WELL-BEHAVED CROWDS DESCEND ON FALLS FESTIVAL
THOUSANDS of music lovers have rung in the New Year at Falls Festival in Byron Bay.
Local police said revellers were well behaved, with drug dogs detecting only 23 people carrying illegal substances on Saturday.
There were 25,000 tickets sold to the three-day festival that boasts headliners including former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher, Flume, Daryl Braithwaite and Angus and Julia Stone.
Tweed Byron Local Area Command Chief Inspector Gary Cowan encouraged mates to “look after each other” in the wake of reports of sexual assaults at Falls Festival in Tasmania.
“It’s always a concern with any large group of people in a large area,” he said. “Stick together, look after yourselves and if you’re going to leave the group make sure you tell someone where you are.
“We are here to make sure the crowd are safe, people aren’t taking illicit drugs and are having a good time.”
Leading event promoter Billy Cross said Falls was the ultimate “summer festival”.
Meanwhile, a Falls Festival spokeswoman said a “handful” of people had arrived at the festival with fraudulent tickets.
“We strongly discourage patrons purchasing from any unauthorised third-party sellers at inflated prices,” she said.
“We wish people wouldn’t re-sell tickets for profit, but at the moment, there isn’t any legal recourse to prevent this.”
Gold Coast stallholder, Wild Orchid Australia owner Naomi Petit, said “glitter boobs” had returned as the festival-wear of choice in 2017, alongside fishnet stockings and braided hair.
“There will be a lot of ‘glitter boobs’ ... that’s what’s in fashion. We might even see ‘glitter doodles’, who knows?”