Opening up the carpark stage for the day former frontman for The Crayon Fields, Geoffery O'Connor brings his new style/image/sound/persona to a partial crowd. The camp eighties vibe to his entire set begins to drive away the audience and by the time O'Connor rips out his cover of Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love, the audience is at its lowest point. He does redeem himself a little with single Whatever Leads Me To You but overall the set is perhaps a bit too confronting for most.

Jonti has a sizeable crowd for his debut Laneway performance. With a small, yet effective projection backdrop that recalls Windows 98 screensavers. His set is musically sprawling and entertaining throughout, as he manipulates beats and fires off samples in every direction. He finishes his set with a simple ukelele ditty that mystifies most yet leaves the crowd bizarrely entertained.

Back at the carpark stage, New York quartet The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are the first international band of the day and have drawn many a punter to check out their hard jangly indie pop. A bizarre smoke explosion at the start of the set covers the stage to the extent that the band even begins to complain. Sound problems also begin to make themselves felt, however they manage to push on and deliver a strong set.

Darting inside as quickly as possible to catch EMA's set is a good decision, both musically and location-wise as a torrential downpour erupts as soon as I enter the Zoo/Big Sound stage. The band is tight as Erika M. Anderson leads the charge with her gold necklace nearly hitting her in the face several times. The group’s multi-instrumentalist is the one to watch however, as he jumps between synth, guitar and violin - even playing the instrument as a guitar. California and Marked are notable highlights and the set is another in the long list of impressive performances on the Zoo/Big Sound stage today.

Made up of members from Eddy Current Supression Ring and The UV Race, Total Control blend the sounds of their past bands with synth and a Joy Division-esque post-punk flavour. The band are a true highlight of the day with great sound gracing their performance and an interesting stage presence from all members involved. The set draws heavily from recently released album, Henge Beat, with Lover Performance a particular highlight. It feels over far too quickly, but what we got is still insanely satisfying and makes you want to buy a ticket to go see the band at All Tomorrows Parties.

Former cult members and band to watch at this year’s Laneway, Girls have the stage covered in flowers as the band take to a packed room. Christopher Owens appears as a skeleton like figure with the impression that a slight gust of wind from outside could knock him over. The sound however, is simply terrible for the group and the band are relatively unenganging. Recent hit Vomit does lift the audience’s spirit slightly but the set unfortunately does fall short in many ways in a 50/50 blame situation.

Pat Grossi's harp adorns the middle of the stage as his moniker Active Child bring all the falsetto vocals and electronic manipulation to an enthralled audience. The band are very tight, in good spirits and the music fits well with the rain bordering on flash flood happening outside.

Back at the Eat Your Own Ears stage, Twin Shadow brings us his 80’s/New Wave brand of electro-rock. Backed by a full band today and with a sound faintly reminiscent of The Smiths, George Lewis Jr has a very good ear for pop melody and the band put on an impressive live show, to a clearly responsive audience. Singles At My Heels and Forget get big cheers, but so too does a new track from the forthcoming album, and for Brisbane, there’s a whole of dancing going on. The mix here is probably the best of the stages, but the band are still fighting the cavernous room, and I’d like to catch them under less trying conditions, to see what they are really capable of.

Toro Y Moi is officially a solo act, but there are four musicians on stage here instead of the one-guy-with-a-laptop setup I'd been expecting. Besides frontman Chazwick Bundick (on synths and vocals), there's a drummer, bassist, and second keyboard player who occasionally switches to guitar. As you'd expect, this means they sound pretty much like a traditional indie-rock band; louder, punchier, and almost aggressive in comparison to the chilled-out electronic sound of their records. I'm not sure I like these live versions as much as their recorded material, although that may be due to the ongoing sound problems on this stage: the mix is a little indistinct, with the drums being too dominant. But the audience doesn't seem to care, getting into the spirit immediately as they open with the very danceable New Beat . Most of the set is taken from Underneath the Pine, including Go With You and Still Sound, which are met with an especially enthusiastic reception.

The Horrors take to the Carpark stage and set out to capitalise on the buzz generated by their latest album, Skying. They’re a much heavier and more traditional rock band live than that album would suggest, and unfortunately a terrible mix - muddy, overloud and with feedback off the vocal mic - removes any subtlety that might have otherwise existed. Frontman, Faris Badwan, looks like he’s trying to bring some life to the performance, but is again foiled by the stage, which is completely back-lit, leaving the band as little more than shadows. It’s a seriously disappointing performance, albeit out of the band’s control, and they receive a polite, but unexcited response from the audience.

Chairlift's live performance brings an immediacy to songs that feel almost too polished in their album versions. The Eat Your Own Ears stage fortunately avoids the sound problems that have plagued the other stages today – the spacious warehouse adds a mountain of reverb, giving the music an ethereal echo which is perfectly suited to Caroline Polachek's lovely voice. The atmospheric blue lighting and smoke machines contribute to the otherworldly effect, making the show one of the highlights of Laneway.

I was seriously underwhelmed by Washed Out’s much acclaimed LP, Within and Without, and so have some serious concerns about catching him, but the show tonight is a very pleasant surprise. Ernest Greene has followed the common theme of the day and expanded out to a four-piece for the live performance and this allows for a much greater degree of immediacy and energy then his recorded work suggests and I’ll certainly make an effort to catch them when they come to town again. It’s still a very chilled performance to end the day on, and there’s not much stage-show to speak of, but the mix holds together and the band perform well, which makes it a nicely relaxing closer. It’s just a shame there aren’t more people around to appreciate it.

Sbtrkt start a little late, but once they get going, they keep the crowd moving with a pulsing and skilled set. It’s well-paced and well-played, with the live drums really keeping the energy high. The only complaint I have is that the very thing that makes Sbtrkt such an interesting artist, the restraint and subtlety of sounds, make him a curious choice to close the festival, when people are in the mood to party. There’s a large and lively crowd filling out the venue and tracks like Ready Set Loop get everyone moving and show that you don’t need massive bass drops to pack a festival dancefloor.

And finally there was M83. Starting almost an hour late, due to technical problems (eclipsing Kanye’s record from a few weeks earlier), it’s another terrible example of festival’s organisers not knowing how to handle technical problems. Communication is key in situations like this and it’s disappointing to get no apology from staff or any idea when or if the band will start. (Apparently there was a note on twitter…). When they do finally get going, M83 put on a great show and they have really grown into a band that feels like they deserve to be closing festivals. Tracks range from recent single Midnight City all the back to Sitting from 2001’s self-titled debut. Even the older tracks have been filtered through the new sound, which gives the set a cohesive quality and creates a new feel on classic tracks. Unfortunately the sound problems are by no means fixed, and while Anthony Gonzales comments that he can’t hear himself, the crowd is given a mix that is really disappointing, particularly after seeing how good M83 can sound when they played The Zoo a few years back. Feedback issues on the main vocal mic seem to prevent Gonzales from singing for the most part and it’s a testament to the quality of their music that it’s still a great show and a real shame when they have to wrap the things up short due to noise restrictions.

All in all it has been a mixed day; a great line-up and some impressive performances, but largely marred by below-par sound and organisational issues. Fingers crossed that next year sees the technical side of things sorted out because Laneway brings us a wonderful selection of artists that certainly deserve better.

Words by Bradley Armstrong, Sky Kirkham and Grace Nye.