Rock → EDM, a ‘music festival’ that will heat up even more this summer

As summer begins in June, with daily high temperatures approaching 30 degrees, we are hearing news of the opening of festivals that will add to the heat of summer. From rock to EDM, indie bands, and K-pop, festivals covering a variety of genres are being held to ensure that no one leaves anything to be desired, adding to the fun of choosing.

The 19th Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival, a representative domestic music festival, will be held at Songdo Moonlight Festival Park for three days from August 2nd to 4th.

This year's lineup included Korea's representative bands Day6, Silica Gel, Broccoliner, New Boy, QWER, which has recently gained popularity, and singers Sunwoo Jung-ah and Jannabi, shaking the hearts of domestic rock band fans. Last year, there were 150,000 viewers, the largest audience ever. The public’s expectations for this year’s performance are also high.

The Pentaport Rock Festival is famous for its deep connection with rain. Originally, the festival started in 1999 under the name "Tripot Rock Festival". However, on the second day of the performance, the performance was canceled for safety reasons due to record-breaking heavy rain that year. The first performance began in 2006, and although it rained during that year's performance, the performance went ahead. There was an episode where singer Julian Casablanca, who was so moved by the fans going crazy in the rain, entered the audience during the performance, saying that he would get caught in the rain too. Afterwards, as heavy rain became more frequent during each performance, fans gave it the nickname 'Rain Festival.'

'World DJ Festival' (hereinafter 'World DJ Festival') is also a large EDM festival that attracted 130,000 people over 3 days last year. This year, it is scheduled to be held for two days from the 15th to the 16th.

World-class DJs have announced that they will visit Korea for this festival. From The Chainsmokers, whose song 'Closer' was No. 1 on the Billboard chart for 12 consecutive weeks, to Brazilian DJ Alok, who ranked 4th in the TOP 100 selected by global magazine DJ MAG, and world-renowned producer and DJ KSHMR, etc. This appearance has been confirmed. Furthermore, Eric Prydz, who seemed to be unable to visit Korea, raised the expectations of EDM fans by announcing that he was confirmed to visit Korea.

With the news of the World Dife being held, the public is expressing their excitement through various online communities, saying, "Finally, the World D Fe. I'm excited," "I'm going to go even if I collapse because the stage is so hot on Sunday," and "Give me the Sunday World Fe right now."

Along with 'World Fe', the '2024 Weversecon Festival' will be held for two days on the 15th and 16th. This event is hosted by Hive's subsidiary Weverse for K-pop fans. Artists listed on the fan platform Weverse appeared, and many artists not affiliated with Hive were also expected to appear.

K-pop artists such as the group Seventeen, Tomorrow Announced appearance. Actress Lee Sung-kyung, famous for her outstanding singing skills, will perform on the festival stage as a singer for the first time. In particular, JYP Entertainment's head and singer Park Jin-young is also attracting attention as he announced that he will perform on stage to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his debut.

Lee Min-kyung, Ten Asia Reporter 2min_ror@tenasia.co.kr