Project Description

FALLS FESTIVAL

LORNE

28/12/2018-01/01/2019

(Live Review)

Reviewer: Jahmiele Hicks

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TLDR; I AM SO SICK – but Falls Festival was amazing.

The 2018/2019 New Years at Falls Festival in Lorne was…successful! After selling out the 16,500 capacity, and following the debacle that was 2017/18 Falls Festival, this year was surely redeemed.

We were able to make it through car search and ticketing fairly quickly to start our weekend, although directional signage to the actual festival site seemed fairly limited and unhelpful for a lot of the way. We managed to score a pretty decent camping spot near water, food, and toilets (composting toilets was something I had not yet experienced but honestly, what a fantastic idea). By 5pm we were set up and settled in, and the first day’s weather was SO hot I immediately need to change. Unfortunately, we missed most of the first day’s performances, including the much-anticipated Hobo Johnson & The Lovemakers, but we definitely needed the time for ourselves. We eventually made our way down to see Hockey Dad’s set, which was amazing. The band had great sound on stage, awesome crowd interaction, and had the Grand Theatre tent full of hot and sweaty fans. I previously hadn’t properly looked into their music prior to this, but I definitely will be now…

Ocean Alley held the crowds attention with amazing sound, performing popular tracks like ‘Faded’, which gained a massive crowd response. Their later set time was well deserved, receiving huge cheers from the now-tipsy audience, all clapping along in time. Ending their set with well-known track ‘Confidence’, I found that their live band sound gave them a heavier, more rock-genre tone than their recorded tracks.

Dizzee Rascal followed up in the Grand Theatre tent, and watching the crowds move from the Valley Stage, the whole of the current festival attendance might have been there. Playing in to the audience’s massive cheers, Dizzee seemed to be spitting so fast I couldn’t understand it through the speaker echo in the huge tent. The stage’s backscreen displayed a smoky imagery overlapping a dancing Dizzee as he announced that this was his first show in Australia, leading to a deafening cheer. With people on shoulders and so many fans dancing and jumping I couldn’t actually see the stage. For what I could see, however, there was crowd interaction for miles, with Dizzee starting a side-to-side cheer competition, leading one side followed by his stage DJ leading the other, only to state ‘I didn’t come all the way to Australia to be upstaged by that shit’. A ‘FUCK THAT SIDE’ chant begins back and forth between the sides to determine who’s the loudest – not a clue who won. After this my feet and bladder were giving out and I decided to make the trek back to campsite. Dizzee ended his huge set with world-loved ‘Bonkers’, which could be heard from campsites away. With people still up and partying at 5am, very little sleep was to be had – but this is of course, only to be expected.

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The next day was also a later starter, mornings are made for recovery. West Thebarton started our day at 1:30 on the Valley Stage with great sound and strong vocals, and many of the crowd were clearly prior fans, screaming the lyrics back, dancing, singing, fist pumping, and giving in to back and forth stage-audience participation. Having not personally seen or listened to the band before, I was surprised to see SO many band members and guitars on stage at once, the singers appearance also reminding me of the famous Dave Grohl. The guys (‘guys’ used as a generic plural term, their fantastic drummer is the talented Caitlin Thomas) definitely knew how to put on a show; one of many of the guitarists used a beer can as a slider to distort the guitars sound (oh, how Australian), and singer Ray Dalfsen’s pants split up the entire left inner thigh by the time he came back from a hectic crowd run, jumping back on stage and completing the rest of the performance, not phased at all – though the entire pant leg was totally lost by the end of the performance – hope they weren’t Levi’s. West Thebarton come across as yet another great Australian indie-rock band.

Playing old and new tracks, song ‘Glen Mcgraw’ received quite the crowd response, before Dalfsen stated ‘Fuck this dumb old shit let’s give these c* nts some rock and roll man’ and moved into their newer releases. At 2pm we were to expect a 100% chance of rain but it seemed to be holding out as West Theb played their Like A Version of  ‘You’ve Got The Love’ by Florence & The Machine – and honestly, I might just like it better than the original. The crowd went crazy for it as Dalfsen jumped side to side as he sang before jumping into the mosh pit for the end of their final song – fans in the crowd screaming into the mic as he made his way through the crowd before crowdsurfing his way back to the stage.

