Laneway Hits Detroit

In a first for an Australian festival, St Jerome’s Laneway is coming to America, with its first show to be in Detroit Sept. 14.

There will be five Australian acts on the 25 band-bill, playing to an estimated 15,000 fans at Meadowbrook Amphitheatre in Rochester Hills, Mich.

The bill will be announced in May.

“We couldn’t have picked a better city,” said Laneway’s Melbourne-based founders, Danny Rogers and Jerome Borazio. “When you hear ‘Detroit,’ you think Motown, you think rock and roll and you think of great music. We want Laneway to be a part of that conversation.”

Laneway began in Melbourne in 2004 as an alt-rock back-alley party.

It spread to seven capital cities around Australia, and to Singapore three years ago where it drew 10,000 this year to Gardens By The Bay.

It is credited with helping to break Gotye (whom Rogers manages), Tame Impala, Feist, Broken Social Scene, Florence + the Machine, The xx and M83 in Australia.

For Laneway Detroit, the two Australians teamed with Detroit-based Palace Sports & Entertainment and the Paradigm booking agency.

“The Laneway Festival aligns with our mission to bring great music to our fans and we knew we had to bring that to Detroit,” said Lucinda Treat, Palace’s executive vice president for Business Operations and Strategy.

“With our venues and resources, we know the Laneway Festival Detroit will continue to maintain the standard Laneway fans the world over expect.”