At home on the Big Mountain

There were sighs of relief all round last weekend as more than 70,000 people poured into Bonanza Khao Yai for Big Mountain, the country’s largest outdoor music festival, turning it into once again into a sold-our success.

Now in its sixth year, this year’s fest had as its concept “the one event that’s the cure for all diseases”, presumably a reference to the several different types and styles of music playing out on three stages that ranged from pop and rock to electronic dance and hip hop and included ska reggae and “luk thung” (Thai country folk). The weather cooperated too with hot sun during the day and chilly breezes at night and not a drop of rain to upset the thousands of campers.

 In fact, the only blip was the disruption of traffic, with cars stretching back in a long line along the road to the venue.

Once inside though, there was plenty to keep the fans entertaining and most ironed out the kinks from sitting too long in a car by walking between the stages and shopping at Sam Yan Market.

The first of the music kicked off at 3pm on the Ferris Wheel stage with Jetset’er, Getsunova, Stamp, Da Endorphine, Potato, Big Ass, Boom Boom Cash and Paradox taking turns to rock the crowd. Enthusiasm was high at the Cow Stage too with sets by net idols Ploychompoo and Earth and duo New-Jiew, who performed their sing-along and danceable hits including “Mai Rak Mai Tong” and “Chan Kor Rak Khong Chan”. Palaphol, Lula and Pop Pongkool followed with Crescendo and Instinct closing out the afternoon’s entertainment. 

Dusk had fallen by the time the action started on the other smaller stages. On Harn (Goose) Stage, the audience was entertained by a selection of shows by Thai and foreign artists including Japan’s Zukan, Apartment Khunpa, The Mousses, Klear, Scarecrow from France, Greasy Cafe, Gene Kasidit, Flure and The Supergrasses Ska Ensemble.

In between songs, fans visited the several tented pubs manned by sponsors and feasted on a wealth of street food.

Crowds were massed around the Ferris Wheel stage on the second day as Richman Toy, Mike, Pang Nakarin, Palmy, Moderndog and Carabao played sets that had everyone dancing. They were followed by Boy Peacemaker and Slot Machine, who had fans jumping up and down to “Chan Chao” and other hits. The audience continued to dance well into the night with Thaitanium, Scrubb and 25 Hours.

Over at the Cow Stage, Tono was first to entertain his screaming fans and was followed by Japan’s Ego Wrappin’, The Boykor featuring Mariam, Singto Numchok, and four singers from “The Star”. The audience sang along and laughed at the antics and dirty jokes from Ben Chalathit and Aof Pongsak, before Lipta closed out the session with a tight set.

Noom Kala, Labanoon, Cocktail, Songkran The Voice, Ten To Twelve, and Musketeer performed on Goose Stage then handed over to the Monkey Disco Boy Project featuring Sukie, Pod and Ben for their debut show. The stage was also home to Australia’s Jagwar Ma and Japan’s Buffalo Daughter and closed with sets by Lomosonic, The Yers, Sweet Mullet and Retrospect.

Even after the bands had packed up and gone home, the tent pubs continued to throb as Joey Boy’s Go-Zi-La entertained the crowds in a “ramwong” bar with ever-popular luk thung singers Pornsak Songsang, Yinglee, Yui Yatyer, and Mike Piromporn. Over at Pub Soi 2, Toey Tiew Thai put on a show of dance music that would have done the popular gay haunt of Silon Soi 2 proud.