Falls Festival

The Falls Festival is a New Year's Eve music festival, held annually in Australia since 1993-94.It lasts three days, from December 30 to January 1 each year. The headline acts play over two evenings, December 30 and December 31.

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 due to flooding at the Falls. That year also saw the headlining Violent Femmes pelted with bottles and booed off stage shortly after the start of their set [1].

In 2003, two events were held at the same 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, groups of people often 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, punk and electronic style acts also playing.

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's 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 both events included:

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*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