Gig Reviews

The Falls Festival

Sat Jan 1 2005

If you’ve ever wanted the perfect New Year’s experience may I suggest packing up your car, roping if your mates and road tripping down to the 2 day Falls Festival at Lorne, Victoria. For those who don’t know where Lorne its about 2 hours west of Melbourne off the Great Ocean Road-quite the magical little coastal town.

The back drop of the Falls is a massive paddock surrounded by beautiful bushland – pretty much in the middle of no where.

After pitching up my tent it was straight to suss out the layout of the festival.. The main stage at Falls is quite unique. Could possibly be described as a ‘big shed’ that works as a natural ampitheatre-it is at the base off the hill, making it easy to see from pretty much any angle. The other stage, the ‘Big Top’ is up on top of the hill.

One thing that is a must while you are at Falls is too take a spin on the Ferris Wheel. Not really for the fun of it but purely because the view from up top in the cart is awesome. It’s when you really discover the magnitude of the festival-seeing the spread of the ‘tent cities’ which form a perimeter around the sire. Also take time out to catch the shuttle bus down to Lorne beach [and use a proper toilet if you’re not into festival pits.]

Music wise the Falls brings in artists from all over the world and some great Aussie acts too. A couple of the stands out were Sarah Blasko,, Betchadupa and TZU in the Big Top. All three acts showing why 2004 had been a successful year for them.

The main stage saw The Beautiful Girls, The Cat Empire Donavan Frankenreiter, Xavier Rudd, JBT, You Am I, De LA Soul and Hill Top Hoods creating the new year vibes-but The Black Keys got the lucky ‘new years’ count down. 14 thousand people – the biggest count down I’d ever heard.

The good thing about the Falls is that its not only about the music. .Its about getting on the road-and celebrating the new year with your mates. Its just one of those things you have to do in your life!

mondo 7/1/05