Little is more unifying than a crisis. Attendees of this year’s Falls Festival found themselves face-to-face with that on the weekend, when the music festival’s Lorne site — the largest of Falls’ four locations across Australia — was forced to evacuate due to a severe weather warning.

The dry and heavily wooded area, classified as a high risk for falling trees and bushfires, already had 9,000 attendees onsite and was expecting more arrivals ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations on Tuesday evening. American pop star Halsey was the headline act, as well as performances from popular international artists Vampire Weekend, Playboi Carti, and Lewis Capaldi. That idyllic pop-rap-indie utopia did not come to pass – the site emptied, and would-be punters weathered the 40-plus degree heat from safer areas.

There was a silver lining, though: local and international artists who would have played the cancelled festival put on last-minute replacement shows in Melbourne, and proceeds from many went to the state’s Country Fire Authority (CFA).

At least a dozen Falls replacement shows have been organised in the space of 48 hours. Melbourne’s inner city was flooded on Sunday evening with gigs from G Flip at the Northcote Social Club, Baker Boy at Brunswick’s Howler, Peking Duk at the Esplanade Hotel, Holy Holy and Ali Barter at Richmond’s Leadbeater, RAT!hammock at Collingwood’s Gasometer, and more. Acts including WAAX, Lime Cordiale, These New South Whales, Bad//Dreems, Cry Club, and Teenage Dads are scheduled to perform in the coming days.

Living in the Australian climate means being constantly aware of threats like bushfires – threats that are only increasing. The instinctive support of these artists for first responders and crisis teams speaks to that awareness.

But it is especially powerful to see international acts like Halsey, who organised a replacement for her Falls headline set at Melbourne’s 2,000-capacity Forum Theatre, and British punk-pop singer Yungblud, who nearly overran Melbourne’s Tote Hotel with teens upon announcement of his under-18s replacement show, act so quickly and so passionately in support of both fans and the CFA.

At the Forum, where a queue wrapped around the entirety of its block for most of Sunday evening, Halsey made it clear that her replacement show was a fundraiser first and foremost, acknowledging the efforts of the CFA before addressing the crowd during her set.

“I want to thank the amazing people who are working to relieve these fires,” the 25-year-old told the near-capacity venue. “We are doing everything in our power to raise proceeds for them.” A mere 12 hours earlier, Halsey had taken to her Instagram stories to assure fans she would try to put on a show; she ended up delivering a full production that gave priority to displaced festival punters. There is a distinctly bittersweet irony in seeing a visiting popstar respond more quickly and more rigorously to the threat of Australia’s bushfires than, say, the country’s own prime minister.

The frantically organised nature of many of the Falls replacement shows gave them a livewire energy. Immense demand from the Yungblud’s fans, for example, proved challenging for Tote’s limited staff. The under-18s show was announced, then swiftly cancelled, then reinstated with a strict set of rules, including a chaperoning system and network of rigorous ID checks. A hugely entertaining series of videos on the pub’s Instagram page depicts scores of teens lining up outside the venue, clamoring after Yungblud’s car, and swarming the young star as he exited the venue.

Bridget Hustwaite, the host of Triple J’s Good Nights program, was meant to attend Falls Festival and has been documenting the replacement shows springing up across Melbourne. “The current fire threats have been difficult for everyone but it’s through these tough times that we see people rise,” she told Guardian Australia via email. “Fans forked out hundreds of dollars for their Falls tickets, drove hours to and from the festival site [and] still showed up to these replacement gigs in Melbourne with massive smiles on their faces.”

Despite the thrill of these once-in-a-lifetime shows, though, a troubling question remains. Temperatures are only rising, and the risk of rampant bushfires increases each year. A lack of live music is far from the most pressing issue we face, but if there’s one thing we’re learning it’s that climate crisis will affect every aspect of our lives. The summer music festival has become something of a teenage rite of passage in Australia, but with the climate prognosis only getting worse, how long have they got?