New venue, same old rock
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke performs at last year’s Jisan Valley Rock Festival. / Courtesy of CJ E&M
By Kim Young-jin
The annual Jisan Valley Rock Festival that has brought in acts such as Radiohead, Muse and Patti Smith has a new home in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province.
The event will relocate this year after sponsor CJ E&M signed a memorandum of understanding with Ansan City last month. Organizers say the move is a long-term investment that will boost local tourism and the event’s recognition value abroad.
The Ansan Valley Rock Festival — slated this year for July 26 to 28 — will be held on Daebu Island in the West Sea, which falls within Ansan’s municipality. The venue, Daebu Sea Breeze theme park, will be developed to offer greater accessibility than the previous location in Incheon, the organizers said.
All this, they hope, will create a unique atmosphere that will have the rocking masses mentioning Ansan in the same breath as elite festivals, such as Perry Farrell’s Lollapalooza, England’s Glastonbury Festival or the American desert concert known as Coachella.
“We are happy about the cooperation between the green, seaside city of Ansan and CJ E&M with its globally-recognized cultural content,” Ansan Mayor Kim Cheol-min said in a press release. “The festival is estimated have a 30 billion won ($27 million) marketing impact.”
Ahn Suk-joon, head of the music business division of CJ E&M added, “Acquiring a long-term site for the festival will cultivate the value of its brand. By securing this specialized site in Daebu, it can develop like (major international festivals) Glastonbury or Coachella, help the local community and improve the brand of the country.”
A representative of the firm said the festival lineup would be announced shortly. According to CJ E&M, the new venue will measure over 132,000 square meters, double that of the Jisan Valley Ski Resort, where the event was held from 2009. The firm estimates that 200,000 tickets will be sold for the three days, up from 130,000 last year.
The firm said the larger space would allow for more camping, parking and other facilities; and that Ansan is closer to major highways and lodging options. It will also be the venue for other concerts and events and continue to be a park for locals.
The appetite for festivals in Korea is growing. Last year, established events such as Jisan and the Pentaport Rock Festival began vying with new ones such as the SuperSonic Festival, not to mention the electronic dance music-focused Sensation and Ultra Music festivals.
Pentaport, scheduled to be held in Incheon in August, had been the country’s biggest live music event before some of the organizers departed and joined CJ E&M to create the Jisan event in 2009. The two rock festivals have been competing ever since, quenching the public’s thirst for live music but also raising worries about lineups that are stretched thin.
Last year Jisan made a major move by bringing in Radiohead, one of the most acclaimed acts in the world, as well as Owl City and the Stone Roses. The international acts were mixed with local ones such as Glen Check and Busker Busker. It was listed among CNN’s 50 music festivals for the summer.