Purple Sneakers' Guide to Laneway Festival 2020

21 January 2020 | 2:31 pm | Emma Jones
Originally Appeared In

With Laneway Festival just about upon us, we've gone through and narrowed it down to just five unmissable acts on this year's line up

Summer is well and truly here and that means one thing to Aussie music lovers: summer festivals. Having had a few weeks of resting our bodies over the New Years festival blitz, St Jerome's Laneway Festival is now just around the corner. Once again providing the goods with a line up stacked full of some of the world's biggest names as well as rising stars from across the globe and at home, it can be overwhelming to figure out who to catch on the day. Well, fear not fellow punters as we've taken it upon ourselves to run through a few of our must-see, unmissable acts on this year's bill. Take a look below and catch up on all things Laneway here!

BENEE

The rising NZ star has been heralded as one to watch across the world since the success of her 2018 breakout single, 'Soaked' and her debut FIRE ON MARZZ EP. She then wasted no time in 2019 cementing this status with another hit in 'Evil Spider', another EP, STELLA & STEVE and her biggest single yet, 'Glitter'. Tipped to once again crack triple J's Hottest 100 this year with potentially multiple entries, it's been a massive couple of years for BENEE, and we figure it won't be long until she's headlining festivals across the globe. Don't miss your chance to catch her before she well and truly blows up.

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RUEL

One of the country's hottest exports, RUEL is the teen sensation pop phenomenon with an exceptionally devoted fan base behind him. Set to really conquer in 2020, RUEL has already made a name for himself with hundreds of millions of streams, sold out tours and a brand new EP under his belt from 2019 in Free Time. He's also the youngest person to win the ARIA for Breakthrough Artist at 16 years old, and casually sold out the Sydney Opera House - twice. Singalongs are guaranteed for bops like 'Dazed & Confused' and 'Younger' too so don't miss what is sure to be one of the biggest moments of the festival.

CHARLI XCX

If there was one artist to redefine pop music in 2019, it was Charli XCX. From her critically acclaimed album, Charli, to her sold out shows across the world and her rapidly expanding and evolving fan base, Charli XCX has switched lanes from pop juggernaut to popstar of the people, planting both feet firmly in futuristic pop music and sticking to her guns of doing things no one else is doing in music right now. These will be her first shows since the release of Charli, and with absolute bangers like 'Click' and 'Shake It' promising to tear the proverbial roof of the Laneway mainstage as well as 'Gone' featuring Christine and the Queens being consistently hailed as one of 2019's best singles, Charli XCX has no choice but to bring it to Laneway - and we have no choice but to stan.

EARL SWEATSHIRT

One for the hip-hop heads out there, Earl Sweatshirt will be making his return to the Laneway stage in 2020 as an exclusive booking, so the only place to catch him is at the festivals. Since he last appeared at Laneway, Earl Sweatshirt has gone onto release critically acclaimed records that have soundtracked his evolution as an artist and as a man growing up in a crazy world, completely disappeared and resurfaced again, and has since become known as an enigma of his time. Sweatshirt will be offering a change of pace for Laneway punters as well as a few classics thrown in for good measure, we're sure.

DMA'S

Sydney lads DMA'S always put on an unbeatable show, having cut their teeth over the last few years performing all over the world including slots at Coachella, Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds. 2019 saw them release a brand new album titled For Now, and once again reaffirm their position as one of the country's most loved bands with perfect cuts of indie rock like 'Silver'. What will be sure to have a few quintessential #moments thanks to their knack for melding torch songs with Madchester influences (and hopefully a particular Cher cover thrown in too), a DMA'S set is always a good time.

St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival 2020 Full Lineup

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets

Joining…

The 1975

Charli XCX

Ruel

Earl Sweatshirt

Ocean Alley

DMA’s

J.I.D

Tones and I

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Hockey Dad

Bbno$

The Chats

Mahalia (East Coast only)

Kaiit

Benee

Stella Donnelly

Fontaines D.C

Oliver Tree

Omar Apollo

Col3trane

Hatchie (East Coast only)

Spacey Jane (Excl. Fremantle)

Kucka (Excl. Adelaide)

Pist Idiots

JessB (East Coast only)

George Alice (Adelaide only)

The Lazy Eyes (Sydney only)

St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival 2020

Saturday, 1st February

Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane (16+)

Sunday, 2nd February

The Domain, Sydney (16+)

Friday, 7th February

Harts Mill, Port Adelaide (16+)

Saturday, 8th February

Footscray Park, Melbourne (16+)

Sunday, 9th February

Esplanade Reserve & West End, Fremantle (16+)

Words by Emma Jones

Images: supplied

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