With the official Falls beginning on Tuesday, 12,000 punters migrated from around Victoria, interstate and beyond to the beautiful amphitheatre and Valley Stage of the Lorne site. The day introduced the heat of the festival, the hoses and probably the most random lineup of any given day – an absolute treat for all the senses.

The honour of opening the stage went to Adelaide comical quartet, The Beards, who quickly made clear that it was no beard, no good: if you didn’t have a beard, then you weren’t welcome. There were power ballads ( Born With a Beard ) and patriotic anthems ( Beards Across Australia Unite ) and all round silliness as Joel Bolton paraded around in very Jack Black fashion with his facial haired friends.

All laughs were away when Megan Washington came out next, performing her musical last testament solo – telling the crowd what she wants done with her remains. Her set then mixed up gentler moments with those of joyous pop; favourites being Cement and closing track Sunday Best.

The laughs were back for Wagons though, who performed one hell of a random set, complete with country numbers, hip hop, a rendition of We Three Kings of Orient Are and a cover of the Wayfaring Strangers’ Willie Nelson. They were also up with festival advice as they made their observations of the hill’s stalls – wine and red bull is a lethal combination.

Whitley opened his set with new song Killer and it was immediately obvious that his latest work has made him a much more festival-friendly act. He included a few of his earlier songs ( All is Whole, I Remember ) and some slower material (which he made “more interesting” by changing it to Dancing Queen ) but the set was dominated by new songs, which he proclaimed were off a much better album than the last. Having a duet with Washington on Poison in Our Pockets was a highlight, and picking a fight with The Beards won him a few laughs.

Good friends of Falls, The Vasco Era returned to the Valley Stage armed with a throng of new material to test out. Their opening track didn’t seem too enthralling to the tight crowd down the front, but When You Went certainly had a typical Vasco Era mosh building. 2009 favourite For No One went down well also, but it was an Elvis cover ( Can’t Help Falling in Love ) followed immediately by the raucous When We Forgot to Ask Ourselves Why it Came that impressed the most.

The blues hour was next with Seasick Steve, whose name had been spreading around the festival as a real favourite. Telling everyone that the festival grounds reminded him of jail, Steve’s routine was as funny as it was skilful. He made out that each of his instruments was a piece of shit, then proceeded to demonstrate how accomplished he was at playing it. One girl’s highlight came when she was pulled from the crowd so that Steve could serenade her with Walking Man, proving what a charmer he is with the ladies. Other highlights included Steve’s command of the Three-String Trans Wonder, the “piece of shit that wasn’t even good when it was brand new”, and of course his consumption of whiskey straight from the bottle.

Charming the crowd in an entirely different way, Sarah Blasko had little trouble producing a dazzling set. She felt as though she was playing in a lounge room thanks to the carpeted stage, and delivered a fittingly intimate set list. The placid Always Worth It was nicely complemented with duel violins whilst Hammer gave Blasko a chance to really show off her range. The set contained a good deal of older material, with Explain being a late highlight, complete with the song’s rousing conclusion.

From blues to pop to hip hop, it was now Lyrics Born’s turn to impress and he did so quickly, with Turn It Up kick-starting an instant mosh pit. The Californian star went on to deliver a very fast paced show to fit in an extensive set list, which included the likes of Hello, Pack Up, Stop Complaining and highlights (with big sing alongs) via I Like It, I Love It and Calling Out. Mid way through the set the band got to show off in a tribute to Michael Jackson, each delivering solo rendition of various MJ tracks. The real skill was in how fast Lyrics Born delivered his vocals tough, the man possesses a true skill.

Red tracksuits, plenty of jumping and random saxophone followed as darkness arrived, easing away the heat and introducing Norwegians Datarock to the stage. The premises behind their stage show was pretty simple, move a lot and make the crowd dance. And dance they did, as the band delivered their pop to the masses (they’d certainly outdone Lyrics Born in drawing a crowd). Sex Me Up, The Pretender and Fa Fa Fa were all there making people sing and move, though it was Computer Camp Love that most were hanging out for. Robot dancing of crutches didn’t go astray either, and Datarock proved themselves to simply be a fun band.

Headliners for Tuesday night were the permalicious Wolfmother, whose hair battled the hooks for stage domination. It seemed the place to be for Wolfmother was the mosh pit, as Dimension opened the set and the crowd down front went berserk. Circle pits and crowd surfing soon became more entertaining than the band itself, who continued into New Moon Rising, which seemed to just go on and on and on. Woman refuelled the crowd early on, but Andrew Stockdale’s commands for attention between songs mostly went unanswered. The set was thankfully dominated by material from the band’s first album ( White Unicorn, Colossal, Apple Tree ), but lost ground when a cover of Wuthering Heights appeared – certainly unsuited for the outfit and crowd. Rebuilding the mosh was easy though, with Joker and the Thief finishing the night off in rocking quality.

READ THE REVIEW OF FALLS SOUL AND FUNK REVUE
READ THE REVIEW OF FALLS DAY THREE
READ THE REVIEW OF FALLS DAY FOUR

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