Falls Festival

The Falls Festival is a New Year's Eve music festival, held annually in Marion Bay, Tasmania and Lorne, Victoria Australia since 1993. It lasts three days, from December 29 to January 1 each year. The headline acts play mostly over two evenings, December 30 and December 31. Both festivals run simultaneously and swapping line-ups over different days.

The festival started in 1993 with a small one day concert, held in Lorne, Victoria, then known as Rock Above The Falls. It attracted nearly 11,000 people, far exceeding the organisers expectations, requiring them to quickly negotiate with neighboring farmers for the use of their land to accommodate the crowd.

In 1995 the event changed to a two day format, and in 1996 the name was changed to The Falls Festival for the first time. The 1999 festival was the first to be held off the Lorne site, moved temporarily to the Torquay site of the Offshore Festival .

In 2003, two events were held simultaneously for the first time; one in Lorne, and an additional event at Marion Bay, Tasmania. The same acts played at both events; the December 30 acts who played at Lorne, play December 31 at Marion Bay, and vice versa. Future festivals retained this two-location format.

Due to the length of the event, people bring a tent and camp out at the event; both locations have nearby beaches. Many artists playing at the Falls Festival are traditionally of the blues & roots genre, however it is not exclusively of this style, with rock, hip hop and electronic style acts also playing.

Falls Festival 1996

Pennywise Radio Birdman Regurgitator Custard Powderfinger

The Living End Even Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes Sidewinder Pollyanna

Bodyjar Snout Moler Rebeccas Empire

Falls Festival 1997

Iggy Pop You Am I The Cruel Sea Hard Ons Lagwagon Superjesus

Jebediah Shihad Grinspoon Guttermouth The Living End Even

Something For Kate Deadstar Front End Loader Pre Shrunk Sprung Monkey

Falls Festival 1998

Blondie Mudhoney Bentley Rhythm Ace Rocket From The Crypt Unwritten Law Area 7 The Avalanches Magic Dirt

You Am I Grinspoon Superjesus The Avalanches Amonia Screamfeeder Even Bodyjar

Something For Kate Frenzal Rhomb Violetine Area 7 Voitek Honeysmack Pound System

Falls Festival 1999

Violent Femmes The Tea Party DJ Freddy Fresh Regurgitator Something For Kate

You Am I Frenzal Rhomb Superheist 28 Days

Alex Lloyd Area 7 Pollyanna The Fauves

Falls Festival 2000

Silverchair Reef The Vandals Freestylers Killing Heidi Superjesus The Avalanches Magic Dirt Bodyjar Groove Terminator

John Butler Trio Skulker Pre Shrunk Sunk Loto 78 Saab Superheist Rocket Science Dallas Crane Nokturnl Nitocris

The Waifs George Machine Gun Fellatio Resin Dogs Friendly Josh Abrahams 1200 Techniques Honeysmack Voitek

Falls Festival 2001

The Hives Stanton Warriors Grinspoon Regurgitator John Butler Trio Something For Kate 28 Days Resin Dogs Groove Terminator

Alex Lloyd Paul Kelly Bodyjar Dr Alex Paterson George Superheist Area 7 One Dollar Short

1200 Techniques Dern Rutlidge Warped Nu Breed On Inc Pound System Blue Line Medic For Amusement Only

Falls Festival 2002

Jack Johnson Black Eyed Peas Ozomatli Timo Maas The Vandals The Atari's Brad Grinspoon Machine Gun Fellatio Infusion Xavier Rudd 1200 Techniques The Casanovas

You Am I Magic Dirt Jet Rocket Science The Drones Underside Antiskeptic The Gels The Butterfly Effect Groove Terminator Offcuts Warped

Pete Murray Even Melatonin The Beautiful Girls The Sleepy Jackson Phil Smart Goodwill Samuel Jackson The Alias Ballpoint Ransom

Falls Festival 2003

Michael Franti and Spearhead Groove Armada Pennywise Reel Big Fish G. Love and Special Sauce Turin Brakes Ozomatli Mason Jennings Paul Kelly The Waifs Xavier Rudd Regurgitator The Beautiful Girls Cog The Mess Hall Trey Bodyjar Dallas Crane Dexter Bit By Bats Nubreed

Krafty Kuts Cut Copy Missy Higgins Tzu James De La Cruz Offcuts Danny Kelly and the Alpha Males The Butterfly Effect After The Fall Degrees K The Pictures Riff Random Ember Swift Bomba Gerling Harry Manx Flagrant and Ben Shepard John Course and Goodwill Bugdust Epicure