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Between sets, punters loved a little ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ and AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’, and groups of guys began playing soccer with crushed up beer cans and frisbee across the fields, while others appreciated the soft green grassy grounds the site provided, laying down and resting while they could.

Slowly Slowly’s act is probably one of the only ‘local’ acts I was actually anticipating seeing before arriving at Falls – though to be fair, I wasn’t very organized beforehand. Ben opened the performance with a solo acoustic version of ‘Dinosaurs’ and a solo intro to ‘Ten Leaf Clover’ before the rest of the band made their way on stage to join him as the crowd slowly filled out. Behind the band on the massive LCD screen came an intermittent poetry display, changing from verse to verse throughout the entire performance, which I couldn’t help but take note of;

 

‘Cut Cut
Burn
Ashes Roll In Hands
Ghost Of Mine Taking
Slowly Slowly
Dying In Memory
Careless Gaze And Gone’

‘Belly Flames
Slowly Slowly
A Leg Comes Up
And I Kick My Head’

‘Seeing Slightness
Colours Moving.
Bending Into Way
Breaking From Existence
Slowly Slowly’

‘That Fat Bloating Blue Under Eyes
Chapped Lip
Itch Itch Scratch
It’s Not Cold But It’s Too Misery
Slowly Slowly Y
Ou Do It To Yourself
Give It Up For Anything

‘A Cool-Cold Night Of Pleasure And Rush
You Feel The Wet  And The Lone
Turning In The Circle
Burning Mansion Heart Sink
Slowly Slowly’

‘Forgetting Everything All The Time
Slowly Slowly
I Rely On It’

‘One At A Time Waves
Messages From Tomorrow
Arriving
Leaving
Slowly Slowly
Revolving In White Seas’

‘The Beast Is Moving
Slowly Slowly
So Ok
No Air
No Real
No Sense
Lean A Little
Push A Little
Curl To Uncurl’

‘Convinced Of Nothing
Of Everything
Slowly Slowly’

‘Cough Coughing
Risk All The Pieces
In My Slender Throat
Red And Steep
Slowly Slowly For All My Life’

‘Tight Little Baby
Squirm And Writhe
Slowly Slowly
Catching Voices And Ghosts’

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After ‘Ten Leaf Clover’ came popular St. Leonards track ‘Sunburnt Shoulders’ before the boys played some older songs from their 2016 EP release ‘Chamomile’. Ben introduced ‘Hey You’, asking if anyone in the crowd is from Brisbane, going on to say ‘This songs about being in Brisbane’. Having heard the original recording it’s safe to say the band have come far – the quality of sound, performance, and composition, and especially vocals and sound tech are so on point. Next came perhaps my personal favourite SS song, ‘Deathproof’. The audience were clearly ever-so-ready, the band pausing to hear the entire crowd sing back the lyrics ‘but I been making my own’. Next on the set list was ‘Smile Lines’ the title track from their previous Australian tour, then Chamomile, which Ben dedicated to his Mum with a solo performance, followed by yet another beautiful solo performance of ‘Jellyfish’. Asking the crowd ‘have you still got some sweat left?’  Ben then stated  ‘I hope you like words coz this songs got a lot of em’ and launched into a loud, fast, fantastic performance of another personal favourite, ‘Aliens’. The boys finished up their set with beautiful executions of ‘Good Friends’, ‘New York, Paris’, and more recent ‘St. Leonards’ release ‘Alchemy’.

After this, we made a point of visiting The Village – a gorgeous, relaxed space with music and activities for the slightly more funky. Upon this particular visit, we caught Vander Aa – a great duo performance that integrated a wide range of unusual instruments including various electronic and acoustic cultural and folk drums, guitar, and didgeridoo. The rest of the village was filled with comedy acts, dance parties, hair braiding, clay creating, writing workshops, tarot readings, coffee and food, and a consistently welcoming vibe.

