In the unstable current Australian festival clime, it’s becoming increasingly harder for local fests to make it through another year, let alone report growth. 2011 saw the crash of the colossal Soundwave Revolution, the downsizing of festivals like Canberra’s Stonefest, and the scratching of other smaller music events. And who could forget one of the longest running partnerships of all time coming to an end, when Big Day Out co-organiser Vivian Lees decided to part ways with promoter Ken West, and the country’s largest music festival deciding to partner up with an American music promoter.

Despite all this, one Australian festival is still going strong. Not only has the Melbourne-born, one-day Laneway Festival somehow made it through the tumult of 2011 unscathed, it has in fact grown, returning to all seven cities and planning to make its international assault very soon. We chat with Laneway’s co-founder and promoter Danny Rogers about his thoughts on why so many others in the game are coming unhinged.

The first thing he dispels for me, is that Laneway isn’t, and hopefully never will be, preoccupied with packing bills with lines of heavy-hitting headliners.

“We’ve just always aspired to try and create a lineup that was right on the cusp of what was really relevant at the moment,” says Rogers of Laneway’s unwavering festival philosophy.

“We handpick artists who’ve got that sense of something fresh, unique, and groundbreaking about them. A lot of these artists are coming to Australia for the first time, so we want them to be excited about coming here, and then hopefully come back again.”

Rogers taps on an interesting point; Laneway seem to have a consistent knack for bringing out artists right when they’re on the cusp of breaking big; take the xx, for example, or Mumford & Sons, or Florence + The Machine, who became a household name (no longer Florence but just ‘Flo’ here now) within months of her maiden Aussie voyage in 2010. There’s an impressive in-house hot up-and-coming barometre, it would appear…

“Not quite – there is an element of luck involved,” he laughs.  “But I’ve been privileged to be based in London the past few years, so I’ve seen these acts break out in the UK and US. But it’s a bit of a punt as well. Obviously, you’re projecting what you foresee as an artist who will do really well in the next 10-12 months. Timing is everything.”

But the above Florence, Mumford and xx triple-hat trick also posed some risks for the festival, tells Rogers.

“You’ve got to be really careful, when you have a lineup like that. Don’t get me wrong, it was a massive achievement, but it creates a massive expectation when you have the three massive acts of the year all on the one bill.”

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