While the Grand Theatre took centre stage last night, Monday at Falls Festival Lorne was all about partying in the Valley. A great line up of bands and artists performed through the day and night, not letting the freezing cold weather and rain deter them - the crowd wasn't letting the dropping temperature get them either.
Triple J Unearthed High winner Japanese Wallpaper opened proceedings and drew a sizeable crowd early in the day. Adorably nervous - this was his first major festival - the young producer performed a great set of music that has obviously brought him to the attention of many through 2014.
It was great to see The Art of Sleeping back on the scene; I think I actually first saw them perform on this very stage back in 2012. They were a dynamic live band back then and they have that same energy around them now. The vocals are delivered with great punch and the way the band works together looks so easy. I'm not too familiar with their new material admittedly, but seeing them put some of it through its paces today was entertaining all the same - I'm eager to see what 2015 brings for them. So much potential still yet to be tapped.
Between The Kite String Tangle and Northeast Party House produced some of my personal highlights of the festival program today. I've not seen either perform full sets before now, having missed them each time they've come through Adelaide. Danny Harley is becoming one of Australia's most intriguing and talented producers/electro-smiths and seeing the way he entranced the festival crowd was impressive. He knows how to make a presence known and keep the attention on him and his music, that's for sure. His EP is a surefire Hottest 100 contender, with "What If" and "Arcadia" obviously standing out during today's set.
Melbourne's Northeast Party House exceeded all the expectations I'd had for them, a perfect festival act. Oozing that Bloc Party-esque aggression and passion onstage, the lads were pounding through their set of tunes with vigour I became jealous of. By this stage, the amphitheatre area surrounding the Valley Stage was filling out nicely, and seeing that many people dancing along to NPH's cover of Violent Soho's"Covered in Chrome" at the end of the set was amazing.
The rain hampered Dan Sultan's set considerably, with only a few hundred punters braving it out the front of the stage, the rest scattered higher up on the hill/under the tent perched atop. The guitar king was powerful to watch and provided some great tunes to get us in the mood for the night time round of artists.
DZ Deathrays and Milky Chance provided a contrasting one-two punch, as you can imagine; the former performing their usual high octane set, while the international visitors brought it down a bit with more sing along vibes. Milky Chance are still building for themselves a following in Australia, but given the response they got tonight, I think they're off to a rocketing start.
Now London based, The Temper Trap returned home to a large and welcoming crowd. Road testing some new material in amongst a well formed festival set from both the Conditions and The Temper Trap records, the band clearly impressed. When I saw them at Lollapalooza back in August, I couldn't tell if I was enjoying myself as much as I was because they were on amazing form, or if it was more because I was seeing an Aussie band doing so well internationally, but I think after tonight, you can definitely see that The Temper Trap have stepped up.
Jamie XX and Big Freedia rounded out the Monday night program, again, two vastly different artists both well equipped in putting on killer shows. Having seen Jamie at Laneway, I knew he was going to turn things up on stage tonight and I wasn't disappointed. You could hear the booming commands Big Freedia sent out across the festival site from far away, the Queen of Bounce most definitely making an impact and sending punters back to their camp with their twerk muscles in check.
