Earlier this week, you might have noticed that this year’s Laneway Festival added a few extra acts to its bill, including a DJ set from Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker at the Fremantle leg of the festival. However, unless you were purposely keeping an eye out, you might not have realised that one of Australia’s most enigmatic acts, Kirin J Callinan, is no longer on the lineup for this year’s festival.
If you’ve been paying attention to all the happenings in the Aussie music world over the last few months, you might recall the controversy that followed Kirin J Callinan following his appearance at last year’s ARIA Awards ceremony, one day after Callinan was added to this year’s Laneway lineup.
While walking the red carpet at the high-profile event, Callinan stopped for a series of photos before lifting his kilt, flashing his penis to photographers and onlookers in the process. The event was immediately met with criticism from almost every facet of the Australian media, with many accusing Callinan of indecent exposure, generating a level of publicity that the famed muso probably wasn’t looking for.
As Junkee notes, neither Laneway Festival organisers nor Kirin J Callinan have addressed the issue or his silent removal from the bill, with Callinan also remaining silent in regards to his red carpet exhibitionism.
While Callinan has been seeing praise for his intriguing new album Bravado, and even copped some international attention for the Jimmy Barnes-featuring video for ‘Big Enough’, this isn’t the first time that the muso has stirred up controversy though.
You might recall that at the 2013 Sugar Mountain Festival, Callinan faced walkouts from his set after attempting induce a seizure in a planted member of the audience with photosensitive epilepsy. A rather divisive move, many felt this was a rather immature stunt by a musician who should have known better. Others, however, wrote it off as Callinan’s performance style, maintaining that it’s all in good fun.
At this stage, it’s unclear whether or not Kirin J Callinan will still be heading out with the equally-controversial Mac DeMarco for his Laneway sideshows, but we’ll keep you informed if anything changes on that front.
Check out Kirin J Callinan’s ‘Big Enough’:
Laneway Festival 2018 lineup:
Aldous Harding
Alex Cameron
Amy Shark
Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals
BABADNOTGOOD (exclusive to Laneway)
Billie Eilish
Bonobo (exclusive to Laneway)
Cable Ties
City Calm Down
Dream Wife
Father John Misty
KLLO
Loyle Carner
Mac DeMarco
Miss Blanks
Moses Sumney
ODESZA (exclusive to Laneway)
Pond
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
(Sandy) Alex G
Shame
Slowdive
S U R V I V E
Sylvan Esso
The Babe Rainbow
The Internet
The War On Drugs
TOKiMONSTA
Wolf Alice (exclusive to Laneway)
Melbourne only:
Angie McMahon (triple j Unearthed winner)
Baker Boy
Billy Davis and the Good Lords
Spike Fuck
Fremantle only:
T$oko (triple j Unearthed winner)
Stella Donnelly
Adelaide only:
Paradise Club (triple j Unearthed winner)
Client Liaison
Brisbane only:
Hatchie (triple j Unearthed winner)
Sydney only:
Exhbitionist (triple j Unearthed winner)
