A year ago, Sydney’s Centennial Park was overtaken by an abrasive Brat green as Laneway punters partied with headliner Charli xcx – but in 2026, the mood was more pink princess. Specifically a medieval-midwest pink princess.
For the second year in a row, the festival is headlined by one of the world’s biggest acts – pop maximalist and ballad belter Chappell Roan, who closed out the day to a sea of ornate, delicate and impressively impractical costumes mirroring her own brand of fairytale couture.
“I applaud the bitches in drag,” Roan said on Sunday night from her castle set. “It’s a long day!”
It has been – and many of the most dedicated have been here for hours. Despite steady rain, an impressively big midday crowd twirled for the Australian pop trio Blusher, whose choreographed dances and glittery pop cover of Kesha won over early audiences.
And whereas 2025’s Sydney crowd lacked a little heat as the Brat pack conserved energy, this year didn’t feel like people were playing a waiting game. There were reliable party-starters, such as electroclash revivalist the Dare and New Zealand favourite Benee, established indie rock acts (UK’s Wet Leg, Wolf Alice), and a series of buzzy critical darlings, such as the French hypnagogic pop act Oklou, whose ethereal electronica unfortunately lost a lot of texture in the festival mix.
Locked in: Geese’s Cameron Winter at Laneway Gold Coast. Photograph: Marc Grimwade/Getty Images
Did the alt-guitar band of the moment Geese attract a smaller crowd than expected, going against the UK pop titan PinkPantheress? Sure – but the crowd there was locked in, hitting every yelp and wail by the enigmatic frontman Cameron Winter.
A dash of TikTok-approved programming didn’t hurt either – especially with American heart-throb Role Model getting one of the biggest roars of the day with a bit of viral bait.
Each show, the singer brings out a celeb guest during his country-tinged hit Sally, When the Wine Runs Out. But who cares about previous Sallies like Charli xcx or Natalie Portman when Sydney gets the Wiggles? Including, of course, the OG Purple Wiggle Jeff Fatt, who at 72 finger wags his way across the stage before falling asleep, igniting an infernal catchphrase from the crowd: “WAKE UP JEFF!”
It’s the exact sort of must-be-there moment that sells tickets. That and Chappell’s pop playground – the staging ripped straight from 1980s cult moody fantasy classic The Dark Crystal, complete with spiralling stairs, pyrotechnics and backing visuals of circling dragons.
‘The staging is ripped straight from 1980s cult moody fantasy classic The Dark Crystal’ … Chappell Roan at Laneway Auckland. Photograph: Tom Grut
It sounds like all 50,000 of Laneway Sydney’s sold-out crowd are singing along to Roan’s viral hit Hot to Go. And it feels like everyone is bellowing along to the irreverent spoken-word lines in the sassy retort Femininomenon: “Um, can you play a song with a fucking beat?”
It’s an incredible, frenetic show – and thankfully, unlike Charli’s closing act in 2025, loud.
No longer just your favourite artist’s favourite artist, Roan could easily sell out arenas, but Laneway’s six stops across Australia and New Zealand are the only chance to catch her this time. Evidently, booking blockbusters is working for Laneway, one of the few longstanding Australian festivals who have managed to thrive post-Covid.
Roan cheered on the extravagantly costumed audience from stage: ‘I applaud the bitches in drag!’ Photograph: Chontalle Musson
It can create some strange set times, though – mainly for PinkPantheress, who, at 26m monthly Spotify listeners, was an odd choice to put on mid-festival on a smaller tented stage. Perhaps the programming took into mind PinkPantheress’s notoriety as a so-so performer, something Pink – real name Victoria Walker – has previously admitted, saying she’s “not an arena performer” or particularly comfortable on stage, having blown up dramatically since releasing self-produced GarageBand tracks in 2021.
But Walker has clearly gone to pop star boot camp: wonderfully high-energy with silly, playful interludes. It was a monumental show let down by an enclosed stage that meant most of her fans couldn’t see it – save for the people who watched from a tree outside the festival grounds.
Ultimately, it’s nitpicking – having too many superstars is a good problem to have for Laneway, especially given the state of Australian music festivals. Much more pressing: which pop doyenne emergent will headline in 2027, after Charli and Chappell?