Day one on 29 December started off for me with Michael Franti playing a brilliant acoustic set with Kieran Murphy, an extremely talented eighteen year old guitarist from Melbourne. There’s not much you can say about Franti without gushing, but he knows how to set an atmosphere expertly, and performs his beautiful songs without flaws and a whole lotta soul.
Where’s your head at? My head was well and truly at Basement Jaxx on the evening in question. They played with a full band, including brass section, the great session singers they use and a real drummer! It was a great set to dance along to and one of the few times that I have enjoyed house music. I’ve walked though Basement gigs at the Big Day Out and thought ‘Meh!’ but they had the place pumping with real people playing real instruments and it was very very very fun.
The 30th of December began as a cold, misty day but quickly turned into a warm and sunny one. I lamented the fact that I neglected to pack shorts to anyone who’d listen. Though suffering from technical difficulties (broken strings; an absent bass player for the first song), Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males delivered an enjoyable set early on the first day of the festival proper. A notable absence from the setlist was ‘Drowning in the Fountain of Youth’, the lead single and title track from their second album. This was probably due to time constraints more than anything; they appeared ready to play it, but were asked by the organisers to wrap it up.
The Exploders disappointed. They haven’t really developed as a band from their first single ‘Stepping Out’, and while they rock out live, it was a boring, mundane show that almost made me lost my faith in blues based rock’n’roll. Not that my faith has been rock hard in that genre for a long while. Any music that requires you to be drunk to derive enjoyment from it must be lacking somewhere. Gavin Campbell, the lead guitarist from Melbourne’s 67 Special joined the guys on stage. He played well, but postured like a tosser. I guess that works within the theatrical nature of a 67 Special show, which I have always enjoyed, but with the boys from Lake Bolac playing the shambolic don’t-give-a-shit card, it was out of place and weird.
FourPlay are a rock band. But they’re a rock band that is a classically trained string quartet who play modern rock covers arranged into their format as well as original tunes. They kicked off their set with ‘2 + 2 = 5’ by Radiohead followed by ‘Sabotage’ by the Beastie Boys. The opening shout of ‘Oh my God, that’s the funky shit’ was executed by the eloquent lilt of violinist and vocalist Lara Goodridge. It brought a massive grin to my face when four people holding classical instruments were shouting ‘Listen all of y'all it's a sabotage’ into their microphones while making a cacophony through effects pedals. The rest of the songs included brilliant and occasionally quirky originals and an old blues tune, and they finished with two other covers. Jeff Buckey’s ‘Grace’ sounded as if it was being performed in its original and purest form – high praise indeed for a cover. It was simply sublime. They finished off the set performing ‘Reptillia’ by The Strokes, which pleased the crowd to no end thanks to the Triple J attention the track received. FourPlay is definitely something special, and worth looking into if you get the chance.
I was anticipating Modest Mouse’s show a little due to the fact that Johnny Marr of The Smiths and Johnny Marr and the Healers (plus heaps of other stuff you can read about on Wikipedia) joined the band in 2006. They put on a passable live show, but you couldn’t help but think the addition of Marr was just a gimmick – for Modest Mouse to get more attention, and so Marr could have a band to easily jam along with. He played well, but did very little lead guitar, sticking to rhythm work throughout most of the show. I’d never say a bad word about rhythm players, but when you’ve got someone like Johnny Marr in your band, you should use him to his full potential. But when you’re rocking out to ‘Float On’, ‘Ocean Breathes Salty’ or ‘Bukowski’ all of this is quite irrelevant.
Eskimo Joe are one of the favourite bands from my teenage years. Their debut album Girl came out in 2001, when I was in year nine, and was very much ingrained in my psyche. The first time I saw them live was at the 2002 Big Day Out in Melbourne, which was my first music festival. It was an awesome experience – even though I wore a backpack into the moshpit, had the zip come undone numerous times and pissed an innumerable amount of people off by wearing it, it was still a great gig. A Song Is A City was bought and enjoyed in 2004, but I didn’t purchase or really enjoy Black Fingernails, Red Wine much. Perhaps it was the production that followed the eighties styling that is the production style du jour, but it was probably just that I was into different music this year. Anyway, their live set was brilliant, and they seemed the most into their music that I’d seen them since 2002 (I’d since seen them at another couple of Big Days Out). Their playing was tight and passionate, and their confidence did not waver into arrogant territory. Disappointingly though, they played nothing from Girl and almost nothing from A Song….
Michael Franti and Spearhead were fantastic. The acoustic show the night before was great, and with a full band, the field was a-rocking in a different but equally great fashion. Franti’s message is great and his delivery is impeccable. This was one of the best live acts I’ve seen.
Day three on 31 December was less misleading with the weather. It was overcast with little slips of sun peeking through all morning and it rained in the afternoon, which added nicely to the atmosphere of the next band. I really love The Mountain Goats’ work. After seeing them with a disinterested crowd at a beery lunchtime at uni, I was keen on seeing John Darnielle and Peter Hughes playing to an audience that appreciated the Goats more. They played heaps of stuff from Get Lonely, ‘The Sunset Tree and We Shall All Be Healed, with my personal highlights being ‘Song For Dennis Brown’ and ‘Palmcorder Yajna’. Of course they closed with ‘This Year’. Of course the crowd went wild. Of course!
At the end of 2004, Tim Rogers of You Am I was involved in an incident at Falls. You can easily find info about it on the net, so I’m not going to write about it here, but the man was clearly nervous about taking to the stage again. He needn’t have been. They played very well, and the inter-song banter was top-notch, but Rogers’ welfare does worry me. The last two times I’ve seen him live were an Ian Rilen tribute show at the Prince Bandroom in St. Kilda when he played with the Temperance Union and at Falls Festival this year. At both of those events he seemed to be holding it together, but barely, and the Falls set was closed with a foreboding ‘Goodbye’ from him where he pretended to throw his guitar into the audience before resting it on a foldback speaker. This may suggest an imminent band break-up or perhaps I’m reading too much into it. You Am I are kick arse though.
Although the leader of The Bees, Paul Butler, was suffering from a hoarse voice, they assisted the New Year’s Eve party in a big way. ‘Chicken Payback’, ‘Wash in the Rain’, and their cover of Os Mutante’s ‘A Minha Menina’ were a lot of fun to dance to. Weeee!
Wolfmother, Wolfmother, Wolfmother. I believe they were summed up quite well by Justin Hazelwood (the Bedroom Philosopher) with his joke:
Q. How many Wolfmothers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A. None. Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin already did it in the ‘70s.
However, I cannot deny that they have become much more proficient players. They are almost competent with their instruments now, and put on a fun live show. There was not one new song in sight that wasn’t from their debut self-titled album of 2005 or that delicious slice of rock pie, ‘The Love Train’. A particular highlight was straight after the countdown, when Tim Rogers came on stage with a mic, Andy Kent took over bass duties, Rusty Hopkinson jumped on the drums and Davey Lane came on with his guitar, with the whole You Am I et Wolfmother crew belting out The Who’s ‘Baba O’Riley’ (AKA ‘Teenage Wasteland’). A fitting summary of the nature of Falls as well as a kick arse way to ring in 2007.
Great comedy was on again with Akmal Saleh and Eddie Perfect performing on the 30th and Charlie Pickering and the Bedroom Philosopher performing on the 31st. They all delivered fun sets that displayed their fine, unique talents with their craft.
A fine festival. We were camped in a better spot, much closer to the stage, this time too. Which added to the experience. I’ve gotta say it. It was better than last year.
Have a great 2007!
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