Dial up on music and down on drama with everything you need to know, below.
For those in the Auckland region, the Anniversary long weekend is synonymous with the annual Laneway Festival, held at Albert Park. But, it does come around quick. No sooner have you adjusted back to your 9-5, than you’re back in summer mode pulling on your sun-bleached trainers before they’ve even had time to collect dust. The key to making it one of the greats? Getting your shiz together – stat.
And when it comes to festivals, there’s nothing worse than spending your [limited] cash on some greasy hot chips only to find out there were a dozen delicious vegan/ gluten free/ dairy free food halls around the corner, or wasting time going to one end of the ground to refill your water bottle and wind up missing the first three tracks by The War On Drugs. Not cool.
A little heads up goes a long way in festival minutes which is why we’ve dedicated the following guide to keeping unnecessary drama at bay, and all eyes on bae the artists performing.
Things to suss out in the days before Laneway
Your outfit. If you’re anything like us, this will be a fundamental factor as to whether you enjoy yourself or not. If you haven’t sussed anything yet – or everything you own currently doesn’t align with your alter-festy-ego (we feel you) – then look no further than our 2018 edit on what to wear. Or troll our archives to get your vibes on track.
Your festival beauty. Dedicate time the day before to tan your limbs, tint your brows, run some festival-ready pastel dye through your ends (if it isn’t already, L’Oreal Paris Colorista should be your first port of call) and pluck, wax, wash, straighten, iron, find that missing shoe and reunite your earrings. Ain’t nothing going to hold you back from getting stuck into your pre-gig shindig. Which leads us to…
Things to suss on the day of Laneway
Your pre-gig shindig: Gates open at 11:30am which gives you ample time to use the morning to unite the crew over brunch and bevvys. You can set the all important good times in motion, snap a few hot ‘grams and discuss the plan of attack AKA which artists on which stages and at what times.
Refer to the timetable below (reading from the bottom, up):
Getting there: Book your taxi, your Uber or your sober driver and get yourself to Laneway. But don’t forget the essentials, including:
- Ticket
- ID
- Cash
- Refillable clear water bottle
- Hat
- Sunglasses
- Sunscreen
- Positive attitude
Things to suss at Laneway
How you’re going pay for everything: Tokens are out, cash is in; unlike previous years, Laneway will host cash bar sales in 2018. So rock up with your cash, eftpos or creddy card for all of your drink, food and merch expenses. And FYI, there are ‘cash out’ points available on site if you overindulge. Phew.
Food: Once again there’ll be bars scattered across the site and heaps of free water stations to keep you hydrated – and a festival isn’t a festival without hot chips, hot dogs and candy floss, so if that’s what you’re after, they’ll be there too. There are gluten-free and vegan options aplenty, notably St Kevin’s Arcade vegan faves Tart Bakery and Lord of the Fries.
Food vendors on site: Allpress Espresso | Che Lucio BBQ | Double Dutch Fries | Fatima’s | Got Pasta | Judge Bao | Langos | Lord of the Fries | Mizzoni Pizza | Nice Blocks | Peach’s Hot Chicken | Ramen Takara | Serial Griller | TACO LOCO | Tart Bakery | The Brulee Bike | The Otherside | The Rolling Pin | Wise Boys Burgers
Beers to the long weekend: This year, Laneway have teamed up with Boundary Road offering an exclusive BRB X Laneway festival 2018 hoppy lager. This collab lager is more hop forward (pun definitely intended) than a traditional lager to showcase the Wai-iti and Nelson Sauvin hops. We suggest you get amongst!
Know where to go: Download the map and familiarise yourself with all of the essentials. AKA, the toilets, the water stations and your emergency meeting point (where you’ll meet your friends on the hour should you get lost and your phone dies. Because, life).
Things to do at Laneway
Attend the gigs: Besides all of the drinking and eating on offer, Laneway will keep you in constant state of ‘would you rather’, rocking off on which stage to be at for which artist. Just to add further confusion, we’ve thrown in our picks below. It’s one hell of a lineup.
