Live Review: Laneway Festival

We don't get too many festivals these days taking place slap bang in the middle of Brisbane – they all too often require a road trip – but today the streets leading into the precinct of RNA, which has become home to the Laneway Festival over the last few years, are full with the chatter of excited indie kids streaming towards their fix of cool tunes. It's a slightly reconfigured set-up that awaits them – the smaller Alexandria St stage has been replaced by a more cavernous neighbouring space which results in complete swapping of stages in the timetable – but there's not too much disruption as people quickly adapt and get into the swing of the party.

At the Carpark Stage young UK teenager Archy Marshall is introducing early arrivals to his King Krule alter-ego, his mellow songs meandering slowly while he unleashes long diatribes in his thick brogue, the lyrics occasionally difficult to interpret but legible enough to have diehard fans singing along joyously to tunes like Rock Bottom and crowd fave Easy Easy.

Adalita is in full four-piece mode this afternoon and not even a touch of bronchitis will stop her sounding incredible on the Alexandria Street stage. She's capitivating both with the band and on her lonesome, I Want Your Love and Heavy Cut showing both formsrespectively, but it's the penultimate Blue Sky that proves her finest moment of the afternoon – how can she have lost none of her cool after all these years?

Inside the Zoo Stage a solid crowd has gathered to see Melbourne stalwarts Dick Diver go through their paces, and not even some solid Queensland baiting by bassist Al Montfort – who seems slightly fixated on Clive Palmer – is enough to deter crowds from completely digging their slew of fun numbers including Water Damage, Calendar Days and Head Back. They swap instruments, joke around and don't seem overly serious in their demeanour, but tracks like Amber and the rousing Alice speak volumes about just how good this laconic outfit really are.

Scottish six-piece Frightened Rabbit also deal in the pleasant rather than the pushing of boundaries, but their safe and unassuming brand of indie has their acolytes enraptured as they wander through tunes such as The Oil Slick and the somewhat anthemic The Woodpile. They seem stoked to be here and that at least is endearing, the popular Keep Yourself Warm gaining them a rousing reception at the back-end of their set.

The future soul of Autre Ne Veut is pumping through the expansive pavilion in which the RBMA x Future Classic stage is housed. Arthur Ashin is sporting his trademark backwards baseball cap as he strides around the stage, putting every ounce of himself into belting out these indie R&B jams. It's when he comes together with vocalist and laptop wrangler Cristi Jo Zambri and both of them sing with vigour that they sound best, though his almost entirely solo rendition of World War goes down well enough.

With a Hottest 100 win under his belt, Vance Joy has drawn in a sizable crowd of interested onlookers this afternoon as he croons through some breezy folk fare. He's not going to become any less popular if the songs he airs from his forthcoming album are anything to go by, but he's also not going to become any more interesting; it's all very vanilla. He's talented and his songs are likable, From Afar and Sabre Tooth both proving that, but he's not a commanding presence on stage and the songs somewhat lack substance.

Back at the Zoo Stage Youth Lagoon fill every inch of the shed with their full and rich sound, frontman Trevor Powers yelping odd phrases as he manipulates keys front and centre. There's little interaction with the crowd from any of the four musicians, brooding instrumental passages ruling the roost as they conjure disparate vibes with ease, the occasional vocals heavily-effected even when they are introduced into the heady mix.

The dour and moody Daughter are a perfect accompaniment to the gloomy conditions that some lovely late afternoon cloud cover has presented to us. Unfortunately they are a band clearly very focused on achieving a precise sound, and they succeed in doing so this afternoon, but there's some monstrous sound bleed from a nearby stage that sours things somewhat. When they crank up enough the issue is overcome, but it's unfortunate for them.

Chvrches sound faultless tonight; the lead vocals of Lauren Mayberry are as perfect as they are on record and Iain Cook and Martin Doherty's accompaniment is also spot on. But they're not as interesting as they should be. They roll Gun out second and while we wait in hope that they'll loosen up as the crowd jives to the well-loved track, Mayberry continues to stand completely still, offering no energy. Recover and Mother That We Share get the crowd perked up again, as does Under The Tide, which sees a far more animated Doherty stir the crowd up somewhat.

The ever-enigmatic Kirin J Callinan is playing inside today but that doesn't mean he can't wear one pair of sunglasses on his face and another around his neck on a chain – you can never be too careful – while his three-piece band rock an electro-based sound that doesn't seem miles removed from early Depeche Mode. It's more, however, about Callinan's twisted worldview than the music, and the weird diatribe of Embracism proves the perfect summation of his skewed but fascinating perspectives.

As usual Kurt Vile seems pretty much unflappable, the shaggy-haired rocker eternally laidback as he leads his troupe through a stream of languid and cruisy tracks such as Wakin' On A Pretty Day and Jesus Fever. Even though it's eminently enjoyable there's little deviation from the standard template or much in the way of dynamics, but he still wins plenty of new converts with strong songs such as KV Crimes and Goldtone.

