Wonderfruit, Thailand’s new lifestyle festival, with a strong music and food offering, made its mark before the end of last year. The 24-hour, three-day event kicked off on Friday 19th and ran until Sunday 21st in acres of land, near the Siam Country Club in Pattaya, on the east coast of The Gulf of Thailand, about a two-hours drive from Bangkok.

Thousands of revellers from all over the world descended on Wonderfruit and soaked up international live acts, DJs, superior food – including banqueting feasts by top Thailand based chefs the Michelin-starred, Australian David Thompson and Italian Paolo Vitaletti – sunrise yoga, outdoor swimming, art performances, cinema, and talks.

Live acts included: De La Soul, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Woodkid, The Gaslamp Killer, Hercules & Love Affair, Nick Mulvey, Little Dragon and José González to name a few. DJ talent saw Jamie Jones, Seth Troxler, Damian Lazarus, Soul Clap and lots more, bring their infectious blend of tech house and disco funk to Thailand.

Top Thai artists included: Hugo, Yellow Fang, 25 Hours, T-Bone, Gene Kasidit, Apartment Khun Pa, Burin Boonvisut and Nop Nobody.

Other delights included a special curated Maggie Choo’s tent – Bangkok’s premier night club – with performances from drag acts and show girls blended with great music. Festival goers were also treated to the Earth Harp orchestra, theatre performances and horse riding to name a few.

Wonderfruit’s ambition is to create a fully sustainable site, and this was brought to life with the introduction of a fully functioning organic onsite farm, an integrated water filtration system and the use of biodegradable water bottles.

“Wonderfruit was only conceived in March this year. We questioned if we were mad to launch an event of this magnitude, in only nine months so close to Christmas, but we pulled it off, and I am blown away by the collission of cultures and the magic that took place… it was a very special festival, and we cant wait to do it all again,” commented Jo Vidler, Director of Secret Productions and co-founder of Wonderfruit. “To see such a beautifully turned out, international crowd, embrace the festival with gusto, and soak up the quirky elements we injected, has made all the hard work worth it. We can’t wait for this year’s event, which we’ll start planning soon”, Jo continued.

“Thailand hasn’t had a lifestyle festival scene like this before, and for a while we’ve wanted to create an event here, that has the best elements of the festivals we’ve visited around the world,” commented Pete Phornprapha, visionary and founder of Scratch, the Thai-based social enterprise that created Wonderfruit. ”It was important for us to promote social responsibility and inspire positive change by using materials that were locally sourced. Wonderfruit is our first vehicle for this, as most of the structures and art were recycled, or created from reclaimed material”, Pete continued.

“There’s certainly an appetite for it in Thailand as we saw over the weekend. We can’t wait for this year’s event”, Pete concluded.

As political climate was getting hotter and hotter in Bangkok, many Thai youth and those still young at heart got together, sneaked into a weekend escapade free from all restraints, and immersed themselves in their musical paradise at Big Mountain Music Festival 5 at Bonanza, Khao Yai, Nakorn Ratchasima. BMMF, more or less a Thai version of Glastonbury, was celebrating its 5^th anniversary this year with even bigger line-up including Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC) and Austra. The festival itself is a kind of a warm-up for those amateur festival-goers who want to go for something bigger and more challenging than just a small festival. Set up on a northeastern mountain, the expansive venue was the perfect backdrop to 8 stages where over 65,000 attendees  enjoyed their favorite music to their hearts’ content. Just imagine over sixty-thousand people flocking, drinking, dancing, singing, and camping together… That must be a helluva fun!

Armed with bundles of colorful clothes suitable for both summer and winter (as it was scorching hot during the day but very chilly and cold during the night), we were ready to rumble. On our trek to the venue, we saw a large number of festival-goers putting up bright blue tents in which they would sleep for 2 nights; the sight prompted us to the realization that this was going to be our first real music festival. There were 8 different stages where hundreds of artists were going to perform. Each stage boasted different landmarks, for example, Harn Stage, where we mainly rooted, was represented by a couple of giant geese ( ‘harn’ means ‘goose’ in Thai), Ferris Wheel Stage was set against a spectacular ferris wheel backdrop, while Sticky Rice Sound System Stage was set in a giant sticky rice bamboo container. Besides music, attendees could also enjoy other assorted activities including a 3D haunted house, experimental art performances, and Kai Jeaw City (Omelette City), signature of BMMF itself. At Kai Jeaw City, 10 omelette shops competed to be the winner voted by us egg-lovers. Definitely, we wouldn’t miss the chance to experience the acclaimed and somewhat legendary tasty omelette. Throughout the festival, we had tried 8 out of 10 shops and  came to the conclusion that despite their various nuances, the omelette themselves tasted more or less the same, so we could not really rule out which shop was the best.

