Over the weekend Australia’s favourite travelling music carnival, Laneway Festival, kicked off, with both Brisbane and Sydney playing host to the killer event on Saturday and Sunday with almost no hiccups, outside of a few drug related offences.
The New South Wales police have released a mostly positive report after Laneway rocked Sydney’s College Of The Arts in Rozelle, detailing that 40 punters had been charged with illicit drug possession, as The Music points out.
The report explained that the sniffer dog operation found that the majority of the 40 were charged for cannabis possession, whilst a small few were found to have “numerous types of pills and powder” on their person. Police issued either Cannabis Cautions or Court Attendance Notices for the drug offences.
Outside of this, police were said to be pleased with the sold-out crowd on Sunday, with no reports of any major incidents taking place over the days of music celebrations.
The drop in drug related offence numbers shines a much brighter light on Sydney festival-goers, the harbour city’s reputation was heavily tarnished after this year’s Field Day which saw a new record number of drug related arrests shock the New Year’s Day festival.
Whether it’s a matter of lineup and the vibe of the festival, Laneway most certainly proved that not all music festivals in Australia are riddled with illicit drugs. Here’s hoping the same downward trend continues as Laneway hits Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Tickets are still available for both Adelaide and Perth, so if you want to check out the massively strong lineup consisting of St Vincent, Mac DeMarco, Caribou, Jon Hopkins, FKA twigs, Future Islands, Pond, Courtney Barnett and so many more, jump over to Laneway and snap ’em up before it’s too late.
Check out all the action from Sydney’s fest right here.
Laneway Festival 2015 Lineup
In alphabetical order:
Agnes DeMarco*
Andy Bull
Angel Olsen
BANKS
Benjamin Booker
Caribou
Connan Mockasin
Courtney Barnett
Dune Rats
Eagulls
Eves***
FKA Twigs
Flight Facilities
Flying Lotus (Layer 3)
Future Islands*
Highasakite
Jesse Davidson**
Jon Hopkins*
Jungle
Little Dragon
Mac DeMarco
Mansionair
Perfect Pussy
Peter Bibby
POND
Ratking
Raury
Royal Blood*
Rustie
Seekae
SOHN
St Vincent*
Tkay Maidza
Vic Mensa
