The Falls Festival is a New Year's Eve music festival, held annually in Marion Bay, Tasmania and Lorne, Victoria Australia since 1993. It lasts three days, from December 29 to January 1 each year. The headline acts play mostly over two evenings, December 30 and December 31. Both festivals run simultaneously and swapping line-ups over different days.

Snout playing at the 2001 Falls Festival

In 1995 the event changed to a two day format, and in 1996 the name was changed to The Falls Festival for the first time. The 1999 festival was the first to be held off the Lorne site, moved temporarily to the Torquay site of the Offshore Festival .

In 2003, two events were held simultaneously for the first time; one in Lorne, and an additional event at Marion Bay, Tasmania. The same acts played at both events; the December 30 acts who played at Lorne, play December 31 at Marion Bay, and vice versa. Future festivals retained this two-location format.

Due to the length of the event, people bring a tent and camp out at the event; both locations have nearby beaches. Many artists playing at the Falls Festival are traditionally of the blues & roots genre, however it is not exclusively of this style, with rock, hip hop and electronic style acts also playing.

Valley Stage at the 2006 Falls Festival in Marion Bay

Falls Festival 1996

Falls Festival 1997

Falls Festival 1998

Falls Festival 1999

Falls Festival 2000

Falls Festival 2001

Falls Festival 2002

Falls Festival 2003

Performers at the 2003-04 event include Australian artists Xavier Rudd, The Beautiful Girls, Gerling, Regurgitator and The Waifs; and international acts Michael Franti and Spearhead, Pennywise, Reel Big Fish, and Ozomatli. Like many Australian festivals, the event also promotes local bands, with many Victorian and Tasmanian artists also performing at their respective state's festival. Solo female performer Missy Higgins also pleased crowds, promoting the release of her album and several popular singles, for which she was later recognised by receiving multiple awards at the ARIA Awards in 2005.

Falls Festival 2004

The 2004-05 festival was again held at both venues. Both sites sold out very early - the only Falls Festival to sell as fast was the 1999 event. Artists performing at the event included:

Falls Festival 2005

Artists who performed at the 2005 event include:

2005 was a record year for speed of ticket sales; tickets for the Marion Bay festival sold out two and a half days after going on sale on August 15, and Lorne tickets selling out one week after coming onsale.

Further allocations of tickets for both festivals were released during December and sold out within hours of coming on sale. An unlimited number of Falls Festival patrons were welcome to attend the 'Falls Cinema' on Thursday 29th December (One day earlier than the official kick-off) in an effort to minimize traffic congestion. It was much the same in Tasmania, however the number of tickets available were capped at 9000.

Falls Festival 2006

In early July, the new website for the 2006 event was launched. People were able to subscribe to the official mailing list and be entered into the draw to be offered tickets ahead of the official release date of August 16. Subscribers that were selected would be notified by July 30. Tickets for the 2006 festival were put on sale as of 9am, August the 16th. All tickets to the Lorne event were gone in just over 2 hours. The Marion Bay event followed suit, with all tickets sold out within 3.5 hours.

The announced performers as of December 28, include:

Ticketing

Restrictions on ticket sales were made in 2006 in an attempt to curb the increasing practice of ticket resale, commonly known as 'scalping', as well as to make the access to tickets more equitable. The changes reflected similar alterations made to ticket sale procedures of other major Australian music festivals such as Splendour in the Grass and The Big Day Out. Previously, Tickets had been released for sale in bulk and with no limits on the number of tickets able to be purchased by an individual, resulting in a high incidence of individuals purchasing multiple tickets, and a subsequent sell-out of tickets within a very short period of time, often within 24 or even 12 hours.

The restrictions included a purchasing limit of four tickets per any individual, as well as the initiation of an online ticket lottery, which randomly allocated the sale of approximately 50% of all tickets to a list of people who had registered their interest on the Festival's website. http://www.fallsfestival.com Tickets were also released on multiple dates rather than in bulk, so that sales were more manageable and there was increased consumer accessibility to the sale of tickets.

Falls Festival 2007

The artists at the festival of 2007/08 include:

(* Lorne Only), (** Marion Bay only)

Ticketing

Ticket purchasing procedures changed again in 2007, extending on initial changes made to procedures in 2006. Changes included:

• The extension of the ticket lottery from 50% to 80% of all tickets - intended to increase the equity of ticket sale
• The centralisation of all ticket sales to the Falls Festival Website - intended to eliminate the need to line up outside stores overnight in order to purchase a ticket, as well as prevent criminal problems associated with it such as littering and drinking in public
• The inclusion of a name and date of birth printed on the Festival ticket - intended to further restrict scalping practices

Tickets went on sale to the general public on Monday 10th of September at 9am AEST, with the 14,500 tickets to the Lorne event selling out on the day they were released.

Falls Festival 2008

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