The Swedish Styles Carus Whalebone The Charlie Parkers Damon The Go Set The Double Agents Mick Hart SMC Unleash The Nugget Reflex Waiter Peter Cornelius and the Devilles The Fat Band Enola Fall Taiko Drum S. Jackson and Somantik Sharif Galal DJ Selekt and B Dub

Performers at the 2003-04 event include Australian artists Xavier Rudd, The Beautiful Girls, Gerling, Regurgitator and The Waifs; and international acts Michael Franti and Spearhead, Pennywise, Reel Big Fish, and Ozomatli. Like many Australian festivals, the event also promotes local bands, with many Victorian and Tasmanian artists also performing at their respective state's festival. Solo female performer Missy Higgins also pleased crowds, promoting the release of her album and several popular singles, for which she was later recognised by receiving multiple awards at the ARIA Awards in 2005.

Falls Festival 2004

The 2004-05 festival was again held at both venues. Both sites sold out very early - the only Falls Festival to sell as fast was the 1999 event. Artists performing at the event included:

The Black Keys De La Soul Billy Bragg The Living End The John Butler Trio Missy Higgins The Thrills Veruca Salt Spiderbait The Cat Empire Xavier Rudd Donavon Frankenreiter You Am I

The Beautiful Girls Vusi Mahlasela Hilltop Hoods Rocket Science Dakota Star Bob Brozman Downsyde TZU The New Pollutants Butterfingers The Panics Hayden Sarah Blasko

Even The Cops Betchadupa The Spazzys The Vasco Era Carus & The True Believers Epicure Mia Dyson Ash Grunwald The Hot Lies Clare Bowditch and the Feeding Set The Roys

Falls Festival 2005

Artists who performed at the 2005 event include:

The Dandy Warhols Ozomatli The Shins Ian Brown Wolfmother Pete Murray The Beautiful Girls The Vasco Era Faker TZU The Grates Hoodoo Gurus The Zutons

Sarah Blasko End Of Fashion The White Buffalo The Mess Hall Evermore Dallas Crane Lior Matt Walker and Ashley Davies 67 Special Ugly Duckling The Cat Empire Rolling Blackouts

Eric Bibb Kelly Stoltz Little Birdy Ash Grunwald Dappled Cities Fly True Live Offcutts Katalyst and RuCL Rob Sawyer Mia Dyson Youth Group Dan Sultan & Scott Wilson The Embers

2005 was a record year for speed of ticket sales; tickets for the Marion Bay festival sold out two and a half days after going on sale on August 15, and Lorne tickets selling out one week after coming onsale.

Further allocations of tickets for both festivals were released during December and sold out within hours of coming on sale. An unlimited number of Falls Festival patrons were welcome to attend the 'Falls Cinema' on Thursday 29th December (One day earlier than the official kick-off) in an effort to minimize traffic congestion. It was much the same in Tasmania, however the number of tickets available were capped at 9000.

Falls Festival 2006

In early July, the new website for the 2006 event was launched. People were able to subscribe to the official mailing list and be entered into the draw to be offered tickets ahead of the official release date of August 16. Subscribers that were selected would be notified by July 30. Tickets for the 2006 festival were put on sale as of 9am, August the 16th. All tickets to the Lorne event were gone in just over 2 hours. The Marion Bay event followed suit, with all tickets sold out within 3.5 hours.

The announced performers as of December 28, include:

Modest Mouse Michael Franti and Spearhead Wolfmother The Bees John Butler Trio Saul Williams The Black Seeds Matt Costa The Vasco Era Dan Kelly and The Alpha Males The Fumes Dallas Frasca & Her Gentlemen

You Am I The Audreys Youth Group Josh Pyke Blue King Brown Jamie Lidell Hilltop Hoods Eskimo Joe Unleash the Nugget Wolf & Cub Dexter Timmy Curran Labjacd

Scribe The Sleepy Jackson The Mountain Goats Little Birdy The Exploders Jen Cloher & The Endless Sea Dan Sultan Cansei de Ser Sexy Ground Components FourPlay String Quartet Custom Kings Muph N Plutonic The Embers

Ticketing

Restrictions on ticket sales were made in 2006 in an attempt to curb the increasing practice of ticket resale, commonly known as 'scalping', as well as to make the access to tickets more equitable. The changes reflected similar alterations made to ticket sale procedures of other major Australian music festivals such as Splendour in the Grass and The Big Day Out. Previously, Tickets had been released for sale in bulk and with no limits on the number of tickets able to be purchased by an individual, resulting in a high incidence of individuals purchasing multiple tickets, and a subsequent sell-out of tickets within a very short period of time, often within 24 or even 12 hours.

