Falls Festival

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The Falls Festival
Location(s)	Australia Lorne, Victoria (since 1993) Marion Bay, Tasmania (since 2003)
Years active	1993- present
Date(s)	December 29 - January 1
Genre(s)	Blues & roots, Rock, Hip hop, Electronic
Website

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.

Snout playing at the 2001 Falls Festival

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.

Valley Stage at the 2006 Falls Festival in Marion Bay

[edit] Falls Festival 2003

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.

[edit] 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 both events included:

[edit] Falls Festival 2005

Artists who performed at the 2005 event include:

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.

[edit] 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:

[edit] External link

• Falls Festival official website