For most of us, the evolution of whistling first came to light when Otis Redding charmed us with the timeless classic, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” in 1968. Strangely enough, his intentions were to change the whistling in favour of words around the time of his death but it never came to be. After the track was released, it went on to become one of the most popular songs of the modern era.

With thunderstorms in the forecast, Singapore was quite lucky to receive little more than a sprinkle. This was a huge relief to Laneway festival founder Danny Rogers, as he looked out into the crowd and thanked the previous attendees for braving what he called "monsoonal weather" last year.

For those that needed fun in their lives and lives in their fun then they needn’t have looked any further than The Drums’ Laneway sideshow at the Metro. All three acts that performed offered plenty of opportunities for “Fun, fun, fun” with their infectiously happy tunes, plus effervescent and pithy observations. It was almost like the dress code for the venue had stipulated that you had to be wearing a smile.

Their positive band name goes hand-in-hand with the shiny and optimistic pop tunes they produce. The opening band of the evening was a duo known as Sures and they were joined by two additional members for the show. With their set-up, composition and music, some comparisons to Cloud Control seemed apt, if not inevitable.

Pictured: M83.

Not a cloud could be found as we made our way to the St Jerome's Laneway Festival in Sydney. Indeed, the sun had come out to play on a typically beautiful Sydney summer day (which we haven't seen much of this year); a stark contrast to the weather of last year and a very welcome start to what would be a stellar day of music.

Yesterday the sun came out in Sydney, without a cloud in sight, and the revellers came out in force, selling out the 2012 Laneway Festival in the mid afternoon.

Bands M83 (pictured above), Feist, The Drums, Cults and Active Child received among the largest crowds (and singalongs thanks to their triple j hits) of the day, while the sun ensured a fair few festival goers would leave with a good red glow.

With the festival circuit getting increasingly competitive, reports of poor sound engineering and set delays could never be more damaging, however with an incredibly soggy lead up to the Brisbane leg of Laneway Festival, these problems were disappointing but not surprising. The festival organisers did well to ensure that all stages would be undercover, but unfortunately our dry vintage threads came at the cost of sound quality and atmosphere as we were herded into the RNA horse sheds.

Pictured: DZ Deathrays.

There seems to be an endless stream of acts that are making the most of our vast brown land this summer. So much so that it is hard to keep up with everything that is happening. Luckily the AU review has got you covered with all those minor or yet all mportant details. Here's the latest news on some of the local and international acts that are touring this summer.

Just before they hit the Metro Theatre stage in Sydney (one of their Groovin' The Moo Festival sideshows), Larry Heath sits down with The Drums' frontman Jonathan Pierce to talk about heir forthcoming record, touring Australia and more!