The highlight of our first night was the Canadian synthpop band Austra. After the lengthy soundcheck, the band came on stage with “What We Done?” The lead singer, Katie Stelmanis, dressed in bright red blouse and black trousers, dashingly resembled Stevie Nicks disguised in Anna Calvi-like garb. Well, their music and performance, along with a little sound distortion, caught many audience unawares at first as this was quite new to many Thai listeners (We even overheard a teenage girl telling her friends that this was a kind of music popular among Russians!) However, after a few songs, their unique music and eccentric performance by band members just kinda grew on them so much so that many audiences were more than willing to join in the dance. The band played their usual setlist from Feel It Break and Olympia, including “Forgive Me,” “Painful Like,” “Home,” etc. Throughout their 60-minute performance, the three ladies, namely Katie and the twin backing vocals Sari and Romy Lightman, sang and danced in such a mystical manner that we could not help but thought that these were the three Shakespearean witches from Macbeth springing into life to perform some kinda magic trick on us. That was such a spell they cast at BMMF5. The climax of the show came when the band played “Lose It.” A lot of festival-goers began to dance and lost themselves in the song, while some others (including us, of course) also sang along. We may not claim that we could ‘feel like break’ during Austra’s show at BMMF5, but we sure agree that the band did break the wall in many people’s hearts and occupy some room there.

Our most-anticipated show of the festival definitely went to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. After over-a-decade-long tossing and turning, Thai BRMC fans’ dream finally materialized as the band made their first appearance in this Land of Smile. The show was like a rendezvous of 90s kids who  have given ‘their hearts to a simple chord and their soul to a new religion’ ever since the formation of the band in 1998. We could see a plethora of BRMC fans dressed in black as a reverence to their garage/ post-punk/ blues rock gods. The San Francisco trio came on stage clad in their signature black outfit, the mere sight of which drew cheering crowd into a somewhat hysterical scream. Guitarist Peter Hayes, despite the sign of fatigue (which may be the inevitable toll of the years or simply the result of their long tour), gave one of his best performances in his typical, self-assured style; bassist Robert Been strummed the bass in his usual aggressive manner. While this whole time the limelight was mainly cast on Peter and Robert, drummer Leah Shapiro kept calm and did her superb job, adding that pounding, percussive edge to the post-Jago sound of the band. BRMC started their brief session with the cover of Robert’s late father’s band, The Call, “Let the Day Begin,” and thus commenced our night of euphoric rock ‘n’ roll delight. Next came “Beat the Devil’s Tattoo,” in which fans (some definitely in drunken stupor) joined in the singing.  Many favorites, with the likes of “Rival,” “Hate the Taste,” “Berlin,” and “Conscience Killer,” were performed with natural cheering from the crowd who always sang along with their hearts out, letting their love for the band became known. During “Ain’t No Easy Way,” the image of Peter playing harmonica on stage gave a slight Dylanesque tinge to the set. The penultimate song on the setlist was the theme song of our age of teenage-angst, “Whatever Happened to My Rock ‘N’ Roll (Punk Song),” in which fans sang, danced, and cheered like mad. When Robert announced that the next song was gonna be the last one, grunts of disappointment could be heard everywhere among the fans, some of whom paid the full 2-day admission fee simply to see BRMC live. The crowd started to hum and sing “Love Burns” as the plea for the band to play this song. However, to our disappointment (again), BRMC did “Spread Your Love,” which, nevertheless, did please and send us singing and dancing joyfully. At the end of the set, the bassist came to sit in front of the crowd expressing his heartfelt thanks for their loyal support and promised that they would be back soon. Despite their brief 45-minute show, ‘The band who broke the floor’ succeeded in giving their groundbreaking performance sending the crowd to spread their love (for the band) like a fever on the floor.

Our two days at BMMF5 was supermassive fun and we definitely look forward to visiting the campsite again next year. Until then. (Text : Nette Kosit/Fon Dylan |Photos: Ryu)

Big Mountain Music Festival, which acclaimed greatest music festival in Thailand, will be held again this year celebrating its fifth anniversary under the theme “Ma Len Kan Ter” (Let’s Have Fun Together). The festival which held for a two-day large music festival that takes place at Khao Yai in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat) province, with lineup covers a wide range of artists from mainstream to indie ones. All those Thai big names (e.g. Moderndog, Carabao, Big Ass, Tata Young, etc.) can be expected to perform alongside the lesser-knowns like Flure, Yellow Fang, Gene Kasidit, etc.

They also recently added to the fun bandwagon are California’s rock band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Canadian synthpop girl group Austra on the list. Festival will take place from 10-11 December and expected to draw a crowd of more than 30,000 people. Tickets are on sale now at 1,900 Baht or 60 USD/Day and special discount from 1,800 to 1,350 THB is ordered when purchased with a presence of 10 of either Pepsi Music*, Pepsi Max or Pepsi Twist labels (from today – 9 Dec 11 only).

Download the festival’s guide with English version here

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)

Don’t miss your chance to see live performance from the headliners like Pet Shop Boys, Ash, Placebo, Jason Mraz, Owl City, Rain, etc. Be noted that all the artists will be playing full sets. So, plan your day so that you make the most of the SONIC BANG experience. Plus, Enjoy with loads fun of activities in air-conditioned comfort from midday to midnight at Impact Exhibition Halls 1-4 and Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani.