Gig Watch: Falls Festival 2007 : Day One
By Sean
Lynch & Jacqui Machuca
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Falls Festival 2007 was proved
it was the premium music
festivals on Aussie shores
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Music festivals are no longer
about the Music, it's simply about the experience. But, when you really
think about it - Music festivals were never about the music, simply a
forum for expression and life. If Woodstock is remembered for changing
the music world - Falls Festival should be remembered for changing the
way we experience bringing in the New Year.
It's
near impossible to give an accurate review of something like Falls.
From the get-go, we should make it clear that no two Falls Festival
experiences will be the same. And that's the beauty of it. Everyone
will have their own stories, their own memories - many of which may
bare similarities to the ones others experienced - but none will be
exactly the same.
This is our Falls Festival story...
DAY ONE:
Having over
packed something chronic (ironically, I forgot to bring a pair of jeans
- and was left with one pair of borties and an array of footy shorts),
we set out on the 2 hour plus trip to the beachside world of Lorne,
Victoria.
The petrol gauge hit empty just as we entered onto the
freeway, with stress kicking in as we missed not one - but two - of the
'few & far between' petrol station stop offs. Yep, it almost seemed
like we were trying to relive the episode of Seinfeld where Kramer tries to push the "Empty" light to the limit. Several kilometre's down the road (for the record - it is
possible to take that entire freeway until Geelong under empty) and
$64.70 later, we were on our way with a tank full of fossil fuel - and
an over expensive map of the Great Ocean Road which conveniently cut
off at the exact street we needed to be on.
A brief stop off at the odd Martian's Cafe (which seems like it had accidentally fallen in the middle of a paddock during a Wizard of Oz type hurricane) to pick up our VIP passes - and we were on our way... or so we thought.
We
arrived at the back entrance, with the big "FALLS FESTIVAL HERE" sign
exciting us both - for our arses were numb from the car ride, and our
CD rotation had begin to lag. Unfortunately, fate can be cruel, with
the wait that followed almost equaling the time it took to get to this
initial destination. Yep, it's safe to say that in the time it took to
get from the entrance to the campsite (nestled nicely bumper to bumper
with dozens of other cars) that one could quite happily grow, harvest,
shave and regrow quite an impressive Ned Kelly beard.
After
bravely growing a pair of kahunas and opting to drive on the opposite
side of the road towards the campsite, we finally found ourselves
in a delightful little spot, atop a hill. The view was nothing short of
glorious, it simply was breathtaking.
But there is no time for
sight seeing when there is less than an hour of daylight left to put up
a tent. Without being kind, our attempt to assemble the $20
Two-Man-Tent was reminiscent of an episode of Some Mothers Do Have 'Em.
With
the tent up, we wandered down to the VIP bus which ran every 15 minutes
from the campsite to the performance tents. A mighty fine bonus if I've
ever encountered one. A quick look around the venue (essentially a
music fest trapped within the set of The Blair Witch Project)
and a selected taste of the various food outlets that would encompass
our diet for the next three days, and we were pretty much set to bunker
down for the night on the hill - braving the night time chill to check
out UK act New Young Pony Club and Groove Armada.
With the all
the attitude of kids from the ghetto - and the musical punch of 80s
inspired electro - NYPC set the standard for the fest. The team worked
over time to get the crowd involved, pumped and and excited about the
tunes, and it worked a treat. The set's high point: a cover of Pump Up The Jam which lead singer Tahita Bulmer had heard playing in Supre' earlier on in the day. A masterful piece of song selection.
After
short interval, another wander around the venue and it's various tents
(as well as a lengthy conversation on how and why Magic Dirt were so
popular despite being f**king terrible - the end conclusion being that
they seemed to have the same sort of industry clout as Tim Rogers, thus
making up for their less than impressive back catalogue) and we found
ourselves a prime position as Groove Armada took to the stage.
For
mine, the set was something of a poor man's Daft Punk. The songs, the
light show - all quite impressive - but after the astounding event that
was Never Ever Land just a few weeks earlier, these children of the 90s
really had their work cut out for them. None the less, the crowd
responded with buoyant enthusiasm. We too even got into the spirit of
things, despite being blinded on several occasions by the rather
intense laser lighting.
Extra points must also go to the young
hoon who climbed up onto the sound tower and was wrestled to the
ground by a lighting guy. Yep - that's what festivals are all about:
random acts of stupidity!
FALLS FESTIVAL 2007 WRAP-UP
- Day Two: Let The Drinking Begin... And End
- Day Three: All Juggered Out and Nowhere To Go
Overall: 70%
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