An all-star cast of artists from across the planet blasted in the New Year at the 2015 Falls Music & Arts Festival at the North Byron Parklands. More than 60 acts performed under scorching blue skies across the three-day-program, writes Georgina Bible.
Art Vs Science delivered a high-mass of crowd-friendly, electro favourites to kick-off the New Year’s Eve festivities. Stand-out tracks included Magic Fountain and the perennial classic Parlez Vous Francais. The trio even paid homage to the world of metal, dabbling in the nether realms of Metallica for some high-voltage fun. Fast forward to Peking Duk who are well known for their super-charged live performances. The Canberra DJ’s Falls Festival slot was one of the stand-outs of the entire three day program, dishing-up a mix that saw the Valley Stage blast off in dance oblivion. The duo delivered a brilliant version of Adele’s Hello as well as some Fat Boy Slim, throwing in classics like High and Take Me Over.
The Wombats were billed to see in the New Year and delivered a track-list of radio-friendly favourites, which included 1996, The English Summer and (of course) Let’s Dance to Joy Division. The Brit-pop trio raced through a solid thirteen song set to bring in 2016 but no fireworks were to be had on the stroke of midnight due to total fire ban – a small price to pay to the music festival gods for a mud-free North Byron Parklands (those who were at Splendour 2015 will understand).
Courtney Barnett delivered a ‘cracking set’.
Day two gave us Courtney Barnett – probably one of the most anticipated acts on the bill – and she didn’t disappoint. The Melbourne singer/songwriter/guitarist has stolen headlines around the world, with Rolling Stone and The New York Times just two of the heavyweights lauding her talent. It was a shame she was slotted to play in the afternoon, but it didn’t stop her delivering a cracking set, which included the soon-to-be anthems, Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go to the Party and the Pedestrian At Best.
Other day two highlights included a stunning performance by Australia’s unofficial poet laureate, Paul Kelly. His ensemble, The Merri Soul Sessions, featured an all-star cast of Australian talent – Dan Sultan, Clairey Brownie, Vika, Linda Bull, and Kira Puru. The supergroup sampled everything from soul masterpieces right through to the Kelly classics, all of which left the Valley Stage crowd spellbound.
Punters had flooded front of stage to catch festival legends Bloc Party, who were billed to close day two. It was a performance worth waiting for. They played an eleven song set, opening with The Good News from their latest album, which was followed by the festival anthem Hunting for Witches. A change in line-up has only amped the band’s edge – Kele Okereke held the Valley Stage in his hands as he delivered the likes of Banquet, Helicopter, closing the night with This Modern Love.
Young Fathers – the Scottish group was one of the best finds of the festival.
Day three delivered one of the best finds of the festival – Young Fathers. The opening beats of the Mercury Prize winning group from Edinburgh, Scotland acted like a siren, drawing crowds of punters to the Forest Stage to discover the source. What they found was a four piece delivering an original blend of electronica, soul and hip hop through a combination of backing tape and turbo-charged drumming. It was one of those festival performances that would be literally a hard act to follow.
Nonetheless, festival headliners Disclosure delivered on their reputation. With rumours the Valley Stage amphitheatre had been sprinkled with celebrity glitter to the likes of Myley Cyrus and friends, the sibling duo from England put on an incredible performance that went to the tune of eighty minutes. The set-list included a selection of dance-inducing numbers along the likes of White Noise, You and Me, Omen and Magnets, with Latch closing the festival.
That was the year that was…and we enjoyed the music.
Falls Music and Arts Festival Director, Brandon Saul, declared this years’ event was the best they’ve had at the venue. “It was a thrill to see the natural amphitheatre full of people having a great time”, Mr Saul said. “The festival patrons themselves should also be congratulated – everyone commented on how friendly, polite and cooperative the patrons were and that it made this year’s Falls Music and Arts Festival Byron a great experience.”
It was a somewhat smaller crowd than previous years. But no one seemed to mind the lack of human traffic on the North Byron Parklands fields, which meant easy access to bars, food tents and even to the front of stage areas.
