Vincent, Angel Olsen, Banks and the Courtney Barnett playing some of the most coveted time-slots. Other featured musicians were Mac Demarco, Connan Mockasin, Peter Bibby and Pond. Agnes Demarco, mother of Mac, featured as a special guest MC.

2016

2016 saw record ticket sales, and featured Beach House, DIIV, FIDLAR, Violent Soho, Grimes and DMA's, while Melbourne's Tripmonks made a splash with some unexpected nudity. Flume debuted his new material, including special guest appearances from MC Vince Staples and Kai.

2017

Laneway Festival 2017 was the 13th edition of the festival. The festival showcased new international acts such as Car Seat Headrest, NAO, Mick Jenkins, and Aurora, as well as local favourites like D.D Dumbo, Camp Cope, A.B. Original, Tash Sultana and Tame Impala. 2017 also saw Laneway Festival launch a new podcast, throw a Hottest 100 Backyard Party in Brisbane, and introduce the 1800-LANEWAY hotline in every Australian city.

2018

New collaborations included I OH YOU's Block Party, David Moyle's Royal Moyle food extravaganza, and the debut of Luke Henery's (Violent Soho) latest exhibition, "Everybody Needs A Home". It was the largest line-up so far and featured Mac DeMarco, The Internet and POND, as well as the Australian debut of (Sandy) Alex G, Dream Wife, Shame, S U R V I V E and Slowdive. Triple J live broadcast the Adelaide event, with Ben & Liam mc'ing the event.

2019

The 15th edition took place at a new Sydney venue, Footscray Park. Acts included Jorja Smith, Clairo, Denzel Curry and Rex Orange County. Gang of Youths closed out the festival in Fremantle. The festival also teamed up with Girls Rock! to empower the next generation of women and gender-diverse musicians. The inaugural Girls Rock! collaboration featured Alex Lahey, Alex the Astronaut, Courtney Barnett, Georgia Maq (Camp Cope) and Middle Kids, with the line-up varying across each location.

2020

The 16the edition proved to be the most successful festival ever, with record ticket sales, with events held in Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Fremantle and Sydney, where the event was held at The Domain for the very first time. The 1975 and Charli XCX headlined the festival. Other acts included Oliver Tree, BENEE, JID, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Tones and I and Ruel. Omar Apollo, Oliver Tree and bbno$ all made their Australian debuts. The sold-out Laneway Festival after-parties, a one-off charity gig by The 1975 and Ruel, and the 50c donation from every beer sold at the festival, collectively raised over $150,000 to support those who were affected by the devastating 2019–20 Australian bushfire season.

2021

The 2021 edition was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia and New Zealand.

2023

The 2023 Auckland portion of the festival was cancelled due to the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods.

Awards and nominations

Helpmann Awards

The Helpmann Awards is an awards show, celebrating live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia since 2001. Note: 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ! Ref.

National Live Music Awards

The National Live Music Awards (NLMAs) commenced in 2016 to recognize contributions to the live music industry in Australia. They went on hiatus between 2020-2022.

2005 lineup

2006 lineup

2007 lineup

2008 lineup

†: Not playing Adelaide

2009 lineup

2010 lineup

2011 lineup

2012 lineup

2013 lineup

Australia

Detroit

2014 lineup

Australia

Singapore

2015 lineup

Australia

New Zealand

Singapore

2016 lineup

Australia

Singapore

2017 lineup

Australia

New Zealand

Singapore

2018 lineup

2019 lineup

2020 lineup

2023 lineup

The Auckland edition of the festival was supposed to be held on 30 January, but cancelled due to rainfall.

2024

The 2024 festivals were headlined by Stormzy, Steve Lacy, and Dominic Fike.