The restrictions included a purchasing limit of four tickets per any individual, as well as the initiation of an online ticket lottery, which randomly allocated the sale of approximately 50% of all tickets to a list of people who had registered their interest on the Festival's website. Tickets were also released on multiple dates rather than in bulk, so that sales were more manageable and there was increased consumer accessibility to the sale of tickets.

Falls Festival 2007

The artists at the festival of 2007/08 include:

Kings of Leon Groove Armada Paul Kelly Midnight Juggernauts Black Rebel Motorcycle Club The Waifs Gotye Built to Spill José González The Go! Team Blackalicious The Mess Hall Girl Talk Kev Carmody Whiskey Go Go's Neville Staple's Specials Adam Cousens** Bridget Pross** Magic Dirt* Sarah Blasko* Children Collide*

Jackson Jackson* The Pipettes The Herd Lior Little Red Operator Please Old Man River Angus and Julia Stone The Beautiful Girls Regurgitator Clare Bowditch Downhills Home* Jeff Lang Cut Off Your Hands The Scientists of Modern Music Diafrix Mattafix Busdriver The Panics Dirty Harry and the Rockets**

The Cops Nathan Weldon and the Two Timers** Special Patrol* Soft Tigers* Dukes of Windsor* Macromantics* The Paper Scissors* Dances With Voices* Goons of Doom* Whitley La Fiesta Sound System* Favela Rock DJs* Tokyo Apartment Party DJs* Thief Featuring DJ Gsan & Mugen with Paris Well* Jennifer Tutty & Katie Drover Hoops* Funktrust DJs* Uber Lingua DJs* New Young Pony Club*

(* Lorne Only), (** Marion Bay only)

Ticketing

Ticket purchasing procedures changed again in 2007, extending on initial changes made to procedures in 2006. Changes included:

• The extension of the ticket lottery from 50% to 80% of all tickets - intended to increase the equity of ticket sale
• The centralisation of all ticket sales to the Falls Festival Website - intended to eliminate the need to line up outside stores overnight in order to purchase a ticket, as well as prevent criminal problems associated with it such as littering and drinking in public
• The inclusion of a name and date of birth printed on the Festival ticket - intended to further restrict scalping practices

Tickets went on sale to the general public on Monday 10th of September at 9am AEST, with the 14,500 tickets to the Lorne event selling out on the day they were released.

Falls Festival 2008

Franz Ferdinand The Hives Santogold Eli `Paperboy` Reed Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings The Cat Empire The Kooks The Grates Gomez Tegan and Sara Fleet Foxes Faker Lykke Li SoKo Donavon Frankenreiter Blue King Brown Jamie Lidell Augie March Ash Grunwald Cut Off Your Hands

TZU The Drones Mystery Jets Architecture in Helsinki Atmosphere feat. Brother Ali The Dodos A-Trak Wolf and Cub Liam Finn The Cribs Late Of The Pier Rocket Science British India TinPan Orange Labjacd Violent Soho South Rakkas Crew Tame Impala Grafton Primary MURS

CW Stoneking & the Primitive Orchestra Laura Jean & The Eden Land Band Mamadou Diabate Kat Frankie Barons Of Tang Dash & Will Skipping Girl Vinegar

Those marked with an asterisk (*) are playing in Lorne only Ticket Prices Lorne Ticket Prices Ticket prices have increased significantly over the last decade of the festival. Ticket prices are as follows: Year 3 day ticket 2 day ticket 2 day 'Sabine' ticket 1993 - - - 1994 - - - 1995 - - - 1996 - - - 1997 - - - 1998 - - - 1999 - - - 2000 - - - 2001 - - 2002 - - - 2003 - - - 2004 - - - 2005 - $125 - 2006 - $154 - 2007 - $186 - 2008 $289 $234 $197 Tickets also include a small booking fee. Marion Bay Ticket Prices A two day ticket in Marion bay includes the 30th and 31st December. Single tickets for the 29th can also be purchased but can only gain entry with a regular two day ticket. Ticket prices are as follows: Year 2 day ticket extra day ticket 2003 - - 2004 - - 2005 - - 2006 - - 2007 - - 2008 $167 $20 Tickets also include a small booking fee. External links Falls Festival official website Falls Festival Article in Herald Sun 1st January 2008 Falls Festival 2007-2008 Forum