Melbourne, Australia 2017

The Confetti band rock Melbourne Laneway Tame Impala, playing their last shows of the Currents tour, deserved their fulsome send-off, and their protracted, ecstatic build and climax in Let it Happen felt like the most "festival" moment of the day. Not sure who took these photos BUT how awesome is a little bit of confetti!!

Live at ROLLING STONE Australia, Mish did a slow version of “Paradise”. 

The annual event, which kicked off with one Melbourne gig starring the Avalanches in 2005, started in Brisbane on Australia Day and culminates in Fremantle on Sunday. Tame Impala mastermind Kevin Parker reckons being asked to headline Laneway 2017 is “immensely fulfilling on a career level”. “One of the first festivals we ever did was Laneway,” the 31-year-old says from tour rehearsals in Sydney. “We were opening up, the first band on. We were literally playing as they opened the gates.” Describing leading Laneway as “more important” to him than playing any big US festival, Parker jokes that the added bonus of finishing up in Freo is that his home is just down the road. Festival organiser Danny Rogers is “super honoured” to have Tame Impala as the star attraction for the lucky 13th Laneway. “I don’t think there’s been a band more important out of WA since the Triffids,” he says. “ They’re probably the biggest Australian success story of the past 20 years.” Parker is “extremely humbled” by that praise, which is very high given he works with artists of the calibre of Gotye, the Temper Trap and D.D Dumbo (also playing Laneway 2017). “I can’t deny it, we’ve done well,” he adds. “I’m proud of us. It didn’t happen overnight. We’ve worked hard for it and travelled a lot.” Parker and his bandmates have spent the past 18 months touring to all parts of the globe on third album, Currents, which added five ARIA Awards to Tame Impala’s swag. Currents also picked up a Grammy nomination and saw pop superstar Rihanna cover album track New Person, Same Old Mistakes. Besides headlining one night of three-day festival, Panorama in New York (Frank Ocean and Nine Inch Nails top the other nights’ bills), Tame Impala’s set in Fremantle will be their final live performance for some time. “We’re finishing the album cycle,” says Parker, who has been annoyed and frustrated by rumours Tame Impala are breaking up. “You’ve heard it from me that if anyone speculates on the future of Tame Impala then they’re getting it from absolutely zilch source ... rant over.” Manager Jodie Regan says it’s time Parker took a break to work on other projects. “Kev worked really hard on Currents and then worked really hard on all of the touring to follow it up,” she says. “He really opened himself up a lot more than he ever had. It really, truly exhausted him.” Based in LA since 2014, Regan is head honcho of Tame Impala’s label Spinning Top Music, which has a big year ahead. In addition to hosting a stage at Laneway on Sunday featuring performances from Nicholas Allbrook, Aurora, A.B. Original and recent signing Fascinator, the Fremantle-based label has new records from Pond, Peter Bibby and Cameron Avery. Parker has produced Pond’s seventh album, The Weather, which is released in May and should see the psych-rock band led by Allbrook, also a former member of Tame Impala, take another big step up. Avery’s solo debut Ripe Dreams, Pipe Dreams is also impressive and out on March 10. Regan says Parker will continue to focus on “fun” production work, ranging from Perth bands such as Pond and rap-jazz combo Koi Child to superstars, such as Mark Ronson and Lady Gaga. “I think he’ll have some fun for a while, a couple of years, and we can’t really expect anything (from Tame Impala) for a while,” she says. “He won’t make an album if it’s not better than Currents.” Parker won’t reveal which big names he’s currently working with but says ending up smeared in Lady Gaga’s lipstick shooting the video for her single Perfect Illusion last year was a “freeze-frame” moment. Parker met Gaga on the day they co-wrote Perfect Illusion with super-producer Mark Ronson. The lead single from her 2016 album Joanne evolved out of a demo Parker took to the Malibu studio. “I had no idea what to expect,” Parker says. “I had this idea I was going to meet this grandiose, mythical person. “But, it’s funny ... then you spend five minutes with them, you realise they’re a human being as well. “I’ve never worked with someone so passionate and dedicated about every detail of the music.” Shooting the full-on party scenes in the video were also eye-opening. experience. “It all ended with (Gaga putting) me in a headlock ... lipstick smeared all over my face,” Parker laughs. “They did an amazing job of creating that vibe so that all they had to do was film it. By the time we were rolling, I was enjoying it as much as I was terrified. “That was one of those moments where it’s like ‘Freeze-frame — how did I end up here?’” by Simon Collins https://thewest.com.au/entertainment/tame-impala-in-the-fast-lane-ng-b88374816z

Photos by Be Reid and Andrew Wade

Singapore!

Laneway #alburynsw #albury #laneway2017 #roadtrip #fujifilmx100t #failed_hippy (at Albury, New South Wales, Australia)