Falls Festival Info

Organisers of the Falls Music & Arts Festival have announced who'll be ringing in the new year in Marion Bay, Lorne and for the first time Byron Bay.

As predicted Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear and The Roots lead a strong bill that also includes California party-starters !!! (Chk Chk Chk); English art-rock trio London Grammar; Beyonce's uber-cool little sister Solange; New York trippers MGMT; Nigeria's Bombino; and The Wombats, playing some new material in addition to old hits like 'Let's Dance To Joy Division' and 'Jump Into The Fog'.

Crowded House's Neil Finn heads up the Antipodean contingent, which also features Big Scary, POND, The Cat Empire, Chet Faker, Flight Facilities, Gossling, Hermitude, Rüfüs and The Preatures.

The 2013 bill also welcomes the return to Fall's of Violent Femmes, who rang in the new millennium not at Lorne, but at a temporary site at Torquay due to torrential rain. The trio reformed recently for Coachella in April, and as bassist Brian Ritchie told FL they plan to play their 1983 self-titled debut - featuring 'Blister In The Sun', 'Kiss Off' and 'Add It Up' - in full. "The new generation keeps getting into it the same way as the previous ones," Ritchie, who now lives in Tasmania, said. "It's not like a retro thing. We intended it that way when we made the first album... We were trying to make something that would last."

Falls 2013 first announcement:

!!! (Chk Chk Chk)
Asta
Big Scary
Bombino
Bonobo
The Cat Empire
Chet Faker
Crystal Fighters
Cyril Hahn
Flight Facilities
Gossling
Grizzly Bear
Hanni El Khatib
Hermitude
James Vincent Mcmorrow
London Grammar
MGMT
Neil Finn
Pond
The Preatures
The Roots
Rüfüs
Solange
Tom Odell
Vampire Weekend
Violent Femmes
White Denim
The Wombats


Location, location, location
For the first time, Falls will be running three festivals in 2013: at Lorne in Victoria, Tasmania's Marion Bay and a new Byron Bay venue on Splendour In The Grass' Yelgun site. Falls has announced on Facebook they'll be using a different section of the 660-acre property from the one used by Splendour last month, taking advantage of a location that features "natural amphitheatres, lakes and tree coverage".

"We're really excited to be heading North and expanding this year," Falls organiser Simon Daly announced in a statement released last month. "The Byron Bay location couldn't be better suited to everything that has always encompassed Falls in Lorne and Marion Bay. Coastal and charming natural settings; a destination for our patrons to travel for."