Falling opens up Haim's set tonight, the genius slice of pop then given way to a big, proggy blues jam that suggests the three sisters want us to know they have the chops to be a truly great rock band. But it's the pop we love and tonight they deliver in spades; If I Could Change Your Mind, My Song 5, Don't Save Me and Forever are all brilliant. They're loud, energetic, fun, stupid, and ridiculously talented. The Wire earns the biggest response of the evening, but they've already well and truly won us over by this stage. Incredible.

Savages' fantastic debut album was really something, but it's a whole other thing to experience the aural force of these four women in the live arena. With each vivid movement sending out a sense of impending urgency, vocalist Jehnny Beth commands a most intense stage presence, while the rest of the band follow in suit and release composed explosions of energy and awe through every outpouring. The greater share of their debut is covered, with Husbands topping off an inspiring set that's surely among the highlights of the day.

Run The Jewels. Pic by Stephen Booth.

The guitar work of Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Ruben Neilsen is lauded, but is it lauded enough? Some of the sounds he wrings from his axe tonight are so ugly and fantastic that you've got to wonder where they're coming from. Neilsen's voice is also a place now, all rugged and soulful, that is shifting the band up a level; he just doesn't explore that territory enough. Tonight is mighty jammy, though closing on Ffunny Ffrends into So Good At Being In Trouble is pretty great.

Lorde is the best pop star we've seen in ages. Right now, she's not really the best fit for Laneway – after rubberneckers have seen a song, the crowd is smaller than for those before her – but it'd be no surprise to see her back here, after the dust has settled and she's made more great records. Tonight she prowls the stage with an endearing lack of grace, writhing with excitement and nervous energy that can't be affected and her minuscule backing section is plunged into darkness – it's Ella Yelich-O'Connor's show. Tennis Court and Buzzcut Season are great and so is Royals, though it does not get the big response you'd expect.

This is rising NY-based indie kingpins Parquet Courts' debut show in this country – hopefully the first of many – and they prove to be a live force, co-frontmen Andrew Savage and Austin Brown taking turns to dominate proceedings from either side of the stage as they whip through Master Of My Craft and the Pavement-aping Career In Combat like a delightful dervish. They have a fill-in drummer for this jaunt but he does a sterling job, tracks like the frantic Stoned And Starving and the equally frenetic Light Up Gold getting ecstatic receptions from the delighted guitar fans in attendance.

It's an auspicious moment for The Jezabels as this performance lands on the same day as the release of their new album, The Brink. So it's no surprise that they're in the most excitable of moods, and luckily they have the sound to match it. Frontwoman Hayley Mary seems more than eager to share this occasion with the fans as she bounces around the stage, and the crowd mirrors this affection and joy, responding as ecstatically to new single Look Of Love as they do to classics like Endless Summer and Easy To Love.

Imagine a massive throng of people losing their shit concurrently and you have tonight's Danny Brown show. We already know he's got the goods as an MC, but tonight he proves to be a fantastic entertainer as well as he stirs us all into a frenzy with his bass heavy steez.

The promise of the xx brand and style leads many to fill in for Jamie xx's set. They get their serve at both ends with some airings of the downbeat, Caribbean-laden grooves that he and his iconic band are best known for. However, through the middle he pushes his fans a bit out of their comfort zone by dropping some stuff that's a little harder, before bringing it all home on the softest of notes with some sounds of the most sensuous nature.

LA's Warpaint were here at Laneway a few years back but seem like a more accomplished proposition these days, vocalists Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman doping their best siren impressions as they attempt to prove that there's substance behind their indisputable style. Aussie Stwella Mozgawa holds the beat these days and does a great job, eventually being engulfed by the whole band who clasp around her for epic closer Undertow.

El-P has a far smaller setup for Run The Jewels than last year's 'solo' show – it's just him Killer Mike and a DJ – but they're good enough MCs that it doesn't require any more. The only issue here is Killer Mike; he's not just good, he is overpoweringly good and completely overshadows El-P. No Come Down sees them at their best, though you'd be hard pressed to find a hip hop show that features two guys putting in so damn much for the entirety.

Much like Odd Future's Big Day Out appearance two years ago, Earl Sweatshirt's set suffers the wrath of muddiness, and the tinny confines of the Zoo Stage help matters none by being anything but an ally to his sound. His fans don't seem too perturbed though, and are rather overly enthusiastic for a final quenching of their hip hop appetite. When Doris selections are served up they devour it, going nuts for treats like Woah and Chum.

There's a fun bit of irony in the fact that Four Tet (aka Kieran Hebden) is here to perform in support of his most recent long-player, titled Beautiful Rewind, and that it's taking place on the Future Classics stage. This Rewind-Future juxtaposition invites wonderful excursions, with conceptual paradoxes of time pushing and pulling on itself being conjured. While there was never going to be much in the way of grand gestural statements from Hebden during this set, his seductive songs command the power to hypnotise a dancefloor of bodies into the kind of rhythmic submission that affords the freedom for such aforementioned flights of the mind. And it's through such freedoms that the music spills on deep into the night.