Sounds go south

ONE OF ASIA’S largest and best-attended music festivals, Big Mountain returns next month for its seventh edition though this year it will not be taking place at its usual Khao Yai location but heading south to Phetchaburi province.

The move has been made necessary because the original venue, Bonanza Resort and Racetrack, is currently facing a demolition order on the grounds that the racetrack encroaches on Khao Yai national park.

The festival’s new home is another national park – the Kaeng Krachan estate in Phetchaburi – and this year it’s being held on December 19 and 20.

 “In fact, we already had a general plan of what we wanted for a new site as even before the charges were brought, we knew we would be unable to expand the space for Big Mountain in Khao Yai to handle a capacity crowd of 70,000 people each day,” says Yuthana Boonorm, managing director of organiser Gayray.

“We found our new home at the Service & Tourism Industrial Estate in Kaeng Krachan. We had an option of taking 600 to 1,500 rai out of the total 30,000 rai and have opted for an initial space of 900 rai. The site is a little nearer to Bangkok too and people travelling by car will see the entrance when they turn left at the three-way intersection after leaving Rama II (Thonburi-Paktho) Road.”

Yuthana adds that the increased space will allow for double the parking – from 10,000 to 20,000 vehicles – and offer a much larger camping area with 10,000 tents available to accommodate festival-goers.

“We would like the majority of people to stay in the tents to reduce traffic congestion. Kaeng Krachan is a tourist destination and we think that it is perfect for Big Mountain as well as for other activities.”

For Yuthana, the move is reminiscent of the first Big Mountain and he’s been busy in recent months supervising the clearing of the abandoned plot and designing the landscape in such a way as to make it suitable for a large-scale festival. For his part, the landlord has built permanent toilets and fences.

Asked whether the new festival can imitate Japan’s Fuji Rock event by playing with different levels of the surrounding hills, Yuthana shakes his head.

“The law prevents us doing anything on the mountain. I personally don’t like a flat area and think that hilly land is more interesting. We have that here and we’ve used our original team to design the new landscape. We’re maintaining the characters of the stages – the Cow Stage, Akojohn Pub, Ram Wong Bar, God Zi Lar and Soi 2 – though obviously these will be slightly different versions,” he says.

This seventh music festival will feature more than 100 acts, mainly Thai but with some international standouts spread over nine stages. They have already been named the Ferris Wheel Stage, Cow Stage, Egg Stage, Soi 2, Dancing Stage, Lang Ka Daeng Art Village, God Zi Lar, Ram Wong Bar, Rock Village, and Akojohn Pub.

The line-up includes Bodyslam, Triumphs Kingdom, Moderndog, Potato, T-Bone, B5, J Jetrin, Bie Sukrit, 4 Pho Dam, Aof Pongsak, Pop Pongkool, Ben Chalathit, New-Jew, Lomosonic, Palmy, Big Ass, 25 Hours, Cocktail, Getsunova, Paradox, The Yers, Pang Nakarin, Noom Kala, Palaphol, Sweet Mullet, Retrospect, Zeal, Apartment Khunpa, Tabasco, Thaitanium, Polycat, Greasy Cafe, Joey Boy with Gancore Club, Carabao, Pongthep Kradonchamnarn, Singto Numchok, Scrubb, Lipta, Two Popetorn, Mild, Crescendo, Lula, Atom & Earth, Beau Sunita, Jetset’er, Season Five, Tono & The Dust, Image Suthita, The Palace, and the artists from The Star and The Voice. They’ll be joined by luk thung singers Wipoj Petchsupan, Sornpetch Sornsupan, Sodsai Rungpothong and Yui Yatyer as well as comedians Jazz Spooknick, Papiyoung Kookkook, and Thua Rae Chernyim.

 “The Dancing Stage will be home to shows by leading DJs from Club Octagon in Seoul, South Korea, F Club in Singapore and a female DJ from Taiwan,” Yuthana says,

Yuthana laughs at the suggestion that the festival’s symbolic cow be replaced by khanom maw kaeng, the much-loved coconut custard squares for which Phetchaburi Province is famed.

“We are indeed incorporating local culture. In fact, we have named the three small camping zones Mae Kim Lui, Mae Kim Lung and Mae Kim Lai in honour of the popular local desserts,” he says. 

“Big Mountain isn’t about Khao Yai but is recognised as a major music festival. Its fame has spread far and wide and we are now getting requests from artists in Japan to perform here.”

 

BUY NOW!

 

- Big Mountain Music Festival 7 (BMMF7) will take place at Kaeng Krachan Country Club on December 19 and 20.

- Tickets are Bt2,000 and can be purchased at all 7-Eleven shops and online at www.AllTicketThailand.com.