WEEKENDER
The season of music festivals has begun. Starting with Seoul Jazz Festival, various festivals in a wide range of different genres are lined up in the coming months to give fans the chance to let their hair down and bask in music this year.
Deep into the green of spring, the season is calling you to venture beyond your mundane life.
The season of music festivals has begun. Starting with Seoul Jazz Festival, various festivals in a wide range of different music genres are lined up in the coming months to give music fans the chance to let their hair down and bask in music this year.
Seoul Jazz Festival, a local festival that has grown into a representative spring festival over a decade, will take place at Seoul Olympic Park on May 27 and 28. This year the festival invited many prominent jazz artists including Jamiroquai, a British funk and acid jazz band, which returns to Seoul for the first time in four years. The Grammy Award-winning band with a large local fan base will play classic disco-funk from their new album “Automaton.” Jazz diva Dianne Reeves, R&B-based jazz big band Tower of Power, and legendary jazz guitarist Pat Martino will perform, along with famed local artists Zion-T, Lucid Fall, ZICO and Crush.
Stronger EDM
Electronic dance music (EDM), which has risen to the mainstay of summer festivals for years now, will follow.
This year a number of big EDM festivals — Miami-born Ultra Korea, German music festival World Club Dome, Heineken-organized indigenous festival 5tardium and Unite With Tomorrowland, a livestream festival connecting Belgium’s main stage with Korea’s through satellite — will bring festivalgoers into the strong beats of music from June well into September.
Ultra Korea 2017, one of the coolest electronic music festivals in Asia, will begin on June 10 for a two-day run at Jamsil Olympic Stadium in southern Seoul. Tiesto, a Dutch DJ known as the "godfather of EDM,” Hardwell, voted the world’s best DJ by DJ Mag in 2013 and 2014, Dubfire, Alesso and many other world-ranked DJs will headline the festival, which is now into its sixth year.
Ultra Korea, which has been drawing record numbers of people each year, expects over 150,000 this year. “If last year’s festival revolved around the main stage, we paid more attention this year to help music fans enjoy not just the main stage but different stages,” said its organizer.
One-day tickets cost 130,000 won and two-day combo tickets go for 180,000 won. The EDM festival will continue. 5tardium, a concept EDM festival, will be held with the stage theme of “The Grand Voyage” on July 8.
Unite With Tomorrowland’s first Korea festival will be held at Incheon Munhak Stadium on July 29. Along with on-stage headliners including Far East Movement, the first Asian-American hip hop and electronic group to earn a number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a satellite-connected live stream stage will unite music fans with fans from seven different countries.
World Club Dome, a three-day run EDM festival, will debut in Korea at the same Incheon Munhak Stadium venue between Sept. 22 and Sept. 24.
As for the booming EDM festivals in Korea, music critics say it is following global trends and the widespread social media comes to its aid.
“EDM is the latest music trend and it is leading global music festivals. Korea is also following the big trend,” popular music critic Lee Dae-hwa said. “An EDM festival is a dance party and perceived as something hot that people can post on Instagram. As EDM festivals have evolved into the hottest trend through social media, they continue to gather diehard fans.”
Festivals to rock
It is impossible to talk about music festivals without rock.
After years of seeing multiple rock festivals mushroom and vanish, only two have survived and emerged as major rock festivals— the Valley
EDM is the latest music trend and it is leading global music festivals. Korea is also following the big trend.
Rock Festival set for July, and Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival in August.
Valley Rock Festival, to be held at Jisan Forest Resort in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, from July 28 to 30, invites headliners including Gorillaz and Sigur Ros.
Gorillaz is a virtual four-man band, created in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett. The band’s self-titled 2001 debut album sold over 7 million copies and earned them an entry in the Guinness World Records as the most successful virtual band. After a six-year hiatus, the band returned with their fifth studio album Humanz, released this April. Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Ros has a big local fan base with its dreamy melodies and aesthetic vocals.
Together with Valley Rock Festival, the other massive-scale rock festival awaiting music fans is Pentaport Rock Festival, slated for Aug. 11 to 13 in Songdo, Incheon.
The 12th annual rock festival will heat up Pentaport Park in the Songdo International Business District with three non-stop days of rock and electronica. This year’s lineup includes iconic French electronic music duo Justice and British indie pop band Bastille, which won the British Breakthrough Act at the 2014 Brit Awards.