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After making our way back from The Village I managed to catch the second half of Briggs’ set, and the whole crowd had their hands in the air, up and down in time with the rappers beat. With girls on shoulders and a literal ‘F*ck the police’ attitude, the Shepparton-originating act held the crowds attention and used the platform to push for a revolution, chanting ‘no justice no peace’ throughout the performance and pumping up the crowd the whole way through. #BriggsforPM

Moving into the evening, King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard had an absolutely ridiculous crowd. The only complaint I hear, regarding people’s experience within the crowds, was at King Gizz. Now, don’t get me wrong here, I am in no way attributing this to the boys in Gizz – they are lovely humans. However, given the chance to talk about this, I feel the need to. This seems to be a recurring theme amongst the King Gizz audience/fanbase. On multiple occasions I’ve heard negative feedback, stating that the crowd are just far too rough, with very little regard for others around them in the crowd. I myself on this day, witnessed the entire ‘mosh’ of about 20 people hit the deck – as in they all fell over – landing on top on one another, all at once, and maybe 3 surrounding people helped pick them all up. If anything, the live music environment should be -and usually is- a place for fun, hanging out, maybe having a drink with mates, and having a good time. Even in the heavier genres, the audiences understand that we are there to look after each other. Come on guys, you can do better. OTHERWISE, however, the performance was fantastic. They opened with classic ‘Rattlesnake’ – just before the mosh went down – and were clearly comfortable with their place on the stage. Their sound was spot on, nearly indistinguishable from their recorded tracks, and believe me that is a feat. The side screens were even edited with a psychedelic filter to fit the King Gizz aesthetic.

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I ended up leaving about halfway through to take a break from the crowd and made my way past the in-crowd security to check out the side-stage VIP bar. This gorgeous space included a bar with exclusive access to everyone’s (terrible) favourite, Victorian Bitter, a deluxe catering service featuring things like oysters and lasagna, lounging areas, heating and cooling, and the occasional access to artists making their way through as well. I managed to catch Briggs, Tired Lion, and Bishop Briggs at points throughout my time in there and it was lovely to meet such talented yet seemingly humble artists, especially at such a huge event.

Up next was Sweden based act First Aid Kit. With gorgeous strong voices and songs, great stage presence, crowd interaction and between-song banter, each of the girls clearly held their own, as well as giving thanks to their backing band. After one particular song descried as being about making a point of sexism and violence, the crowd were well and truly dedicated to the act’s intention, screaming back in support.

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After First Aid Kit came Cut Copy, who I only ended up seeing because I was following my friends around, and I didn’t actually realise I knew some of their songs. As ‘Lights & Music’ and ‘Hearts On Fire’ played I realized that Cut Copy have actually been a large part of my musical influence growing up. The rest of the crowd were clearly aware of the Cut Copy sound and were very into it. What is unfortunate is what came next…88Rising.

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During 88Rising’s set I was honestly just waiting for it to end – as was everyone around me. In all honesty, the only reason I would have chosen to actually see this act was my previous interest in Joji, however he was no longer performing. I held out hope, not knowing anything about the other artists performing with 88Rising, but man, was I disappointed. Somehow, they still had a massive crowd so maybe it was just us, but all I could see and hear happening was for the most part, a few dudes occasionally screaming nonsense over a backing track that most often belonged to someone else (ie; XXXTentacion etc). The only artist under 88Rising that I could actually tell might have been performing originals was Rich Brian, but even then, I was still left somewhat disappointed. On this note I feel as though I may as well also get JuiceWrld’s performance out of the way as well; same as 88Rising, nothing much of actual performative substance apart from being able to hype up the crowd, occasionally screaming nonsense over a backing track. There were definitely examples of actual vocal talent now and then but for the most part it was just performers running around stage or standing at a deck. It was also noted that during a mishap on stage regarding  88Rising’s prepared screen visuals, they abused the stage tech, sound, and visual staff, starting a mass-middle finger from the crowd, even though- get this – they didn’t actually supply their ‘prepared visuals’ to the staff to begin with? Not a fan – this is mostly not my music to begin with but I’m still disappointed with the arrogance and lack of actual professionalism…sorry.

