Review originally published in UniLife Magazine 03/12.

Unpredictable weather, alcopops, jeans tighter than the event security – yep, everyone’s favourite indie music festival was upon us again.

Last year's Laneway in Adelaide was blighted by complaints of poor timetabling and an over-allocation of tickets, so organisers were under pressure this time around.

First musical impressions were good though. Local act Steering By Stars were powerful; Total Control loud and fuzzy; Yuck a guitar dreamscape; Austra just bizarre. Plenty of variety and we were only an hour in.

But the stage-hopping stopped for most people when Cults appeared and blasted through an excellent repertoire of 60s-influenced pop. Leading lady Madeline Follin commanded the set with an intoxicating dose of indie chic, while guitarist Brian Oblivion spearheaded a tight backing band.

After sending Cults off, the masses moved to the Courtyard Stage for more New Yorkers. The latecomers may have missed Chairlift open with fresh favourite Sidewalk Safari but that didn’t matter. Nothing mattered – not even the rain that poured down as Caroline Polachek wailed away on the band’s 2008 hit, Bruises. The crowd lapped up every breezy pop song, and the only person not smiling was bassist Patrick Wimberly, whose equipment was getting soaked. But even he admitted this was the best Laneway audience the band had played to.

I then ventured out towards George Street, and walked into the festival’s biggest planning flaw. Whether or not it was a mere case of underestimation, George Street was nowhere near big enough for the crowd that packed in for Active Child, and the slope upwards toward the stage made things impossible for anyone at the back. The band sounded fantastic; it’s just a pity you couldn’t see them.

One man summed up the crowd’s frustration perfectly. Like Spiderman in an op-shop jacket, he scaled a drainpipe and balanced expertly on a second-floor windowsill for a better view.

He was soon back to earth, but probably should have stayed aloft for The Drums, who were next up on George Street. Somehow the crowd doubled and everyone was instantly wedged together. It got borderline scary when the band started playing, and sadly not even excellent renditions of Money, Forever & Ever Amen, or Days could prevent me and many others from deciding to retreat through the the sea of bodies to escape.

My refuge wasn’t too bad, though. On arrival at the Courtyard Stage, London folk starlet Laura Marling had the audience under her spell. Dusk had fallen, and nobody moved as she brilliantly played her way through a brooding, poetic set on a dimly-lit stage. Marling was followed by The Horrors, who got everybody moshing again with a thunderous hour of stadium-sized rock.

Meanwhile on the Fowlers stage, Jonti was playing a ukulele to a thin but devoted audience. Putting down the uke, he checked his watch and announced he had finished his set early. “I guess I’ll just play you all some dirty beats,” he decided, before launching into a medley of dubstep and electro on the adjacent decks.

After that brief excursion, it was time for the headline act in the Courtyard. French group M83 emerged from the smoke machines and kicked off proceedings with Intro, the opening track from their 2011 album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. Each band member gave their all for the next hour, and interacted with the crowd like few other acts at the festival did. The huge wave of synths, keys and guitars, backed up by pounding live and programmed drums, was space-rock of the highest order and made for a truly wonderful set - capped off with radio smash Midnight City. It was surprising, therefore, to hear frontman Anthony Gonzalez proclaim the Courtyard “the worst sounding stage” he had ever played. You have to wonder what his band sounds like when he’s happy.

All in all, Laneway 2012 was a show to remember. It didn’t sell out, but the number of festival-goers was more than enough for the venue – so organisers would be wise to cap ticket sales accordingly in future. If you could forgive the George Street misjudgements and the handful of touring artists who skipped the Adelaide event, the schedule worked well too. And if the quality acts keep rolling in, you sense the local indie set will be marking their February calendar pages for years to come.