Welcome to Laneway Adelaide 2026! The weather was a perfect thirty degrees, and yet many of our fantastic acts were advising us to hydrate because it was so hot, but we know it’s not really that hot, and there is shade in the stands if you are so inclined.
I must commend the Laneway organisers, as their selections this year have been top-notch, as they are every year in my opinion. I really love the eclectic choices they made, and I feel it has the same vibe to me as my favourite festival, the incredible Primavera Sound in Barcelona. Chappell Roan on the main stage doing an extended set was a fantastic choice, and every band I saw I would see if they toured here again. I wish I had the time to be able to see the event in Sydney as well, as I have done before, so I could have seen some of the excellent acts on the other stage, as well as Geese, who did not play in Adelaide.
The Adelaide Showgrounds is a fantastic venue for festivals. I felt like I was back at the Big Day Out again! Well done to the organisers, and let’s hope it will be back there next year. I do not think there were as many people as there were last year for Charli XCX, but I am still waiting for the official numbers.
I stayed around the two main stages for most of the day, except when there was a short gap and I saw the last three songs of Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers on the other stage, where the sound was just as incredible as the main stages. Thankfully, I will be seeing Teen Jesus later this year, so I can see their whole set. The benefit of having the main stages side by side is that you don’t really have to move to get a good vantage point, and the changeover time is brief between bands and on time for the whole day.
First up for me was Cavetown (Robin Daniel Skinner), whose career started when he captured people’s imagination as a sort of bedroom pop artist, making music and releasing it on YouTube and Spotify. His recorded output covers indie rock and pop, as well as gentle bedroom pop, but live with his full band on the Laneway stage, it sounded brilliant, with a full, booming sound. For a second act on the main stage, the cheer when Cavetown came on was very loud. Many acts performing early in the day on the main stage have made return appearances at Laneway in later years, as the festival is very loyal to its bands, and it would not surprise me to see any of these acts in future Laneways. My two highlights from Cavetown’s performance were Baby Spoon, with its vulnerable, lullaby-like feel, and the heart breaking Devil Town, released over ten years ago.
Next on the main stage was Gigi Perez from the US, who treated us with her powerful voice and indie folk leanings. Most of the songs were taken from her 2025 album At the Beach, in Every Life, which is a beautiful album written in tribute to her late older sister. Highlights were Sugar Water, which was sung with Gigi’s younger sister Bella, and the last song, Sailor, which is a huge hit around the world. During Sailor, Gigi, who is from the US and has Cuban roots, voiced her strong opinions against the current US administration and the ICE Department.
Mt. Joy from Los Angeles has been around for ten years and were fantastic on the main stage. They started their set with the 2022 single Lemon Tree, which starts off gentle and then slowly builds into their off-kilter guitar psych-rock sound. Next was their first single, Astrovan, which is a catchy and upbeat indie rock song. I loved their joyous sound, and it reminded me in parts of “Dope Lemon” from Sydney. Like Gigi Perez before them, Mt. Joy are not afraid to voice their opinions about the current US administration prior to singing Sheep, which was written in 2016 and is more relevant today. They played Julia, which segued into a wonderful cover of Dancing Queen by ABBA, which the audience really enjoyed. My favourite was their final song Silver Lining, with its sing-along chorus and lead singer Mat Quinn’s raw vocals.
Alex G’s set opens to the sound of a motorcycle revving, the first of many samples used as links between songs. The first song, Louisiana, from his current album Headlights, is a raucous, raw, and gritty lo-fi song. Early in the set, I really loved the gentle sounds of June Guitar from the latest album and then Runner from 2022. Given only a certain amount of time to play, he keeps to the songs, with only limited generic banter early on before later telling us it is good to be back, as he was born in Adelaide and went to high school here. This is, however, an ongoing joke that Alex states everywhere he plays. I have been lucky to see Alex G in Melbourne, Barcelona, and London over the last two years, and he and his band were as tight as ever today. Although Alex is mainly on guitar, during the set he plays piano occasionally, and at one point even plays piano accordion. There are cheers of recognition from the audience as he plays the non-album B-side Sarah from 2012, which has long been a live favourite and recently become huge on TikTok. The set ends with another favourite from the excellent Headlights album called Logan Street.
Lucy Dacus’s joyful performance hits the ground running with her first song, First Time, continuing with the driving Hot & Heavy, which has long been a favourite of mine. The back-of-stage LED screen is utilised to good effect, with an inventive themed display of picture frames that change images from song to song. Her keyboard players switch to violins for a couple of songs, and Lucy utilises the extended platform to get closer to the audience. I loved the easy, jangly groove of Ankles. We are reminded several times through the day that it is Valentine’s Day, and Lucy introduces herself (for those who may not know who she is) and tells the audience, “Everyone needs a Valentine. Find each other in the next song,” in the introduction to Best Guess. Next up was another highlight of mine, Forever Is a Feeling, which is the title track of her 2025 album. I love the piano and Lucy’s beautiful vocals on this track. The last two songs are True Blue, which is a boygenius song (her supergroup with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker), and then the crowd favourite Night Shift.
