Bright green billboards with a ‘brat font’ are popping up in Australia and New Zealand, fuelling speculation that Charli XCX will be bringing Brat Summer Down Under and will headline Laneway Festival in 2025.
The music festival announced its dates, locations and prices on Wednesday, and coincidentally several slime green billboards emerged in laneways.
The advertisements display one word of text in the now-iconic Arial black font: laneway.
The long-running music festival announced last week that it would be returning in 2025 and some eagle-eyed fans noticed that the official poster features a cartoon apple around the ‘2025’.
Charli XCX is currently on the Sweat World Tour with Australian hitmaker and collaborator on the song Apple, Troye Sivan.
The dynamic duo dedicated a huge segment of their sold-out Madison Square Garden concert in New York City last week to the song.
A cartoon apple does not a convincing theory make, but on Wednesday morning Sydneysiders spotted two men installing the billboard on Edgeware Road in Enmore and shared the video to TikTok.
Australian music festivals have been hit incredibly hard in the last 12 months, with many of the country’s tentpole events either postponing or cancelling, due to poor ticket sales amid the cost of living crisis.
Bright green billboards with a ‘brat font’ are popping up in Australia and New Zealand , fuelling speculation that Charli XCX will be bringing Brat Summer Down Under and will headline Laneway Festival in 2025
The advertisements display one word of text in the now-iconic Aerial black font: laneway
So it was no surprise Aussies were sent into pandemonium when Triple J also shared a teaser video to their social channels.
It shows cars driving past the laneway billboard with Charli XCX’s song Von Dutch blaring in the background.
The youth broadcaster, who is the presenting partner of the upcoming festival, shared the clip to its Instagram and TikTok, tagging the festival and the British singer.
They captioned the post ‘what is @laneway festival cooking?’
‘Don’t play,’ one excited fan commented on Instagram.
‘STOP IT,’ wrote another.
‘First Charli’s TikTok and now this?’ added a third.
On Tuesday, Charli XCX uploaded a TikTok of herself all dressed up before her Chicago concert, lip syncing to iconic Aussie duo Kath and Kim.
What’s more, Charlie XCX also been touring with New Zealand superstar Lorde, who she collaborated with on the song Girl So Confusing.
The queen of Brat Summer previously headlined Laneway Festival alongside pop rock band The 1975 in 2020.
The 32-year-old’s joint North America concert tour with Australian singer-songwriter Troye is set to wrap up on October 23, 2024.
It would stand to reason to that if any international chart topper could be secured to play a run of six festivals across Australia and New Zealand, it should be the one currently touring with a globally famous musical export from each nation.
Charli XCX is currently on the Sweat World Tour with Australian hitmaker and collaborator on the song Apple, Troye Sivan
Charli XCX and Lorde are double trouble in their matching ensembles for the Brat tour
Now, Aussie fans of the UK artist are convinced this means we’re in for a brat summer.
Laneway festival will kick off in Aotearoa New Zealand on February 6, before heading to Brisbane Showgrounds on February 8, Sydney Showgrounds on February 9, Flemington Park in Melbourne on February 14, Bonython Park in Adelaide on February 15, and Wellington Square in Perth on February 16.
Just to throw an extra dose of optimism into the mix, Billie Eilish is currently on her Hit Me Hard and Soft World Tour, which the Birds of a Feather hitmaker is bringing to Australia mid-February.
Billie’s first Australian stop on the tour is in Brisbane on the 18th of February.
With a small, but feasible two-day window in the middle of Laneway’s final festival in Perth on the 16th and the first Laneway festival on the 18th, there a chance that the stars will align to perform Guess together live for the first time in Australia.
Billie Eilish pictured performing the Guess remix from Charli XCX’s Brat album on her Hit Me Hard and Soft World Tour on September 29
The full Laneway lineup will be released next Wednesday, October 9.
Festivalgoers above the age of 16 will be able to attend, with ticket pricing starting at $189.90 for the pre-sale on October 15 (plus fees).
The second release will cost an increased rate of $204.90, while the third and fourth will cost $219.90 and $229.90 respectively.
VIP tickets will also be available for $289.90.
‘We wanted to share the ticket prices for Laneway 2025 earlier than usual, so you can prepare well in advance,’ organisers detailed in a press release on Wednesday.
