Event: Australia

The Falls Festival

When:	30 Dec 2008 - 1 Jan 2009 (annual)
Where:	Falls Festival Farm
Opening Hours:	Gates close at 10pm each night

The Falls Festival is a live music and camping extravaganza held around New Year's Eve at the Falls Festival Farm in the Otway rainforest. An Australian institution, it entices worldwide visitors to embark on an annual pilgrimage of summertime escapism.

Over 50 acts perform at The Falls Festival, both on the Valley Stage and in the Big Top. There's even a People's Stage, where anyone can have a go! The Erskine Fayre sells jewels, funky clothes, head cosies, shades and more, while the Healing Fields are the ideal place for a breather.

The Falls Festival 2008 line-up features a huge range of crowd-pleasers, including Franz Ferdinand, The Hives, The Kooks, Gomez, Mystery Jets, Santogold and many more.

The event has changed since it was started by a local surfer who generously invited the revellers from the annual (and destructive) street party in Lorne up onto his parents' farm in the nearby Otway Ranges. The main stage used to be a ramshackle "scaff and tarp" job on the back of a truck, whereas now it is a massive weatherproofed shed. Fencing and internal roads have been improved for ease of parking and camping but, in essence, The Falls Festival has stayed true to its roots.