Falls Festival expands to WA

The Falls Music & Arts Festival is launching in Western Australia.

Under the name Falls Downtown, the inaugural fourth national date in Fremantle will be held on January 7 and 8 next year.

Further breaking the traditional Falls format, the event will be staged across a collection of spaces, including the abandoned Myer building, Town Hall Atrium, town square and St John’s Anglican Church.

Event co-producer Paul Piticco told TMN: “With so many festivals pulling out of the market I always scratched my head and asked ‘Why?’ I think it’s a wonderful time come inand we are really looking forward to bringing Falls in a new and different format to the West.”

Piticco said the break away from the traditional Falls camping experience was to create a new unique offering.

“We wanted to try and do something different in WA, something that captured the Falls spirit but just didn’t emulate what was back east,” he said.“We wanted Falls Fremantle to be unique.In fact we want all the Falls show to be unique and idiosyncratic in some way.

“We want the shows to be more like family members rather than copies or clones of each other,” he added. “Sharing family DNA and ethos but all seen as individuals.”

Falls Downtown will feature the same local and international artists, creative food and performance art as its three counterparts in Lorne (Victoria), Marion Bay (Tasmania) and Byron Bay (NSW).

Falls Festival launched as a one-day event in Lorne in 1993; its Marion Bay date in Tasmania was added a decade later and the Byron Bay event has been running since 2013. Piticco and Splendour In The Grass co-founder Jessica Ducrou bought into the festival in September 2012.

Piticco hinted at an expansion to either South East Queensland and/or Western Australia back in 2014. He toldToneDeaf that year: “We’re certainly not expansionist but we certainly feel that Falls hasn’t reached its full potential yet and there is so much growing interest.”

Speaking to TMN, Piticco said the festival brand’s slow-burning growth has been to its advantage.

“I think when we got involved with Falls nearly five years ago we have some ideas on how to grow it but were reluctant to make too many changes too quickly. We realized The Falls meant huge amounts to music fans coming of age in Victoria and Tassie and wanted to give other places in the country a chance to experience it. As with all things though there has to be some evolution,that’s why we are coming to Western Australia.”

The Falls Festival lineup for its four dates is expected to drop in the coming weeks.