Falls Festival 2019 was epic. It certainly had ALOT to live up to as I adored 2018 and still think that Peking Duk, to his day, had the best set I have ever seen.
The lineup this year was superb. This is shown by how many of the acts were in the Hottest 100 this year. Just amazing.
Here are 2019’s positives:
* The stages. In all previous years, the event was very spread out. Multiple stages you had to run between and often you would miss some of the shows in cross over. This year ALL stages were on Freo oval and this was so good and props to the organisers for that. We barely missed any shows and although we did have to choose between two fave acts that were on at once, our splitting our time was easy.
Stages 3 and 4 were under a tent which meant there was a tonne of shade (thank you!) and the atmosphere was electric. Imagine Dizzee Rascal in a space with hundreds of other fans with the music pumping feeling like an intimate gig whilst being at a huge festival- perfect job right there.
* The hydration– Oh my. It was honestly the best thing I have seen ever, staff at the front of EVERY show handing out water to festival go-ers, signs everywhere reminding us to stay hydrated, fountains (of sorts) easily accessible and water aplenty whenever you needed it. Falls Festival – absolutely spot on guys. The crew were also all onto it, responsive, on the ball and looked like they were also enjoying themselves. Winning all round.
* Accessibility. Everything was where you needed it. The food was all in two main spots meaning there weren’t people wandering around eating. It was seriously easy to find seating and such a fab selection of food trucks and vendors. The bar was easily accessible (the important bits) and the markets were right there which I loved, #shoplocalperth 🙂
* Education. There were some very informative stands there such as STD testing. Knowledge is power and I was impressed with the harm minimization strategy.
* The Music. Wow. Hockey Dad- they blitzed it. Chvrches- amazing. Catfish and the Bottlemen, Mallrat, Interpol… all fantastic shows and again, the stages were set up so well, it was so easy to be a part of the vibe.
* Location. As always – Freo delivers on ease of getting there (train) and the local area has so much to offer. Please don’t ever change location!
The negatives:
* Smoking. I am a non- smoker so for me, having a smoke free event is important. There was cigarette smoke everywhere, butts on the ground and I got burnt by someone flicking their butt at the and it getting caught in the wind. In all honesty, this ruined alot of the vibe for me as it was hard to enjoy with smoke in your face.
* Transperth. At the end of the night, those of us who had done the right thing, caught public transport were hit with a rude shock. Trains were not included in the tickets. What followed was over 500 people in and around Freo train station lining up to get tickets with very few machines. This was not well communicated and again, dampener on the vibes.
All in all, you have to love Falls. With most music festivals no longer coming to Perth, it is fab to have such a well-executed event here in Perth. I have been to the last three and they just keep getting better and better.
Besides those two points – keep up the great work Falls, brilliant event.
I look forward to Falls 2020!