Next up is Role Model (Tucker Harrington Pillsbury), who was an unknown act to me, but he was impressive nonetheless. I would say he is pop-country, with some really catchy tunes. He started the set with Writing’s on the Wall, and the audience was into him from the start. He is a really confident showman and connected well with the crowd. They played an excellent cover of The 1975’s Somebody Else, and after it, Tucker said that he and his band were “the 1965.” During the set, he often teased that he had just played the last song, and this made a few people around me anxious, as he was yet to play his biggest hit, Sally, When the Wine Runs Out. This song is a definite audience favourite, and Lucy Dacus makes a surprise cameo appearance when he calls out, “Where’s my Sally?” and she dances on stage with a rose between her teeth. This song ended up in the top twenty of Triple J’s Hottest 100 this year. They ended the set with Deeply Still in Love, which is an upbeat, vulnerable and beautiful song.
Wet Leg were initially obscured by smoke, and the lighting was not quite appropriate for their late afternoon set, with the sun still shining bright. During the opening song, Catch These Fists, singer Rhian Teasdale struts down the platform, dressed in her provocative, visually striking trademark style, posing and flexing her muscles, inciting the audience to scream with joy. The band’s co-founder and collaborator, Hester Chambers, on guitar, remains in the relative background, letting Rhian be the focus of the audience. Rhian’s primal performance is captivating. She takes up the guitar for the second song, Wet Dream, and the band play a set of spiky anthems drawing from a lineage of late-70s girl punk bands. An early favourite of mine, UR Mum, from the first album, was played, and this track is famous for the scream we are all invited to do late in the song. Davina McCall is a sweet tribute to its namesake. Late in the set, we were treated to the bouncy Angelica, with its funny, sarcastic take on disinterest and social anxiety, only to follow it up directly with the killer track Chaise Longue, which I—and it seems the audience—never tire of. I find Wet Leg to have a looser feel when they play live as compared to their recorded product, but I think, regardless, that they are still highly enjoyable. Mangetout, from the latest album, closes the set and is a proto-garage rocker.
Wolf Alice’s set was another incredible highlight of the day, and it is quite obvious early on that they have developed and significantly progressed as a band since they last played Laneway back in 2018. They had a theatrical stage setting that singer Ellie Rowsell later refers to, asking, “Who likes our big sparkly curtain?” Although she starts by singing in a hysterical Kate Bush-style on Bloom Baby Bloom, this alters dramatically from song to song, with their set clearly being the most stylistically diverse of any artist for the whole day. The second song, White Horses, has a driving motor-like beat provided by the drummer, who also contributes significantly on vocals, and is my favourite from their latest album. They wind it in for a soulful Just Two Girls, which is a country-tinged epic. We were treated to the full frontal assault, with Ellie on megaphone for Yuk Foo and then Play the Greatest Hits, which were both rock songs with immense energy. They take a step back again sonically with the wonderful piano ballad Last Man on Earth before finishing with crowd favourite Don’t Delete the Kisses.
The hotly anticipated headlining performance of Chappell Roan was always going to be a spectacle, with a themed castle stage set-up that the crew were able to “build” while Wolf Alice performed their set. Chappell’s road to success didn’t happen overnight like some artists, but she’s here now, and it is no surprise that the audience is singing along to nearly every song. The set started with Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl, and the energy never abated. Her all-female band were incredible. Chappell walked down the platform like it was a catwalk, as if she were in a fashion parade. She thanked her fans who had weathered the heat in tribute costumes. An early favourite for me was Casual, with its catchy melody but ultimately quite sad story about a partner who insisted on no attachment. The aerobic workout that is Hot to Go! with the audience chanting “H-O-T-T-O-G-O” was such fun. Following an ambient musical intro, Chappell and the band fully rocked out to a cover of trailblazers Heart’s Barracuda from 1977. Chappell’s vocal range on this cover was something to behold. During the timeless serenade of Picture You, she romances a wig hung over a microphone stand. These are love songs elevated beyond the mundanity of everyday life. I felt the whole set was immaculate and particularly loved the country-tinged hit The Giver, a 2025 single. The last three songs were all killer, with Good Luck, Babe! —the number one song of Triple J’s Hottest 100 for 2024—followed by My Kink Is My Karma, and ending with Pink Pony Club, one of the catchiest songs you will hear. A fantastic end to the day.
I can’t wait until next year!
Live Review By Richard De Pizzol