Thank god, the night could be redeemed by Anderson Paak & The Free Nationals. These guys…just wow. Again another act I wasn’t aware of before coming to Falls, it was insisted by my festival friends that Anderson Paak would be amazing and they did not lie. The performance started with a huge half-transparent sheet across the entire front of the stage, showing only the silhouettes of the performers behind it, right up until the big drop in the second song, and this moment was honestly worth whatever budget they spent on that huge sheet. An intense, fantastic quality of performance, with great vocal strength, song structure and stage presence. The girls from the Free Nationals were incredible performers and definitely deserving of their part on stage – which also included giving an apparent ‘birthday girl’ – what was essentially an on-stage lap-dance, lucky gal. Anderson Paak & the Free Nationals were definitely the right choice for the end-of-night performance, finishing with a huge confetti gun display.

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The next day I had every plan on making it to the first performances of the day but I straight up didn’t get any sleep, so I napped until about midday and made my way to the Valley to charge my phone and have a listen to Soccer Mommy from backstage in the VIP/Media area. While I wasn’t able to watch most of the performance, they sounded amazing and I’m definitely a new fan. We passed many other media reps making jokes about Soccer Mommy and Hockey Dad needing to collaborate ‘for the meme’, and I don’t disagree. They’re both fantastic indie acts, and although their styles are definitely different, it would be awesome to see. All of their songs sounded so well developed, with soft but confident vocals and gorgeous soft electric guitar streaming through the whole performance.

Tired Lion was next on the agenda and having worked with them before I already knew what to expect – great sound, strong raspy vocals, and awesome songwriting, stage presence, and performance. The female-led indie-rock band pulled a decent crowd, a few super keen groups of fans dancing the whole time. The group realized they were cutting it short with their setlist and had to make some last minute decisions on what to include for the end of their set, and went with Where Were You, Without or Without, a cover of All The Things You Said by Tatu, and crowd favourite, Cinderella Dracula.

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After this, I happened to find another friend of mine and she introduced me to Ceres up at the Grand Theatre stage. They’re definitely part of potentially my favourite musical genre, labelling themselves as punk and rock, with inspiration from the indie-, pop-, & alternative – rock scenes. A stand out moment was in their second song (though I haven’t been able to find the name of it thus far), which featured some incredibly clean stop-start sections, with the whole band in near-perfect sync, and I wasn’t the only one to notice. The crowd absolutely loved it. A large section of the crowd were evidently long-time, passionate fans, screaming ‘Where’s Viv?’ in reference to an apparently popular song of their ‘Viv in the Frontseat’, which when played lead to a huge cheer from said fans and the rest of the crowd. I’ll definitely be looking out for what these guys do next.

Unfortunately, I somehow missed Jack River’s performance at the Valley stage but I’ve been told it was just as good as her recorded tracks. Ruel was next up in the Grand theatre, and although I’m not personally a fan of the young performer, I can respect why others are. He had amazing voice control, great stage-to-crowd interaction, a fantastic ban co-op behind him on stage, and for reasons unknown to me, a ‘The Simpsons’ themed animated stage backdrop. He is clearly comfortable with his place on the stage, splitting the crowd to sing separate ‘ooh’s for his radio-famous track ‘Don’t Tell Me’. The tent was near-full and it was easy to tell that most if not all were definitely deliberately there. Ruel finished his set with another mainstream-popularity song ‘Younger’, which left the crowd absolutely screaming.

