Falls fans eye shower, bed as event wraps up
AFTER three nights, dozens of bands and thousands of beers, the Falls Festival is done and dusted for another year.
The sold-out crowd of 16,000 started packing up and rolling out of the Marion Bay site early yesterday — some making the most of their long weekend by kicking on to the Taste of Tasmania or the Pnau concert at Macquarie Point last night, but many others heading straight home for a much-needed shower and some couch time.
On Sunday night they had watched electro duo Peking Duk bring in 2018 with a set of bangers, after a night of quality live music from the likes of US indie-folk band Fleet Foxes and Australian acts Dune Rats, Methyl Ethel, Allday and Slumberjack.
Former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher was a hit with the slightly older members of the Falls audience, but even the kids came running towards the stage when the first notes of the singalong classic Won
derwall rang out. Gallagher later tweeted his 2.6 million followers about his short time in the state, writing “I wanna say Tasmania what a biblical place look after it it’s pure thankyou for inviting us hope you liked the gig as you were LG x”
Police set up a breath-testing operation at the Bream Creek showgrounds yesterday, testing hundreds of motorists as they left the festival. Exact numbers were unknown last night, but it is believed several drivers blew over .05.
Road Safety Advisory Council volunteers conducted a record 6072 free breath tests on site at Falls this year — 37 per cent of the crowd, and 795 more than at last year’s event.
Early risers started queuing for the free tests about 6am yesterday, with 3318 voluntary tests conducted between 7am and 1pm.
A Road Safety Advisory Council spokesman said the only thing that would reduce your blood alcohol reading was time.
He said quick-fixes such as drinking coffee, eating mints or exercising didn’t actually make any difference.