Timber and Steel

Review by KTBell, photos by Stu B.

What do a Matador, Pirate Princess, Bumble Bee and a Koala have in common? The Falls Festival, Lorne apparently. We arrived late in the afternoon on the first day of the festival only to feel like there was a costume party that no one had told us about. It seems dressing up with your mates is one of the key ingredients in the Falls Festival experience, we saw superheroes, all manner of animals, and too many body suits to mention.

Nouvelle Vague                            Lilikoi Kaos       Melbourne Ska Orchestra

Wednesday was the first afternoon of the 19th annual Falls Festival with the first and second days alternating between the two stages, Wednesday starting the festival off in The Grand Theatre at the top of the hill. The days line up was a bit light on the folk front, but Peter Combe helped wayward 20-30 something’s reclaim their youth complete with “Newspaper Mama” hats for the crowd. Anna’s Go-Go Academy taught the gathered crowd how to Go-Go and it was entertaining to see the whole audience dance in time with moves like the “Yay Titties” and the “Human Nature”. We caught French outfit Nouvelle Vague whose two female vocalists made me feel like I should be flying Pan Am and ordering Singapore Slings. Their take on popular songs were sassy, jazzy and a little bit Bossa Nova. Lilikoi Kaos, a circus and burlesque star, wowed the crowds with hula hoops, high heels, a seductive strip and a whole lotta splits. We rounded our night out with the huge numbers of the Melbourne Ska Orchestra who filled the half capacity theatre tent with cool, attitude, ska and wacky old school dancing. At one point the crowd faced off with the orchestra with the maestro controlling it all, very silly, but oh so fun. The cold got the better of us and we headed off to catch some hopefully warm sleep.

Thursday saw The Valley Stage spring to life while The Grand Theatre took a day off. While the stage opened with some heavier surf rock and grunge, we ambled over to The Village and stumbled across the delightful Melbourne based 5 piece, Heel Toe Express. Delivering exactly what you want from a folk band with a twinge of bluegrass rhythm, the crowds relaxed on the grass and were carried away by lilting fiddle, twanging banjo and plodding double bass. I know it’s a traditional song, but it was great to hear their rendition of “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms” which I am more accustomed to in The Snowdroppers rockin’ blues style. Heel Toe Express transported me, and the whole crowd, to a completely different time and place away from the Falls Festival, I occasionally thought I should be at a fiddlers convention, barn dance or country show, but in a good way. They don’t restrict themselves performance wise, frequently switching between female and male lead vocals, whipping in some harmonies, harmonica and a bit of a honky-tonk vibe just to mix it all up, exactly the kind of band to relax through the afternoon with. Or perhaps the toe tapping, hoe down kind of wind up to kick off the day.

Back at the Valley Stage, Guineafowl had the crowds bopping to their Indietronic, smooth grooves, they made me feel like U2 would be playing the same line up. One of my favorite swinging 60s style souls girl groups, Clairy Browne and the Bangin’ Rackettes hit the stage in their synchronized, mid set set tear away costume changing, take the audience by storm kind of way. Not folk but a whole lot of fun, kind of like a 60s soul singing Amy Winehouse with backup singers. The New York outfit Easy Star All-Stars‘ “Dub side of the Moon” reggae dub performance was great, entertaining and funky to boot.

Missy Higgins was a sign that the stakes were raising with the the evening’s lineup stretching tantalisingly ahead of us. Her last releases were way back in 2007 so I was really keen to see what she had been up to in that time and gauge whether there’s anything exciting in the pipeline to get excited about. The crowd went wild as she took to the stage sporting a cute, short, blonde coiffed do. Higgins opened with a sweet rendition of “Secret”, oozing with a funky slow beat and a dash of Aussie soul. It was a gutsy full band sound but with her trademark acoustic guitar at the forefront. Her whole set was thoroughly enjoyed by the crowd, singing along at every opportunity. She later tweeted “Argh wow! Show was so amazing tonight, Nashville guys were blown away by how loud the crowd were singing!! So fun. So good to be back. Xx” and believe me, we are all very happy to see her back!

After such a fulfilling performance, I was excited to finally catch Beirut live and they took to the stage with fans screaming. Having not had a chance to familiarise myself with their back catalogue, the accordian and xylophone opening was enchanting and the trumpets brought it all together for a harmony laced scene. I felt like an oom-pa band and folk band had a love child in Beirut, it’s chilled out fantasy kind of stuff! The ukulele made an appearance to many cheers from the audience and Zach’s voice floated liltingly across the huge crowd. While not everyone’s cup of tea, their set to me was like lullabies for adults, instantly calming, comforting and a sense of security. Their set was nothing short of beautiful and the crowd, blissed out across the vast sun drenched hill, were sated with the delicacies Beirut served up.

Later in the evening, after more indie, dance and DJ sets had infused the cold night with happy revellers, the tempo changed and with it, the anticipation increased. The legendary John Butler Trio was greeted with a huge roar from the crowd and they warmed the chilly night with the funk infused roots of “Don’t Wanna See Your Face No More”. The slapping base was phenomenal and could be felt all the way up the hill. As a huge crowd favourite, the trio looked completely at home onThe Valley Stage, I’m sure the entire crowd never wanted it to end. But alas, when their time was up the chill of the night had reallt set in and it was time for me to climb in to a warm sleeping bag for the night. What an amazing first couple of days and we were only half way through.

Check out our feature reviews of Missy Higgins and John Butler Trio, in an attempt to keep this review to a sensible length, we’ve decided to put together some more in depth reviews of our festival highlights.