Amy Shark, another artist whom I am personally not really a fan of, but can appreciate why people are. Sitting on the ever-inclining hill it was easy to see she hosted a huge crowd, with majority of the Ruel audience making their way down to also join. She had clear clean vocals and consistent crowd interaction, and standing in front of the huge ‘Amy Shark’ metallic letters behind her on stage, began to become emotional on stage stating; ‘Falls, this is the first time I’ve played at Falls Festival, this is the best show I’ve ever played, I love you’. She of course played crowd favourite ‘Adore’ and many others that had the crowd well-hyped.

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Back in the Grand Theatre after Amy was Dermot Kennedy – another new artist to add to my research list – who put on a gorgeous performance, with a broad presentation of various musical styles. The Irish singer and songwriter continues his tour around Australia (and the world) this year and we are indeed blessed. Kennedy has a truly beautiful voice and lyrics, taking inspiration from the likes of Bon Iver, James Blake, and James Vincent McMorrow. His backing band were just as talented, creating perfectly in sync, beautiful music to pair with Kennedy’s powerful voice.

Running Touch was another act I was not going to miss. Having seen him perform once at a solo show in Bendigo I was SO ready to see what would be brought to a massive stage at Falls. Gorgeous, as expected. This time around there was a full band set up which I had not seen before, but it was awesome to witness the collaboration and interactions between them all. I think this was one of the main acts that I really got down to dance to.

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After Running Touch I stuck around for a little bit of Interpol but soon made my way back to camp to get some rest – much needed for the nights to come. I also missed Hilltop Hoods, but I’m told it was fantastic. If my past experiences with them show for anything, I’m sure they held the stage like no other – I could still hear the performance and the crowd cheering from my campsite so there’s no doubt in my mind that they did not disappoint. I did make my way in to meet friends again for Flight Facilities and their featured vocalists. Flight Facilities seem to be a name on every decent festival’s line up, and it’s obvious why – they & their vocalists always seem to put on a flawless show. Running through tracks like Need You, Clair de Lune, Foreign Language, Heart Attack / Down to Earth, and Crave You, the whole set was a sing-along, dance-along party for the thousands (literally).

Bishop Briggs down at Valley Stage was the first performance I made it to on the New Years Eve day and can I just say – what an adorable, gorgeous girl with a fantastic performance and incredible voice and style. Like, everything about here is just, wow. I had only previously known her for one song, discovered by chance in my weekly YouTube music binges about 2 weeks before Falls. That song was ‘Baby’, which she did play, thankfully. The whole performance was so lovely to watch and I couldn’t help but appreciate her personal style and beautiful voice. Definitely one to watch.

After another much-needed afternoon nap I made my way back out to see the legendary Toto. Safe to say, Toto were definitely a main attraction at this year’s festival. Even amongst the younger generation, they have become an everyday name, with ‘Africa’ making its way to almost ‘meme’ level amongst the current internet age. Fortunately, Toto were able to live up to the legend, with a fantastic, confident performance, each member executing their part of the act flawlessly. They did of course play through their most popular tracks ‘Rosanna’, ‘Hold The Line’, their cover of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ by The Beatles, and of course, finished with a 10 minute version of world-wide favourite, ‘Africa’. Definitely a performance made for having a good time.

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Unfortunately, I missed Babe Rainbow but based on recommendation I’ll definitely be checking them out. DMA’S was up next on my viewing list though, and while I only saw about half of their performance before heading up to see Tkay Maidza, I can happily say that DMA’s have of course successfully, and deservingly, continued to prove their place within the Australian music scene. Tkay Maidza has indeed done the same. What I was able to see of her live performance, was incredible. The crowd were clearly all for it, running along with the call and response, learning new song lyrics on the spot and consistently keeping the volume up with cheering, screaming, singing and dancing.

