By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter
Remember the thrilling performances on stage of the likes of Placebo, Franz Ferdinand and the Strokes last year, which made the overjoyed crowd forget about the rain, muddy puddles and relatively poor facilities and simply get carried along by the festive mood?
Rock music fans can rest assured they will have that moment again this year. Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival announced its first portion of line-up on its official Web site Friday, which includes hot names such as Muse, Damien Rice and Chemical Brothers.
The annual festival, the second of its kind, will take place from Friday through Sunday on July 27-29 at Songdo Daewoo Motors Park in Incheon.
More line-ups are to be announced in the coming days, but the first line-up revealed on Friday already made some fans leap with joy.
Muse, a three-piece band hailing from England, has sold over seven million albums around the world and has a dedicated following in South Korea, as was proven with their first solo concert in Seoul in March. The band will have kept their last words on the stage that made loyal fans wring their hands in waiting _ ``see you soon'' _ by coming back to Pentaport in July.
Damien Rice, an Irish folk singer with crooning voice and lyrics, also has a sizeable fan base in Korea, since letting his name known with ``Blower's Daughter,'' which featured in the film ``Closer.''
English duo Chemical Brothers, a name synonymous with techno and electronic music itself here in late 1990s, is also set to release a much-awaited new album in June.
Others on the list includes Ash, a Northern Irish three-piece whose recently released single ``You Can't Have It All'' is getting much airplay in Britain these days.
Among the predominantly British line-up, American trance musician BT, or Brian Transeau, and guitarist Stevie Salas stand out. Local bands on the list include indie punk darlings Crying Nut and Rainy Sun.
Tickets are open from May 17th. For more information, visit www.pentaportrock.com.