A few months back when I first heard about this music festival, I couldn’t help myself but wondered what it is going to be like, 30 international acts, including Western, Asian, and Thai artists. Such variety of line ups would only happen in here, “Sonic Bang: The Ultimate International Music Festival Experience.”

It was late morning on a lovely Saturday when the event started. Impact Arena was the place where people came to gather and experience the live music. I spotted four huge main stages which were set in different halls, the stages were called ‘Boom’, ‘Pow’, ‘Bang’, and ‘Wow’, following with another three minor ones, ‘Sound Blast’, ‘Silent Disco’, and ‘Park stage’. Sunlight and solar heat were not an obstacle here. You can even tell that the festival was slightly different from the infamous ones we know by seeing the participants’ outfits, some wearing cosplays, some wearing band t-shirts, and some wearing the same outfits carrying neon signs with running text.

In the daytime, the schedule was packed with Thai and Asian acts on the main stages including Scrubb, Miyavi, Lipta, Scandal, Far East Movement, and many more. Korean and Japanese fans seemed to be pleased well, many young girls kept running from stages to stages to see their favorite Asian artists. The festival started to please indie fans when the Sun began to set. The Standards, a Thai-English indie rock band was a great appetizing act before Ash, Placebo, and Pet Shop Boys got on stage.

The Irish alternate rock band, Ash, made their fourth comeback to Bangkok which it has been over a decade since the last time they performed here. I couldn’t help but noticed how Thai fans were thrilled to see them live again, not to mention plenty of foreigners as well. The band started their fifteen-song set with ‘Meltdown’ following up with well known singles like, ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘Girl From Mars.’ Tim Wheeler, the frontman, also mentioned with his delightful smile how pleased the band felt to come back and play in Bangkok again. Ash continued to flow their show with ‘Oh Yeah’, ‘Kung Fu’, and ‘Evil Eye’, it’s too bad that every party has an end, when Tim said it’s going to be the last song for them, all the fans sobbed a little and let they finished the set with ‘Burn Baby Burn’, and that was such a joyful goodbye.

Coming up with the next main act that indie fans were waiting for, Placebo, an alternative rock band from England, which had their last show in Thailand three years ago and their performance was still memorable by many witnesses until today. Among the big crowd I stood in during the soundcheck, it looked like people tried their best to stand still, just to make sure that their best spots were not going to get stolen. Fortunately, they did not have to stay patient for that long. Placebo’s first appearance got all the fans screamed and shouted, it was such a good sign for the band to start playing their eighty minute set. The audiences got crazy over the songs like ‘Bionic’, ‘Loud Like Love’, ‘Every You Every Me’, ‘Meds’, and ‘Song To Say Goodbye.’ It was quite obvious to see that the band put so much energy to this show that you could not help it but received some power from them and sang along like crazy! It is sad but true that I needed to leave between Placebo set since the headliner, Pet Shop Boys, were about to start the dance party at Boom stage.

“Wow, it is like another world here!” that was my thought when I first stepped in the hall where Boom stage was at. Believe it or not, Pet Shop Boys already started playing before I got in, I felt sad a little but the sadness was easily disappeared in about five seconds by the beat I heard. And from what I saw, everybody was moving their bodies, everybody, they looked like they were occupied dancing and having a good time. Besides PSB themselves, the two dancers with their animal heads seemed to be one of the highlights of the party as well. With the lights, back screen motions, and the tunes like ‘Domino Dancing’, ‘West End Girl’, ‘Suburbia’, ‘It Is a Sin’, and ‘Always on My Mind’, all these amazing combinations allowed the whole audience in the hall to free themselves from the outside world. After a while, the disappearance of PSB from the stage, let us know that the set was over, even we all knew that, but still, no one left. They left us craving for more, I’m pretty sure that everyone felt this way, “We want more! Two more songs! We want more!” The shouting worked perfectly well when we all heard the familiar voice “Bangkok, you are amazing.” And for the desirable reason, people kept dancing and screaming to ‘Go West’, two songs passed by and the time had come, PSB were no longer on the stage, left a thousand of people there in the hall waiting for them to come back and play a few more songs, it wasn’t going to happen this time, people started to realize and walked out the hall with pleasurable memory. (Nette Kosit/Photos : Sonic Bang)

His voice soared inside the Plenary Hall of Jakarta Convention Center on August 17^th, 2013; he and Chris Lowe themselves were still partly hidden behind a giant screen onto which a video was projected as they opened their set with ‘Axis’,’ One More chance/Face Like That’, and ‘Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)’.  They welcomed their fans to their first concert ever in Indonesia – some in the audience must have already thought, After all these years, finally!  And this won’t be the last, right?

But at that moment the past and the future were forgotten; the curtain-screen fell, and there was only the present, deliciously filled with electronic sounds, weird costumes, video projections, and fantastic lightning.  A Pet Shop Boys show is not only pleasing to the ears; it’s also a gigantic feast for the eyes.  From the seats, it was totally out of mind.  PSB changed costumes several times to fit the songs – from pointy hats, tops made of long black straws, suits with orange hats, to disco ball helmets that reflected the spotlights to form strange strips of gleaming green across the hall.

PSB brought along their two dancers, who brought an eerie atmosphere when they donned creepy animal skull masks complete with horns and mane and danced to ‘I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing’ and ‘Suburbia’—perhaps the first song that night that finally threw the whole audience into a craze.  PSB effortlessly, coolly, glided along their setlist that combined their time-tested hits and their newer songs.  Men and women alike screamed to songs like ‘West End Girls’, ‘Fluorescent’, ‘Rent’, ‘It’s A Sin’, ‘Domino Dancing’ – many of those who were seated couldn’t resist the temptation to stand and dance.  And everyone simply exploded to ‘Always on My Mind’.

PSB disappeared from the stage for a while after the song, and to the chant of “We want more!  We want more!”, returned for the encore, ‘Go West’ and (“We have one more song for you”) Vocal.

“Thank you for sharing your Independence Day with us.”

Whatever the reality that awaited outside the Plenary Hall after the concert ended, one thing was sure – for the 2 hours we spent inside, we all knew the meaning of the word independence.

And those who attended, would now have a wonderful memory of the show that ensures that Pet Shop Boys will remain with them in the future.

(Tyas Palar / Photos : Antara Foto and Free Magazine)