Falls Festival is set to relocate to Melbourne's Sidney Myer Music Bowl for their 2022/23 event and we can think of a gazillion reasons to get excited.
Falls Festival is set to relocate to Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl for their 2022/23 event, which will still be held on December 29, 30 and 31.
The festival was approved to move to a new home near the rural town of Birregurra, inland from Airey’s Inlet, for their 2022/23 edition. But while the move and planning permit was approved by the Colac Shire Otway Council and supported by the local MP and broader community, an application by a small group of locals was made to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) appealing this decision, so a new hearing date has been set for February/March 2023, after the event is meant to take place.
This means that Arctic Monkeys, Lil Nas X, Peggy Gou, CHVRCHES, Jamie xx and more will now play Sidney Myer Music Bowl and surrounds across three days, with Falls co-producer Jessica Ducrou thanking everyone involved for allowing the show to go on in its new inner-city location. In honour of what will likely be a fairly historic, one-off celebration of Falls in the inner city, we’ve compiled the following reasons to get excited.
Falls Downtown Melbourne 2022/23
- Falls Festival is moving its 2022/23 edition to Sidney Myer Music Bowl
- The lineup and dates will remain unchanged
- Tickets to the new event are available here
1. The original Falls lineup are all coming to the Bowl
And what a lineup it is! You’ll all still be able to bask in the momentous glory of Arctic Monkeys, Lil Nas X, Peggy Gou, CHVRCHES, Jamie xx and so many more, now just a little closer to home.
If you need a refresher, the full Falls Downtown Melbourne lineup is as follows: Arctic Monkeys, Lil Nas X, Peggy Gou, CHVRCHES, Jamie xx, Aminé, Ocean Alley, Camelphat, Spacey Jane, DMA’s, G Flip, Pinkpantheress, Rico Nasty, Amyl and The Sniffers, Mall Grab, Ben Böhmer (Live), DJ Seinfeld, Genesis Owusu, TSHA, CC:DISCO!, Young Franco, Anna Lunoe, Luude, Lastlings, May-A, Choomba, The Vanns, King Stingray, Peach Prc, Beddy Rays, Jean Dawson, Telenova, Biscits, Barry Can’t Swim, Floodlights, Elkka, Wongo, Yng Martyr, 1300, Moktar, Magdalena Bay, Dameeeela, Ebony Boadu, Elsy Wameyo, Rona., Juno Mamba.
Plus, last but certainly not least, the festival’s very special guests The OG Wiggles.
2. The international headliners are massive
With nine billion streams, Arctic Monkeys are one of the most popular bands in the world, and will head to Falls to do the Australian festival circuit after headlining across several European festivals. They’ve won seven Brit awards, alongside an Ivor Novello award, a Mercury Music Prize, 20 NME Awards, five Q Awards and three Grammy nominations.
Lil Nas X comes to Australia after shattering the record for longest-running US number-one single with the 16 x Platinum remix with Billy Ray Cyrus of ‘Old Town Road’, and has since released his debut album Montero, boasting back-to-back number-ones with ‘Industry Baby’ featuring Jack Harlow and ‘That’s What I Want’.
Other major internationals include the versatile electronica of Jamie xx (coming off a massive set at Coachella), Peggy Gou, who recently impressed at Live at the Bowl and has earned a huge fanbase for her unmistakable MPC rhythms and irresistible melodies, and Scottish indietronica outfit CHVRCHES, who’ve now released four albums in the ARIA top 20.
There’ll also be eagerly anticipated slots from US rapper Aminé whose debut ‘Caroline’ reached the top 15 on the US charts alongside Rico Nasty, and UK artist Pink Pantheress, who rose to fame through Tik Tok and has since released her debut record To Hell With It.
3. It will all be right in the heart of the CBD
As we all learned watching The O.C., how you spend New Year’s Eve will determine how you will spend the next year, so you have to make it count. Okay, that’s a bit far-fetched, but we can all admit that NYE is as good an excuse as any for a party.
As far as NYE parties go, you can’t get much bigger than a three-day build-up of wall-to-wall international headliners, staged smack bang in the middle of Australia’s nightlife capital.
All the things that can make a regular festival a bit of a pain: the travel times, packing (and forgetting to pack), inescapable heat, sleeping rough in a tent, showers and toilets and more will all be foregone in place of an easy commute home and nights spent in your own bed.
What will remain is the incredible music and atmosphere that Falls delivers. You can count us in.
4. It’s moving to a very special venue
The Sidney Myer Music Bowl and surrounds that Falls Downtown Melbourne will take place in has been a vital part of Melbourne’s entertainment scene since 1959. This versatile, multi-purpose, outdoor venue has hosted some of the world’s biggest acts. Everyone from Sir Paul McCartney, to The Seekers, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to Midnight Oil have performed on the iconic stage – many specifically requesting the venue due to its natural amphitheatre and one-of-a-kind acoustics.
In the lush surrounds of Kings Domain its stalls and surrounding grounds have welcomed hundreds of thousands of music fans. Each year when the weather warms up, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl comes to life, whether you’re dancing in the crowd, screaming for your favourite band or soaking up the rays on the lawn. It’s the perfect spot for an inner-city summer festival, so Falls have nailed their re-location choice.
5. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
Falls Festival is an institution, a staple in Australia’s festival calendar. Founded as Rock The Falls Festival back in 1993, it’s renowned for bringing the best local and international talent together for unmissable NYE celebrations.
We daresay this will be the only chance Melburnians get to witness the wonder of Falls in their own backyard. One day, when your kids are packing to go to Falls Festival, you’ll be able to tell them you attended when they held the whole thing in the middle of Melbourne…they probably won’t believe you.
It’s a huge testament to the festival’s resilience and beloved place in our hearts and minds that this year can go ahead at all, with an unchanged lineup no less. Falls has had a very rough trot having to cancel their Victorian event in 2019/20 just one day into its four-day stretch in Lorne due to “predicted extreme weather conditions”, then in 2020/21, after originally announcing an all-Aussie lineup, the festival was forced into another cancellation due to outbreaks of COVID-19 and subsequent lockdown restrictions.
If you’re going to support one festival this year, Falls deserves your love more than most.
6. It’s the apex of celebrations
Melbourne’s back, festivals are back, Falls is back, the NYE fireworks are back, and after a long, cold winter summer in Australia will finally have returned as we knew and loved it.
Just imagine it – standing on the hill on a balmy summer night, mates by your side, watching Melbourne’s massive NYE firework display in the background at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl as some of the biggest acts in the world ring in the new year.
It’s going to be Falls like you’ve never seen it, and may never see it again. We’ll see you there.
Falls in Byron Bay
Of course, if you still prefer the camping festival experience, then Falls Byron will be going ahead as-usual at the North Byron Parklands from December 31 – January 2, with a range of camping options available.
All camping tickets originally bought for Falls Festival in Birregurra will be automatically refunded from Thursday 29 September 2022. Moshtix will be in touch with all account holders directly with more information, including how to exchange your Birregurra tickets to the Byron event if you would like the full camping festival experience.
Please note that refunds or exchanges need to be requested by the purchaser, which means if a mate purchased your ticket for you, they will also need to request your refund for you.
Ticket holders who are not able to attend the new venue in Melbourne will be able to apply for a refund from 12pm AEST today until 5pm AEDT Thursday 13 October.
Tickets for Falls Downtown Melbourne are on sale 9am AEST Wednesday 14 September from Moshtix.
This article was made in partnership with Falls Festival.