One of the other few acts I was actually planning to see was CHVRCHES. I was so ready to hear Lauren Mayberry’s angelic voice mixed with the beautiful pop synths that the band are so known for, and I was not disappointed in the slightest. If anything I think I became even more of a fan, when Mayberry began talking about being a d*ckhead or a ‘fannyhead’, and then went on to tell a story about seeing a statement that said something along the lines of ‘I don’t understand why people call you a pussy to say you’re weak, because pussies can take a beating’. The crowd LOVED it, no doubt mostly the girls in the crowd screaming the loudest, and in that moment, Lauren Mayberry became my hero. Playing crowd favourites like ‘Get Out’ and ‘Miracle’ throughout the setlist and ending on 2018 release, ‘Never Say Die’, Mayberry’s voice shone, and the band’s overall performance was one I wish I could watch all over again (also, just as a side note, Lauren Mayberry has got to be one of the cutest humans alive).

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The next act we prepared for was of course the New Years turnover act – having to choose between Set Mo and Catfish and the Bottlemen, having known their music better, we went for the latter. The Valley stage area started filling in further and the anticipation for the New Year could be felt in the air. As Catfish came on stage at 11:20pm the cheer from the crowd was deafening and we could only cheer on with them. ‘Homesick’ was the opener and somehow became stuck in my head for the entire following week, followed by ‘Kathleen’ and ‘Soundcheck’. Looking at the side-stage screens I took a moment to realise that a good friend of mine (and past guest reviewer here at AMNplify) Charlotte Fielke was directing and filming the entire thing from the sound deck in the middle of the crowd, and it was definitely a proud yet humbling moment. The band paused at midnight for the 10 second countdown to New Years -and although I must say it was a somewhat disappointing and forgettable moment (just a black and white countdown and then back to the band) this in no way took away from the fantastic performance put on by the boys. They went on to play a stellar lineup of common favourites, old and new, and ended on a somewhat older release ‘Tyrants’, before giving way to the final acts of the night.

We were then anticipating Golden Features, with half of my group of friends already knowing him, the other half totally in the dark for what to expect. Opening and closing with Medicate, Golden Features knew how to round out his set, and had the crowd dancing the whole time. Having seen his once before myself, I was certainly prepared for an hour’s worth of absolute deep house romping. I’m not often one for electronic/deep house music, but Golden Features is a consistent favourite of mine, and I only pray he continues to be as amazing as he has thus far.

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Our night ended with a final visit to the Village to watch some friends of mine perform at 3:10am – The Seduceaphones. This massive group are a super funky brass band, packed full of personality, with members from all over the place. Their Triple J Unearthed page reads; ‘The Seduceaphones are Balkan Brass Band that are at the forefront of Melbourne’s Gipsy music scene. Their unique sound is the electrifying result of traditional experimentation. The Seduceaphones have never failed to get the crowd dancing in new and unusual ways’ – all of this I can personally confirm, and they showed it on the night.

The only serious negative happening during my weekend mention would have been concern for the lethal ‘orange pill’ going around, which I believe did cause 1 death at Lorne Falls Festival – while this is of course not at the fault of Falls themselves, it definitely makes a case for pill testing and being responsible for your own safety at these sorts of events. Seriously – don’t be stupid, look after yourself and your mates, and thankyou to Falls for taking such quick action in sending around alerts and public warnings throughout the festival to encourage patron health and safety. Otherwise – fantastic! I was consistently surprised with the fantastic overall sound and tech. Nearly every performance sounded spot on and even the actual vocals for each act were all gorgeous, at least as far as I could tell.  The food options alone showed an awesome diverse and high quality range of food, at respectable prices. Grounds were kept fairly consistently clean, also featuring the ‘bin fairies’, going around, collecting rubbish and encouraging and educating patrons on their rubbish, recycling, and bio-degradable waste. All staff were lovely, as were most performers whenever we caught them backstage in the VIP bar, and as a fellow Collarts student with close friends working behind the scenes, there is definitely a massive gratitude to be held for giving such great opportunities to students like myself.

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Apart from becoming ill the last 2 days, and the fairly miserable weather in the middle there, my friends and I all had a fantastic time and definitely hope to return.

Thank you, Falls.

 

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