Campers arriving at this year’s Falls Festival at Marion Bay were greeted by perfect weather – there was no rain, it was bright but not overly sunny and the temperature was generally hottish, and quite comfortable. 

Falls staff have turned the venue into the perfect setting for a festival.  It’s an excellent area for camping and since the first festival in 2003, the facilities have improved out of sight.  It was also great to see better, more varied food stalls (although one friend wondered if it was the organisers’ practical joke  – so many curry stands and so few toilets).

Each year, the Festival takes on a slightly different flavour depending on the crowd and the performers involved.  In 2004, it was a largely acoustic affair including Pete Murray, The Beautiful Girls, The Waifs, Missy Higgins, Xavier Rudd and John Butler (albeit with the spectre of Tim Rogers’ drunken antics lurking in the background).  In 2005, the line-up featured more rock acts and so it was no surprise that in 2006, the Falls line-up incorporated more latin, reggae dub and soul elements, taking the festival back to its roots origins.

The Festival kicked off with Tassie act Unleash The Nugget on the main stage.  These guys are good.  Very good.  They are the hip-hop act in Tasmania and it’s a bit surprising that they haven’t made it further in other areas of Australia; they certainly have the talent and the songs.  They put on a great show, combining funk, hip-hop, soul and jazz with ease and were energetic and entertaining without being too clichéd. 

The Ground Components were a bit disappointing.  It must be a bit unnerving for a band used to playing late at night in dark, dingy pubs to suddenly be thrust on stage just after midday and with the sun blaring down on top of them.  Their usually dynamic sound failed to cut through and the audience generally seemed a bit restless.

Enter Wolf and Cub.  It was probably the first time that a lot of the audience had seen this Adelaide-based group and the band were up for the occasion.  It’s amazing how much more interesting a band with two drummers is to look at!  While the live sound didn’t really do them justice, they put on a stellar show. 

Meanwhile, at the smaller stage Jamie Lidell put on a killer set.  “When I played with Beck, I learnt that when no one knows who you are you should just play without stopping.  Then, towards the end of the set say ‘Hi.  How are you?’  You’ve got to earn their respect first”.  This man is amazing.  With an array of keyboards that would make even Keith Emerson jealous Lidell played, sampled, mixed and sang – generally at the same time.  The songs were deep and complex, yet they had even the most emo-looking kids dancing.  Topped off with a sensational version of Multiply this was one of the real highlights of Falls.

Back at the main stage the tension was palpable.  You Am I were setting up.  It’s rock folklore what happened at Marion Bay on 31 December 2004; but to recap, a certain front man of a certain band slightly overindulged on the vodka and was somewhat beyond playing a whole set.  This was their first time back since that night.

Would he mention it?  Would he apologise?  Would it happen again?  In true style, Rogers addressed the audience: “I guess a lot of you are expecting me to apologise (for what happened in 2004).  Well, I don’t apologise to anyone”.  With that he took the top off a bottle of god-knows-what and drank a generous few mouthfuls. 

While Rogers didn’t necessarily apologise personally, his performance was spot on.  In fact, the whole band was on fire.  You could almost tell they were putting in something extra to make up for the debacle two years ago.  The majority of the set was taken from the Convicts album, with the usual crowd favourites thrown in.  A cranking version of  Junk wrapped things up, before the band returned to their dressing room for the evening.

After a blasting set from Unearthed winners, Red Rival, local up and coming act, The Scientist of Modern Music (or TSOMM for short), closed the smaller stage.  TSOMM are really announcing themselves as something to emerge from Tasmania that is a bit different and certainly special.  They combine electro, techno, guitars, synths and vocoders into their music.  They also spend a fair bit of their time dancing.  Painfully young, they dress in either black or white and come across as a cross-between Dr Who, Gerling and Daft Punk.

The Bees were the other highlight of day one.  Lead singer Paul Butler would have been forgiven for giving a less than enthusiastic performance.  He was struggling with laryngitis, but he still managed to sound great.  The bulk of the set came from their new album, Octopus, which should be released soon.  The songs have a mellow, almost reggae-funk feel to them.  They have clearly moved away from the Free The Bees era sound into something different, but the combination of new songs and old songs worked quite well.

Wolfmother were their usual selves.  Their riffs, stage dramatics and use of crushing volume and good stage lighting is made for events like this and the crowd were appreciative.  They even had time for a cover of Led Zeppelin’s Communication Breakdown.

By comparison, day two was a much more laid-back affair.  Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males are a great band and their performance was spot on.  The theremin solo halfway through their set was truly amazing. 

Blue King Brown typified the vibe of this year’s Falls. Soulful and funky, they connected with the audience immediately, and by the end of their set there were thousands of people dancing in front of the stage. 

One of the more bizarre spectacles involved Sleepy Jackson front man, Luke Steele.  Steele’s guitar wouldn’t work and no matter what the stereotypically black-clad stage crew tried, they couldn’t get a sound out of it.  Steele threw a mild tantrum on-stage before the problems were finally fixed.  Whether or not it marred the performance is unclear, but their set did sound a little flat.

By far the best set of the day came from The Vasco Era.  The Vasco Era have steadily been building their reputation as a phenomenal live act, and with their debut album already in the can, it looks like 2007 could be their year.  They owned the stage from the minute they stepped out.  During their set they announced that it was International Hawaii Day, and invited about twenty Hawaiian shirt-clad friends on stage to dance with them.  It all seemed a bit ridiculous, but it suited the party atmosphere.

Last year midnight on New Year’s Eve rolled by during a set change, however there was no such bad luck this year.  Michael Franti was on stage and he was going nowhere.  Franti must have one of the best backing bands going around at the moment.  It was a stage full of amazing players cranking out impossibly tight grooves and we were spoilt to have them all in the one place to bring in the New Year.

The Falls wrapped up for another year to the sounds of The Hilltop Hoods and the pure mayhem of Cansei De Ser Sexy from Brazil.

At the end of four years, the Falls Festival at Marion Bay has evolved from burgeoning roots festival to major rock event and back again.  in the meantime, it has become one of the major events on the Tasmanian cultural landscape and the whole event feels like it really belongs here.  It’s going to be great to see how this event continues to evolve in the future.

Check out the pics from this year’s Falls Festival here