It was more than just a music festival for the 17,000 patrons, that included 15,000 campers, at the sixth annual Falls Music and Arts Festival held at North Byron Parklands between the 31 December and January 2.
Highlight acts included US hip-hop and R&B sensation Anderson.Paak bringing in the New Year and Hilltop Hoods, DMAs, Chvches and Toto all attracting large audiences, the latter leading the crowd in thousands-strong choruses of their perennial hits Africa, Rosanna and Hold the Line.
Other festival highlights included the ‘La Henge’ arts precinct which featured a cardboard replica Stonehenge, an epic ‘Cavepeople vs Sabretooth Tigers’ cardboard battle by Boxwars on New Year’s Eve, and the Howl & Moan stage where patrons rocked out to the underground sounds of local punk bands.
The Iconic Laundromat was also a huge hit where patrons entered a nightclub via a large washing machine. With temperatures in the high 20s the onsite water park ‘Palm Springs’ was once again a popular destination. Misting tents in the campgrounds also kept patrons cool.
Plastic bottle reduction
For the first time this year, plastic water bottles were not sold at the festival. Patrons refilled their own water bottles from free drinking water stations.
‘Not selling plastic water bottles at the festival this year had a very positive impact on the amount of waste generated as well as the workload of our cleaning staff. We’d like to thank our patrons for embracing this initiative so wholeheartedly,’ said Brandon Saul, Director Falls Festival Byron.
Festival organisers also highlighted that campers started arriving at the festival a day early this year facilitating smooth ingress with no delays. Campers exited in record time with campers off the site by 10am on January 3.
